Midlife, for most women, means having to face the painful reality that life will be a downhill slope from there. The focal point of life for most women is at age 39 (yet most women consider middle age to occur only at 40). It is often at this stage that women experience menopausal symptoms and start gaining layers of fat on their bodies. These are the reasons why women have different nutritional needs during these years.
Fitness for Aging Women
For women who are starting to age, the strongest influence on body fat distribution is still genetics. Yet there are many ways to counter obesity or rapid weight gain during the process of aging. Here are some great ways:
• Women, at this stage, should be encouraged to maintain (if not add more) physical activities. Arthritis should not be a deterring factor to perform any kind of chores or sports activities. It is also preferable that an aging woman would have at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity each day. Walking is a good way to spend these 30 minutes and so is aerobic exercise. Aerobics burn calories and causes fat loss (plus it is not as strenuous as other types of workouts).
• For more calorie-burning moves and muscle toning, it’s also good to try weight training. Weightlifting can help reduce body fat by burning calories. Lifting different weights increases an older person’s metabolic rate to its youthful level. Weightlifting is also important in building bone tissues—which is a great way of fighting osteoporosis.
Nutritional Requirements for Aging Women
• Women who are over 40 years of age should have a daily consumption of 3-4 servings of low fat dairy food. This is to have a sufficient provision of calcium which is a very important mineral for aging persons. The non-dairy sources of calcium include fish, fortified breakfast cereals, some types of nuts, green vegetables, and beans. If calcium supplements are prescribed by a physician, then the best absorption rate is at 500-600mg once or twice each day. For those who have inadequate sun exposure, Vitamin D supplements may be a necessity.
• A serving of lean protein to each meal would help an aging person feel full longer. Fish is a good source of protein and weight loss is better achieved by consuming fish rather than meat.
• Aging women should have more fibre on their diets. Fibrous foods stop hunger pangs and they even cause toxins to be flushed out of your system. Aside from flushing toxins out of your system, fibre also keeps your energy levels high and your blood sugar at its normal level.
• After the menopausal stage, the iron requirements for women decrease (this is because iron is no longer lost due to menstruation). Thus, the iron requirement for postmenopausal women would be the same as the requirement for adult men which is 8.7mg/day.
• Vitamin C is highly important for aging women because it protects the immune system by increasing white blood cell production and increasing interferon levels (necessary in keeping viruses away from healthy cells). Vitamin C is also best at fighting certain types of cancer.
Women have different nutritional and physical needs as they age; yet they can still maximize their energy by being physically active and eating a well-balanced diet.
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