Funky Boomers

Baby Boomers need to eat a healthy diet if they want to be able to enjoy healthy retirement years. Trips to the doctor to monitor and treat diabetes or heart disease are no way to celebrate the freedom that comes from no longer having to punch a clock. Eating a healthy diet is the perfect way to prevent these two diseases that can ruin your lifestyle in your retirement years.

Here’s something to consider:

*  Can you remember what you ate this morning, or throughout the day, for that matter?

*  Did you have a healthy diet full of lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and vegetables?

*  Or did you grab a fast cup of coffee and a muffin at the local coffee shop for breakfast?

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is a major cause for the increase of disease in America today. America spends more money on finding a cure for cancer than any country in the world, yet generally our Standard American Diet, full of animal fats, unhealthy fats: saturated, hydrogenated fats, low fiber, high processed foods, contribute to the very diseases we are trying to prevent.

Even if you are not American, chances are good that you are not eating a diet that’s recommended for a healthy aging process. Face it, you can’t prevent aging, but there are things you can do to maintain your health as you age. Next to having lots of money, health is a great wealth. Why die prematurely? As a Baby Boomer, you have lots of living yet to do and all the time to do it. Diet is the perfect place to start with changes for healthy senior years. Just take a look at what your diet is doing to you.

Middle aged spread is a kind term for abdominal fat. When we become 40 years old, it’s like a switch gets thrown in our metabolism and the fat begins to slowly build in the midsection. The distribution of fat is different from that in our younger bodies. Instead of being under the kind, it begins to pack in around our internal organs and interferes with their function. This is how this adipose tissue contributes to heart disease. If you eat a diet high in salt, you can hurt your kidneys and other organs. Remember, you are what you eat. Do you really need all that phosphoric acid that is an included ingredient to fizzy drinks? It dissolves your bones. Aren’t you going to need those later on? What we Baby Boomers need is not a “DIET”, but a change in life style.

A diet is only a temporary fix and, even if some weight is lost, it can all come back when the diet is stopped. We fall so easily back into old habits. Only a more or less permanent lifestyle change can effect the needed reversal of metabolism that builds this killer mid section fat. A perfect Baby Boomer’s diet would control portion size while insuring that more of the good stuff and less of the bad is eaten. If you are nuts about ice cream, don’t deprive yourself, but try changing to a low fat ice cream and eat less of it. If you love steak, make sure you take only a portion the size of the palm of your hand and cut off the fat. In a restaurant, you can ask for a box to take home the extra. Many restaurants now offer a senior menu which features smaller portions and prices. It’s time to shift mental gears and start eating for life.

Here’s a suggestion, divide your daily menu into:

1.  50 percent good carbohydrates

2.  25 percent lean proteins

3.  25 percent fats

With these percentages, you can come close to a well balanced diet.

*  Carbohydrates should mainly come from fruits and vegetables.

*  Proteins can come from beans, tofu and other plant sources.

*  Only a third of the protein needs to come from lean meat.

*  Fats should be “good” fats such as from olive oil, nuts or oily fish. Poly and mono saturated fats are best.

If you can figure out how to fit your diet into this profile, you will be making a lifestyle change that will help you live a longer with greater health and wellness. Baby Boomers often spend lives of excess and sooner is better than later to fix the problems in our diet that might be killing us prematurely or ruining our fun as we age.

Cheryl Snider has been writing articles on various subjects for many years. Come visit her latest websites that discuss Bath Lighting Fixtures and other Bathroom Lighting Ideas.