Since january 1st of this year, people over 65 years old had a fall in Europe, sometimes with serious consequences.
Since january 1st of this year, people over 65 years old had a fall in Europe, sometimes with serious consequences.
Eating is not just about filling up the stomach!
Eating is an essential act in our daily life. It is also a way of maintaining good relationships with our family and friends. It is a moment for sharing, which is not devoted merely to food.
Mealtimes should be a pleasurable moment: for too many people, healthy eating calls forth the idea of a more or less drastic diet based on uninviting food. However, a balanced meal is not necessarily made out of tasteless and unoriginal ingredients.
We must know how to indulge ourselves while only avoiding overindulging in certain things, such as rapidly-absorbed sugars and edible fats. A balanced diet in terms of sugar and fat may very well be full of colours, tastes and textures.
Eating is an act in the course of which all senses are used: we must therefore enjoy ourselves not only with the taste of foods, but also with their shapes, colours, scents and even the sounds they make. Eating well is synonym with consuming a wide variety of foods while avoiding dreariness. Eating should serve to fulfil our needs while bringing us pleasure.
Nutritional requirements do not vary much as we age.
Among healthy seniors, energy requirements are estimated at 2,000 kcal per day for men and 1,800 kcal per day for women. These requirements are similar to those of young adults.
Carbohydrate requirements
Carbohydrates are essential for the functioning of the muscles and brain. They must constitute 50 to 60% of caloric intake (see following page).
Lipid requirements
Lipids provide essential fatty acids, which are vital to life, and constitute the body's energy reserves. According to most studies, lipidic intake among seniors represents, as for young adults, 33 to 39% of caloric intake.
Protein requirements
Proteins (protids) and fundamental components of all living tissues.
They represent 12 to 15% of caloric intake.
Protein requirements among healthy seniors are estimated at 1g / kg per day, sometimes reaching up to 1.2g / kg, which is slightly higher than the requirements of young adults. These requirements can go up to 1.5 or 2g / kg per day in the event of acute illness.
Sarcopenia is the medical term to describe the loss of muscle mass. It can affect 20 to 40% of muscle mass. It is responsible for a reduction in muscle strength and physical activity, which can result in a difficulty to move, leading both to difficulties in the performance of daily life actions and to gait impairments, and therefore to a fall risk.
Physical activity or exercise make it possible to reduce muscle ageing and to slow down the mechanism that leads to a reduction or loss of muscle mass. Physical activity also has the advantage of stimulating appetite, as well as intestinal transit.
Professionals recommend the regular practice of a physical activity (1/2 hour every day rather than 3 hours once a week) that requires constant effort with no fits and starts such as walking, riding a bike, swimming or water gymnastics.
Absolute or relative contra-indications may exist in relation to the practice of a physical activity. You must seek the advice of your attending physician.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, our life expectancy has increased by over twenty years. Whereas you could hardly find more than one centenarian in France in 1900, a little girl born today has half the chances of living up to her 100th birthday. So many years more to live! In order to enjoy this time, one had better be in good health. But what can we do to remain healthy? How can we age well, stay fit, and be in the best possible shape?
Although it must be acknowledged that not everyone is equal faced with ageing, staying young can be achieved with some work. Obviously, it begins with feeling young and staying optimistic, taking care of oneself and one's health. It is also a daily struggle to be started early: stimulating our memory and intelligence, developing our creativity, maintaining good interpersonal relationships and emotional health and, why not, falling in love.
Could all these elements constitute the secret to longevity?
