There’s plenty of one-size-fits-all health advice out there. But for people of a certain age, the diet and exercise recommendations aimed at younger folks just aren’t as helpful as they used to be. Our bodies have changed, and we don’t need to start hardcore exercise routines or embark on crazy fad diets that skip entire food groups.
These days, there’s too much health information coming at us from all sides, much of it from questionable sources. That can be overwhelming at any age. We asked a group of cardiologists, nutritionists, and other health professionals for one simple piece of advice they would give to all their senior patients.
What nutritionists wish their patients would do
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When it comes to a healthy senior lifestyle, we can all benefit from some advice from a nutritionist who treats senior patients regularly. Four of them shared their top tips, and each one is a powerful tool for wellness.
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As we age, it’s especially important to make sure we are getting plenty of fiber. Registered dietician nutritionist Kathleen Garcia-Benson told us: “Fiber is essential for a healthy digestive system, regular bowel movements, and is associated with a lower risk of colon cancer. Easy ways to boost fiber include snacking on berries, adding ground flaxseeds or chia seeds to oatmeal, or using a fiber supplement. Just be sure to drink plenty of water when increasing fiber!”
Nutritionists also urge seniors to make sure they are getting enough protein. According to registered dietician Courtney Pelitera, one of the biggest effects of aging seen across the board is something called sarcopenia, or the breakdown of muscle mass, strength and function.
“A great way to preserve as much muscle as possible (besides regular exercise) is to make sure the diet is adequate in protein,” Pelitera said. “I like to encourage at least 20g of protein or more per meal with older adults.”
Another common problem for seniors is deficiency of vitamin D, which plays a role in muscle movement and immune function, and is needed to keep bones healthy.
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“The body becomes less efficient at converting sunlight into Vitamin D as we age, and older adults are at increased risk for having low levels,” said RD Annette Snyder. “Food sources of vitamin D include fatty fish (salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel), egg yolks, fish liver oil, mushrooms, and fortified dairy products.”
Something as basic as hydration can also become a problem for seniors. RDN Colette Micko says this is because the natural mechanisms that increase the sensation for thirst are diminished as you age.
“This means you cannot rely on feeling thirsty to signal that your body needs water,” she said. “Staying adequately hydrated is important for nearly every cell in your body to function, and can help with energy levels, digestion, body temperature regulation and lubrication of joints.”
Micko recommends increasing your water intake to a minimum of 48 ounces per day by drinking on a schedule, always keeping fluids nearby and focusing on hydrating foods like fruits and vegetables. This can all help ensure you are meeting your body’s minimum requirements.
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The diet tips medical doctors wish their patients would adhere to
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The best thing that older adults can do to protect their heart health is to eat whole, plant-based foods ― and Dr. Katie Golden, a board-certified emergency medicine physician, recommends the Mediterranean diet, to be consumed joyfully with friends and family.
“It’s all about eating fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats,” Golden said. “Also, enjoy yourself and the company of those around you while doing it, because mental health and well-being is an important part of physical health.”
And all the cardiologists we spoke to agreed on one thing ― the importance of exercise. Just do whatever you can do. According to Dr. Eldad Einav, a cardiologist, obesity specialist and clinical assistant professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University, study after study shows that exercise helps with blood pressure regulation, cholesterol management, blood sugar regulation, weight maintenance, inflammation, stress, mortality, energy, stamina, sleep, cognitive ability, joint health, balance, mobility, immune system function and social interaction.
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Exercise guidelines from a medical doctor
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It doesn’t take hours at the gym or training for an Ironman Triathlon to maintain your health. Dr. Dany Sayad, medical director for the Tampa General Hospital Heart & Vascular Institute’s General Cardiology Center of Excellence, told us: “If I could get my senior patients to do one thing, it would be to exercise a minimum of 150 minutes per week.”
“The exercise should be tailored to the patient’s physical abilities,” Sayad said. “Chair yoga, pilates, and most importantly walking would improve not only the cardiovascular system but also lower the risk of fall, the anxiety and ameliorate the sense of well-being.”
