Americans are big on snacks, sweets, and processed convenience foods, but as you get older and your metabolism slows, you need fewer calories to maintain your weight (
12). That means there’s less room in your diet for nonnutritious foods such as these, and you’ll need to boost the quality of your meals and snacks to ensure you get the nutrients necessary for healthy aging while keeping your waistline in check. Processed and other “junk” foods cause problems because they frequently contain high levels of sodium (52), saturated and trans fats (34), and added sugars (55), which speed up aging throughout your body.
Excess sodium causes your body to retain fluid, leading to hypertension and making your heart work harder. Experts recommend limiting your daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams (1 teaspoon of table salt), but you’ll likely find that eating processed or prepared foods takes you past that limit in no time. Looking for “low-sodium” on labels can help, but making your own meals using fresh ingredients gives you much greater control over sodium. As you get older, you’ll benefit even more from laying off the salt: A 2001 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that people over forty-five who followed a low-sodium diet noticed a bigger blood pressure drop compared to their younger counterparts.
Saturated and trans fats increase inflammation that ages your brain, heart, immune system, and even your skin. You need some saturated fat, found in animal products such as meat and full-fat dairy, but experts advise keeping your intake to less than 7 percent of your daily calories. Trans fats, however, have no redeeming nutritional value, and you should shun them as much as possible. Pass on products that list shortening or partially hydrogenated oils anywhere in the ingredients list.
Added sugars, such as high-fructose corn syrup, are found in an astonishing array of packaged foods. They provide empty calories and send your blood sugar levels soaring, stimulating the production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which increase free radicals and inflammation. Continually spiking your blood sugar with sweets also triggers the release of extra insulin, which research shows turns off a “longevity gene” in your body. That blood sugar roller coaster also makes insulin less effective at clearing glucose from your bloodstream, accelerating the insulin resistance many people experience as they get older because of changing body composition (21), according to a 2010 study in the journal Diabetes. To keep your blood sugar steady, cut back on “white” foods such as flour and rice, eat more nonstarchy vegetables, and reduce added sugars to no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 g) for women, or 150 calories or less per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 g) for men.
The easiest way to avoid these aging substances is to cut back on processed foods and make your own meals. Styles of eating such as the Mediterranean diet (13) limit sodium, harmful fats, and sweets while emphasizing fresh, healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, good fats, fish, nuts and seeds, and whole grains that offer an incredible array of age-fighting antioxidants and other nutrients essential to keeping you young and healthy. These foods are also generally free of preservatives, chemical stabilizers, and artificial flavors and colors, all of which do you no health favors.
Another benefit of eating fresh, whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, and legumes is that you’ll get more fiber, which helps you feel full on fewer calories and decreases your risk of diseases such as colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Fiber from whole grains, in particular, is linked to lower weight, BMI, waist circumference, cholesterol, and blood sugar, according to a 2007 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. U.S. dietary guidelines recommend consuming three servings of whole grains per day. Good sources include whole-grain breakfast cereals, whole-grain bread (look for “whole-grain” at the top of the ingredients list), whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, popcorn, oats, quinoa, barley, wheat berries, and millet. Women should aim for 25 grams of total fiber a day and men for at least 30 grams.