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| Source: US News & World Report |
This posting originally appeared on
Remember the healthy things your mom used to do when you were a kid? Nag you to eat breakfast, pack a robust school lunch for you, and make sure your dinner was hot no matter what time you got home?
Since it is National Women�s Health Week, culminating with Mother�s Day, now is the time for you to mother your mom and provide her with nutrition advice about her unique diet needs.
Here are five foods that your mom (and grandmother) should be consuming to stay healthy:
Milk Fortified with Vitamin D:
Most women fall short of their daily vitamin D needs because they aren�t drinking adequate amounts of milk. There are few foods that have has much vitamin D as a serving of milk. Vitamin D is needed to help your body absorb bone-strengthening calcium and fight bone-thinning osteoporosis. As your mom ages, her skin�s ability to make vitamin D from sunlight declines. To make matters worse, her intestines and kidneys lose some ability to absorb and convert vitamin D into its active form for use in her body. To sneak more milk in her diet, suggest that she drink a latte in the morning. A 12-ounce latte can provide close to a cup serving of milk. Nutrition Bonus Tip: If she eats yogurt, make sure that it is fortified with vitamin D. Many yogurts, including most Greek yogurts, aren�t fortified with this important vitamin.
Whole Grain Cereals with Vitamin B12 Added:
Vitamin B12 is important for healthy nerves and red blood cells, but it is found naturally only in animal foods such as poultry, meat, and fish. Unfortunately, up to 30 percent of older adults have a decline in the secretion of hydrochloric acid in their stomach, which helps the body absorb the naturally occurring form of vitamin B12. The good news is that synthetic vitamin B12, which is added to fortified foods such as whole grain cereals, doesn�t depend on stomach acids to be absorbed. Nutrition Bonus Tip: If she starts consuming whole grain cereals, she will likely also be pour vitamin D-rich milk on top. (See above.)
Canned Salmon:
Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among post-menopausal women. Mom should eat at least two fish meals weekly, especially fatty fish such as salmon, which is rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, in order to reduce her risk. Canned salmon is an affordable and easy way to have her boost her fish intake at lunch. Nutrition Bonus Tip: Salmon is an excellent source of protein, another nutrient that mom needs to be having at each meal.
Baked Potato:
Potatoes are an unbelievable, affordable and rich source of potassium in the diet. Potassium can help lower high blood pressure and many women are not getting enough of this mineral in their diet. Since your blood pressure naturally increases with age, adding potassium-rich foods in the diet may help her avoid high blood pressure. An elevated blood pressure increases the risk of stroke, another leading cause of death among women. Nutrition Bonus Tip: Tell your mom to stuff her baked potato with cooked broccoli and some plain yogurt, which are both also great sources of potassium.
Kale:
If mom gets cataracts, which is an age-related clouding of the lens of her eyes, it will affect her vision and lifestyle. Without clear vision, she will have problems with routine daily activities such as cooking, reading, and driving. Cataracts are more common in women than men. Eating kale, which is rich in two phytochemicals, lutein and zeaxanthin, may also reduce mom�s risk of getting cataracts. Nutrition Bonus Tip: Other green leafy vegetables such spinach and romaine lettuce are also good sources of these phytochemicals. Make sure that mom has a leafy green salad with dinner each night.
Be well, Joan
Twitter: @JoanSalgeBlake
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