As you tuck into a crunchy salad in the holiday sunshine or sit down to a plate of grilled fish freshly caught that morning, it’s easy to imagine yourself sticking with the healthy and delicious Mediterranean diet for ever.
Back home, however, as real life returns it’s all too easy to slide back into the unthinking convenience of ready meals and supermarket sandwiches, and by the autumn your diet is as unchanged as ever.
So, as summer starts to draw to a close, why not commit to making this the year you really do stick to a dietary upgrade, piling fruit and vegetables, pulses, nuts and seafood on your plate every day as a sure-fire investment in your future health?
Huge swathes of science prove that adopting a healthy diet is one of the best steps anyone can take to slow the ravages of age. Just last month, a study from the American Society for Nutrition confirmed that a poor lifelong diet puts you in the highest risk category for dementia, for example, whereas a good diet offers significant protection.
With the latest NHS figures showing dementia cases in the UK now at a record high, we are all sharply focused on finding ways to reduce our risk of this terrifying and debilitating condition. And incredibly, this new study shows that no matter how many pizzas and burgers you’ve eaten in your youth, switching to healthy eating patterns at any age can reap benefits, and could be enough to bump you out of the ‘at risk’ category, radically lowering your chances of getting dementia in your 70s.
ZOE head nutritionist Dr Federica Amati
As a registered nutritionist, I’m passionate about the power of food to optimise health and slow the ageing process, and this study confirms my long-held view that it’s never too late to make dietary changes that could ultimately protect your brain health and save your life.
That doesn’t mean adopting a strict vegan lifestyle or putting a forever ban on cakes and rosé. But it does mean making a few small sacrifices, and a couple of key changes to your diet, right now. All in all, it’s a small price to pay for dodging the health bullets we all face as we age.
The best way is to capitalise on the clever concept of ‘compound health’.
In the financial world ‘compound interest’ is what you get when a bank starts paying interest on your principal savings pot and the interest it earns year on year. Consistently adding small amounts of money to your investment reaps the greatest rewards because the interest you earn builds to the point that it begins to earn interest on itself.
It’s the same with a healthy diet. Gradually accumulating small dietary tweaks and changes as you go through life creates health gains that continue to grow – building on top of each other to improve your mental and physical health and protect you against illness and disease.
By eating good food, you are making a small deposit into your health account every day and, quite literally, investing in yourself. Yes, there might be a few withdrawals along the way (the social smoking in your late teens, binge drinking in your 20s, sleepless nights in your 30s), but your underlying investment will continue to grow.
Certainly, studies show that by switching to a healthy diet in their 40s, women can gain more than ten extra years of good health. And even if you don’t make those changes until you’re in your 70s, you can still add six vibrant and active years!
We are all living longer, but what value is there to a long life if you spend the last decades in misery? If you want to remain active and healthy right up to the end, diet holds the key.
It’s not merely about adding years to life – but adding life to those years.
These are my dietary rules for healthy living at every age. Take note of each decade. It is possible to target the foods your body can best utilise at each life stage to maximise the knock-on health potential in later years.
You might not be able to turn back the clock to erase the sugary cereals and jam sandwiches you were fed as a child, but you can step in now to influence the health-giving foods your children and grandchildren eat and give them a better start on their long-term health investment…
Age: 0-12
Drink water and expand your food repertoire
As parents and grandparents we should be encouraging children to enjoy a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods because this is what helps their fast-developing gut bacteria – the microbiome – to flourish. Happy stomach bugs work to build the foundations of a strong immune system.
Huge swathes of science prove that adopting a healthy diet is one of the best steps anyone can take to slow the ravages of age
By introducing new and different whole foods from an early age, children are also less likely to be affected by allergies (which can be a sign of the immune system overreacting) and will be better protected against infection and disease for the rest of their lives.
We should also be minimising their exposure to added sugar. The UK has the highest number of tooth extractions in children under seven and the biggest teeth rotter is the liquid sugar in squash, juice and fizzy drinks.
Encourage children to be happy drinking water instead. If they’re not swilling sugary drinks around their mouths for most of their lives, they will be at reduced risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers later on (all of which are life-shortening) – and they’re more likely to keep their own teeth into old age.
Age: 12-20
Calcium, omega-3 and iron for girls
The rapid growth phase of adolescence is a golden opportunity to lay down calcium to build strong bones, which provide a good foundation to protect against osteoporosis later. Although our bones regenerate throughout our life, the efficiency degrades with time. A calcium-rich diet works best in adolescence when the bones are lengthening.
You’ll find plenty of calcium in milk and dairy products (cheese, yoghurt), leafy greens, nuts and seeds as well as dairy alternatives fortified with added calcium. Sardines and anchovies are another good source.
Blood loss through menstruation means many teenage girls end up being anaemic and this can impair immunity, energy levels and cognitive function (which they need for focus, concentration and learning). Eating iron-rich foods will help: eggs, salmon, prawns and chicken (dark meat has more iron than white meat). Vegetarians can also get iron from legumes (add a squeeze of lemon juice or vitamin C-rich tomato to boost absorption).
The teenage brain undergoes important structural changes and ensuring adequate omega-3 fatty acids (found in oily fish and seeds) helps ‘neuroplasticity’ at this developmental stage, which could reduce their risk of mental health problems in later life.
Age: 20s and 30s
Plant protein
This life stage offers the physiological opportunity to build a muscular physique. We need muscle to live a healthy life and building up lean mass in your 30s provides a good insurance policy during our 80s and 90s.
