Are you about to reach 40 and you’re worried about whether you need to make significant changes to your life?
Age shouldn’t be an impediment or a motive to care for your body. For precisely this reason, you should always care for yourself. However, there are a few changes you should make to your diet once your reach 40.
After 40, not only is it more difficult to lose weight, but also certain health problems can start that you need to control.
Today, we’ve prepared a list of the changes you should make. (Don’t worry; they’re simple!)
1. Increase your calcium intake
Due to the fact that your production of estrogen reduces after age 40, your bones will have greater difficulty in absorbing calcium from food.
The problem with this is that it increases your risk of suffering from osteoporosis and fractures that could have consequences for the future.
The ideal scenario is to ingest around 1000 milligrams of calcium a day.
Some options to get it include:
- Cheese, which contain between 470 and 850 milligrams of calcium in a 100 gram piece (depending on the type of cheese). Remember, however, that when including it in your meals you should avoid adding more fats.
- Almonds, which provide 250 milligrams of calcium in 100 grams of almonds. It is important not to consume almonds excessively, because they are high in carbohydrates and fats.
- Yogurt. 100 grams of yogurt gives you between 127 and 180 milligrams of calcium. When it comes to choosing your yogurt, go for a natural one that’s as free as possible from sweeteners. Another good alternative is to make your own yogurt at home. This will enable you to make it in different ways and with different flavors.
2. Eat more protein
When you reach 40, you also need to increase your protein intake, because our muscle mass decreases as we grow older. This means that you can lose weight without wanting to, leaving room for more fat to accumulate.
Ideally, you should include around 30 grams of protein in each meal.
The best options are:
- Soy, which contains 37 grams of protein per 100 grams. The ideal option is to eat the bean itself, but if you don’t like it or you can’t get it, try tofu or soy milk.
- Pine nuts, which provide 14 grams of protein in every 100 grams. However, avoid eating large quantities of pine nuts at once because they are high in fats.
- Chicken. We get 30 grams of protein from every 100 grams of skinless lean chicken. The best way to eat it is in meals with vegetables and the least amount of fat possible.
3. Reduce your sodium intake
Inflammation and bloating is a common problem upon reaching your forties and during the menopause. To reduce how often and how seriously this happens, it is a good idea to eat little sodium.
The easiest way to achieve this is to reduce your salt intake. If you’ve already reduced your use of salt in cooking and inflammation continues to be a problem, check the labels of the products you tend to eat.
The majority contain sodium among their ingredients, so you should seek out healthier options or reduce the portions you eat.
Pay special attention to the nutritional information label. There, you can see the quantity of sodium that the product contains per portion and the weight of a portion.
4. Add more antioxidants to your diet
You’ve probably already heard a lot about the benefits of antioxidants in the body.
When you reach 40, you’ll start to experience problems related to aging, like skin problems and clicking joints.
To reduce the problem, try to include:
- Peppers
- Blackberries
- Broccoli
- Strawberries
- Green tea
- Dark chocolate
5. Monitor your vitamin B12 intake
When you reach 40, your body starts to have nerve problems and problems with blood cell production. These two situations are reversed with the consumption of enough vitamin B12.
An adult requires around 2.4 micrograms of this vitamin per day, and you can get it from dairy products, fish and eggs.
Other changes you should make when you reach 40
As well as your diet, it’s also important to improve your lifestyle to ensure that the efforts you make with your diet reap rewards.
The main changes are:
- Make changes to your exercise plan to adapt it to the characteristics of your body. If you’ve noticed joint problems, choose more gentle exercises.
- Have a medical check-up every 6 months. If you’ve always had good health you might not visit your doctor very often. When you reach 40, it’s important to do so more often to rule out the appearance of diseases.
- Exercise often. Keep moving as much as you can. Even just a short walk or getting up and stretching a bit counts!
Do you already have these habits or do you need to adopt some into your life?