Things doctors wish you’d stop doing
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If your doctor hasn’t already told you, cardiologists have a short list of habits you need to quit. According to Dr. Philip Nimoityn, a clinical cardiologist at Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia at Jefferson, “seniors interested in maintaining cardiovascular health should pursue a heart-healthy lifestyle including avoidance of obesity, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.”
“A well-balanced diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, is beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease,” Nimoityn said. He also recommends asking for a few specific tests to make sure your heart is in tip-top shape.
“Better screening for cardiovascular disease can be achieved by supplementing standard lipid screening with additional tests including Apo-B, lipoprotein(a) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, which identifies vascular inflammation that can now be treated to reduce future risk,” Nimoityn said. “A CT coronary artery calcium score is also very useful in stratifying an individual’s cardiovascular risk.”This article originally appeared onHuffPost.
The EU’s competitiveness has been the talk of the continent (“Draghi hopes to save Europe from itself”, Opinion, September 18).
Former and current prime ministers, business leaders and heads of the EU’s largest investment funds, among other prominent voices, are lamenting what has been termed a “competitive crisis”.
EU leaders are right to focus on this issue. Europe is falling behind.
As leaders look for real solutions to these real challenges, they should take a page from the book of those running US capital markets and get rid of the EU’s antiquated shareholder rights equity issuance rules.
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The US method of raising equity capital through open offerings is faster and more efficient, and it ultimately better serves shareholders.
Conversely, the EU’s stringent shareholder rights rules, while designed to protect investors, often impede companies’ timely access to capital.
As chief executive of a fund manager I know that in today’s fast-paced global economy cost, speed and access to capital is critical.
Rights offerings often succeed not because of the companies’ attractiveness — for example, a perception that they are strong and well managed — but because of wide discounts offered that are consequently coercive to shareholders who didn’t want to absorb dilution.
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That’s anathema to a competitive market. The prevalence of deeply discounted, defensive rights issues is one of the reasons why European markets have lagged behind the US, in our view.
By modernising these rules, the EU could create a more dynamic and responsive market environment. Simplifying the equity issuance process would make it easier for European companies to compete on the global stage, attracting more investment into the region through the improved access to and cost of capital. Investors are more likely to put their money into markets where companies can act swiftly and decisively.
Moreover, reforming these regulations would send a strong signal that the EU is committed to fostering a competitive and innovation-friendly economy via vibrant capital markets. This could help reverse the current trend of European companies being overshadowed by their American and Asian counterparts.
Joseph Harvey Chief Executive, Cohen & Steers, New York, NY, US
IMAGES of known shoplifters must be shared on WhatsApp in order to protect staff, a supermarket boss has demanded.
Iceland’s executive chairman Richard Walker yesterday blasted “bonkers” data protection laws that prevent him from doing so to safeguard violent offenders’ “human rights”.
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Images of known shoplifters must be shared on WhatsApp in order to protect staff, the Iceland boss has demandedCredit: Getty
He also slammed the “ridiculous” £200 theft limit introduced by the Tories in 2014, which treats thefts under this amount as “low value” and lets offenders off with a slap on the wrist via post.
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to scrap the limit as well as making assaults on shop workers a specific criminal offence in a new crime bill.
Urging the new Government to get cracking, Mr Walker told the BBC: “We talk about workers’ rights… how about the right not to be assaulted at work?
“So making assault on shop workers a stand alone offence, getting rid of this ridiculous £200 limit, which basically gives a free card to shoplifters to nick what they want.
“And more police resourcing because they are not responding at the moment as they should do.”
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He went on: “I’d also like to throw the gauntlet down to the Information Commissioner because to protect the human rights of known violent offenders I am not allowed to share on WhatsApp groups images of known shop lifters, which is bonkers.
“So I think there’s many things the Government can do and clear up that will help my customers, my colleagues in the day-to-day life, just go about their business.”
Shoplifting hit a 20-year high in the year to March 2024, with 443,995 offences recorded by police in England and Wales.
This is a third higher than in the same period in 2014, when 326,440 offences were recorded but led to significantly higher numbers being punished.
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Feral shoplifters attack us with used needles & mallets… catching a thief revealed sinister underworld pulling strings
Or at least that’s the situation at the 5-star Bela Vista Hotel & Spa in Portimão on Portugal’s Algarve coast.