However, it is a mistake to try to fuel your muscle growth with vast quantities of animal protein in the form of steak and chicken. Animal protein in high quantities is known to be ‘pro-inflammatory’ and high in saturated fat, which can contribute to the build-up of plaques in the arteries – increasing your later risk of heart disease.
In your 30s harmful inflammatory processes can start to take hold, with cholesterol and triglycerides (blood fats) creeping up.
So switch fatty processed meat (burgers, sausages, ham) with plant sources of protein such as quinoa, buckwheat, lentils (there’s 18g of protein in half a cup), beans, nuts and seeds — all help form the building blocks of heart-disease prevention and have been linked to longevity.
Last’s month’s study showed that participants who sustained the highest cognitive abilities over time were those who tended to eat more vegetables, fruit, pulses (beans and lentils) and whole grains (wholemeal bread, brown rice), and consume less salt, added sugars and refined grains.
- Whole foods: The majority of your plate should be made up of real, whole food. Minimise consumption of ready meals or Ultra Processed Foods, packet snacks and condiments, squash and fizzy drinks.
- Plant based: Half of the food you eat should come from plants (legumes, nuts, whole grains and a wide variety of fruit and vegetables) and try to have some days when you don’t eat meat
- Good fats: Use beneficial fats found in extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds and oily fish, and avoid too many animal fats and processed fat.
- Don’t eat too much: Pay attention to your fullness signals and stop eating when you’ve had enough
Age: 40s and 50s
Fermented foods
The hormonal changes that occur for men and women in midlife can have a weakening effect on the immune system – which is why new allergies can suddenly appear.
It can also take longer to recover from a cold or flu, and bodies can struggle to identify and fight cancerous cells which appear more frequently as we age.
However, the fibre and probiotic microbes in fermented foods can work in your favour to support the populations of microbes in your gut. These not only help the immune system work effectively, but also dampen the inflammatory response which is a strong precursor for heart disease.
I recommend eating two or three portions of different fermented foods every day.
That could be a small shot of kefir (fermented milk) or live yoghurt with breakfast, a spoon of sauerkraut or kimchi (fermented cabbage) in your lunchtime sandwich, and using miso paste instead of stock cubes in your evening meal (add at the end of cooking to protect the beneficial microbes). You could also drink fermented tea (kombucha) or nibble a chunk of traditional fermented cheddar cheese.
Age: 60s and 70s
Nutrient dense meals
At this age, the health odds begin to be stacked against you because this is when the consequences of your previous decades start to make themselves felt.
The years between 50 and 70 are often referred to as ‘sniper alley’. This is when the accumulated effects of lifestyle decisions made in earlier years begin to manifest, shaping future health and longevity. It’s also when you are more likely to be affected by heart disease, type 2 diabetes and strokes.
But 80 per cent of these cases could be prevented with diet and lifestyle changes.
All our organs gradually lose efficiency with age, which means our need for a nutrient-rich diet peaks just as our appetite starts to wane. The bottom line is that when you nudge towards your 70s, each snack and meal needs to count.
When we are young, our resilient body can bounce back from a few days of junk food, but now you’ll struggle to metabolise a greasy burger. You’re more likely to be left feeling tired, constipated, lacking in energy and probably struggling to sleep.
In fact, that meal is a completely wasted nutritional opportunity. Your body needs protein (around 1g per kg of body weight), fibre (at least 30g a day), and a full spread of nutrients to keep you feeling strong, sharp and healthy for the coming years.
As you get older, you might not be able to stomach large volumes of food like you used to, and lack of appetite might mean you resort to a narrow range of easy-to-eat meals, but just make sure what you do eat really counts. That means piling your plate with vegetables, but also nuts and seeds, oily fish, eggs and good quality meat.
The best way to do this is to plan quick but nutrient dense ‘composite meals’ such as a cheese, sauerkraut and vegetable stuffed omelette. Or get in the habit of batch-cooking ‘one-pot’ soups and stews packed with vegetables, pulses and whole grains.
Avoid the temptation to resort to ultra-processed cakes, biscuits or crackers – these are wasted opportunities to nourish yourself.
Age: 80+
Drink water and eat fibre
By the time you’ve reached your 80s the risk factors earlier in life, if left unchanged, will now be developing into disease. You are very likely to be dealing with at least one long-term health condition and be taking a cocktail of prescription drugs which may, themselves, be having an impact on your health.
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If you’re lucky, or if you’ve been dutifully paying into your compound health account through eating well for many decades, you should still be feeling spritely.
But don’t ever lose sight of the impact dehydration can have on your health at this stage of life. Don’t wait to feel thirsty – those signals are likely to be ineffective by now – but make a point of drinking water and tea throughout the day and eating hydrating fruit and vegetables (such as tomatoes, cucumber, pears, melon).
Your tolerance for dehydration dwindles with every extra year, so just being slightly dehydrated can be enough to cause confusion and increase your risk of stroke.
If you enjoy wine or beer, now is the time to cut back to one glass occasionally. As you become less mobile your digestive system will also slow, increasing the risk of constipation which is not only uncomfortable, but can lead to serious gut problems and even mental deterioration.
Get into the habit of snacking on prunes. Not only do they help to regulate your bowel but they are high in calcium for bone health and very high in polyphenols for additional gut health benefits. Just three to four prunes a day can be enough to get you moving!
- Dr Federica Amati is head nutritionist at ZOE and author of Everyone Should Know This (Penguin)
- As told to LOUISE ATKINSON