Anti Aging Nutrition and LifeStyle Advice

Control your portion sizes. Here is a very important message: If at the end of the day you have eaten excess calories from any source, you will store these calories as fat. This, of course, will affect the aging process.

Let's say you consume an extra 1,000 carbohydrate calories in the form of plain pasta. It takes about 23 per cent of these calories to break down the dietary carbohydrate and store it as body fat, so 970 of the 1,000 extra carbohydrate calories will be stored as body fat. Now, let's say you consume an extra 1,000 fat calories in the form of creams. It takes about three per cent of these calories to break down the dietary fat and store it as body fat, so 970 of the 1,000 extra fat calories will be stored as body fat.

It is obviously better to have a diet richer in carbohydrates than in fat, because less of the excess will be stored as body fat, but you gain weight whether your diet is low in fat or not. If your diet contains more calories than you expend in a day, you will gain weight regardless of the source of the calories. You must pay attention to your portion sizes no matter what you're eating. We live in a society that is hooked on super-sizing everything from shakes and fries and cookies to muffins and bagels and restaurant entrees. For many of us, it may not be that our food choices are poor but that we are eating too much.

When reducing food intake and portion sizes, do so in the following order:

Reduce fat intake

Reduce alcohol intake

Reduce sugar intake

Reduce starches (pasta, breads, rice)

Try eating from a smaller plate or bowl. When eating out, always order the smaller portion size where there's a choice. Split meals with a friend when dining out - for example, order one salad and one entree between you and share. Always drink a glass of water before any meal.

Pay attention to serving sizes listed on labels. Sometimes what is listed as one serving is unrealistically small, so you may trick yourself into believing you are consuming an amount low in caloric and fat content when, in fact, you are eating four times the listed serving size. For example, a box of macaroni in cheese sauce (not that this would be a particularly healthy choice) might be listed as four servings but most people would find it only enough food for two. When calculating caloric and fat content in such cases multiply the values listed on the label by two to determine whether it's a healthy choice.

Seniors can experience health problems from consuming too few calories, however. For this reason, as we age we should ensure that our total caloric intake for the day does not fall below 1,200 calories.

Vitamins and minerals are nutrients that the body needs to work properly. They boost the immune system, promote normal growth and useful in pregnancy diet.