At 50 or 60, all hope is not lost: without resorting to draconian diets, which can cause more harm than good due to frustrations and nutritional deficiencies, it is possible to restore a balanced diet. This allows you to reconcile with your weight by taking into account the changes due to age, while preserving your health in the long term.
We stop buying ready-made foods
To meet your nutritional needs without consuming too many calories, it is important to adopt a nutrient-rich diet. To do this, it is advisable to increase your consumption of vegetables, which are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.
It is crucial to avoid “fake” products, which although convenient, are very high in calories; they are of poor quality, lacking in vitamins, good fats, fiber and other essential nutrients, but are full of additives, just like ultra-processed foods.
“This means stopping buying ready-made products, but also not giving in to the lure of marketing, which deceives us by presenting some of these foods as healthy,” explains Véronique Liesse, dietician.
Light or enriched products, gluten-free (but whose glycemic index is often explosive) and ready-to-eat meals are indeed dangerous: lentil chips have nothing to do, from a nutritional quality point of view, with real lentils, and a 0% fat fruit yogurt is full of flavorings, sugars (or sweeteners) and thickeners that are anything but beneficial.
« The best rule to follow is to cook raw products yourself, to know and control what you eat. For meals at home, we can make them simple, but healthy, filling, economical and quick if we are tired or running after the clock, but we can also get organized and cook more on the weekend to save time during the week.
We can limit sweet indulgences so that they remain occasional.
Industrial desserts to end the meal on a sweet note, chocolate bread for afternoon tea, aperitif with salty nibbles, cold meats to calm a little hunger before dinner, cheeses with bread and wine to conclude, chocolate with coffee or biscuits in front of the television.
“It is wise to take a close look at all these little “treat indulgences” which are reflexes that we have integrated into the organization of our daily lives (sometimes for a long time). Most of them actually provide mainly sugar, fat (not always good quality) and calories which add up.
While it can be difficult to radically eliminate everything (our minds do not tolerate restrictions that are perceived as punitive), These surpluses can simply be revised downwards : we avoid accumulating them by making choices (we can eliminate those which in reality bring little taste pleasure, or which we no longer even pay attention to), we find alternatives (make a herbal tea after dinner, replace biscuits with a small handful of unroasted and unsalted almonds), or we reserve them for weekends or outings.
We reduce alcohol
“The same principle applies to alcohol: drinking one or two glasses of wine every day may seem harmless, but it is not, neither for your weight nor for your health. We review our consumption downwards – especially since it is rich in sugars and “empty calories”, harmful to sleep and morale – so as not to exceed 4 glasses per week, and by drinking water instead, the only essential drink on a daily basis”, recommends Valérie Espinasse, micronutritionist.
Small details that make a real difference after a few weeks, without having to tighten your belt!
We eat when we are hungry, and above all, more slowly.
Eating more slowly and chewing for a long time allows you to increase your energy expenditure, enjoy the flavors better, digest better (a significant benefit for less bloating) and reduce the quantities ingested before satiety occurs.
This requires paying close attention to your food sensations… and adapting to them, avoiding finishing your plate (or eating a yogurt, dessert or cheese) when you are in reality no longer hungry.
This is particularly useful when you are eating with others, without really paying attention to what you are eating, even though you have served yourself a portion identical to that of growing teenagers, your partner or a sports friend, and in reality it is too large.
Outside of meals, this listening is also very useful and prevents us from snacking just out of boredom or fatigue, when we are just thirsty, or when what would do us good would be to take a hot bath, walk for a few minutes, read a few pages or simply breathe and blow a little.
In summary
-At 50 or 60, it is possible to find a new nutritional balance without a crash diet, taking into account age-related changes.
-Increasing vegetable consumption and avoiding ultra-processed foods are keys to a nutrient-dense diet.
-Reducing indulgences, limiting alcohol consumption and not finishing your plate if you are no longer hungry contribute to better health.
Our experts:
- Valérie Espinasse, micronutritionist and doctor of pharmacy
- Véronique Liesse, dietician-nutritionist and teacher
Source: www.topsante.com