Century-old hand-painted tiles adorn the walls of this 38-room hotel, none more so than on the ornate wooden staircase leading up to the bedrooms. Here, a series of intricately designed tiles illustrate one of Portugal’s most respected books, The Lusiads, an epic poem written by Luis Vaz de Camoes about Portugal’s ‘golden age’ of discovery.
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Elsewhere, an aptly-named ‘tile room’ depicts the arrival in Brazil by 16th century explorer, Vasco da Gama, while religious scenes such as the Last Supper are illustrated in other rooms.
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The intricate tile work throughout the hotel is the legacy of the original owners of this 1908 building, once a stately family home. Only in 1934 was it transformed into a hotel, now expanded to 38 rooms, 10 in the main building, 21 in what are termed ‘garden rooms’ and seven in the ‘blue house,’ both on the same grounds.
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Beautiful tile work is not the only impressive artistic feature of Bela Vista. Ceilings are carved from Brazilwood, a rare variety now protected. There is also a vintage piano in the main lobby dating from 1855.
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Bela Vista, as the name suggests, occupies an envious position overlooking the ocean and Praia da Rocha (Beach of the Rocks). In many ways, the hotel is reminiscent of the 1950s Amalfi coast, a white ‘ivory tower’ like structure insulated from the busy hubbub of the streets just beyond its sturdy iron-wrought gates and with an interior design bright with colors, a vivid blue and white on chairs and cupboards and sunny yellow bedspreads.
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Our room, 102, was refreshingly decorated in hues of blue, yellow and white with tiles featuring a floral motif covering part of the walls. It also featured a wood-floored balcony with whicker armchairs overlooking the long stretch of beach.
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Even the bathroom, with tub and shower and l’Occitane and Guerlain toiletries, granted clear views over the beach and ocean. A floor-to ceiling linen curtain kept the room dark at night. Two armchairs and a coffee table, a bench and chair and a wall TV were among room furnishings.
Chef Joao Oliveira. Photo by Columbia Hillen
Dining highlight of a stay at this hotel is its Michelin star restaurant, Vista.
Guests are granted a short pre-dinner tour of the basement kitchen where they meet executive chef Joao Oliveira from Porto and his team of seven chefs, as well as a visit to the wine cellar.
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The kitchen renovated five years ago has a special chef’s table for two for unique dining experiences.
Beside the kitchen is a wine cellar with, according to sommelier, Tiago Samarro, 800 different vintages, most from Portugal but also from countries such as Spain, New Zealand and Italy, all kept under constant room temperature. The oldest wine is a mid-1960s vintage.
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A ‘tactile’ menu, including grains of sand affixed to it, is provided to guests, created by local artist, Inês Barracha, followed by a jigsaw-like miniature map of three Algarvian regions indicating from which products for the restaurant’s 11-course pescatarian tasting menu are sourced.
Our dinner began with a veritable explosion of taste, a marble-size, lime-green ball filled with a liquid blend of horseradish, ginger and apple that simply blasted flavour throughout my mouth.
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Innovative dishes that followed included violet shrimp (camarao listado), a thin sheet of rice flour with the shell of a shrimp imprinted on it.
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Another was a tomato dish comprising marinated cherry tomatoes from Quinta Das Castelhanas, a local farm, three tomato gels flavored with yuzu, camomile and Moroccan lemon combined with garlic flowers and capuchinha (aquatic leaves) and a sprinkling of ‘tomato water,’ all sprayed with camomile-infused vinegar.
A langoustine from Sagres slightly roasted and decorated with flowers of pickled cauliflower and an emulsion of white grape was also among the culinary offerings.
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Our dinner also included turbot and anchovies and delicious sourdough bread with olive oil from the hotel owners’ grove, Daniel Proença de Carvalho (DPC).
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Even the butter on the menu is far from standard fare – being a blend of goat, cow and sheep milk, according to Neuza, our gastronomic guide for the evening.
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A second restaurant is the Bistro. In season, it is outside on a poolside patio facing the beach and sea; offseason, in the elegant ambience of the bar area with a mosaic floor and what can best be described as three-dimensional wall paintings – some featuring parakeets perched on keys in a cage; others, a system of mirrors that seemed quite nautical on a background of broken coconut shells.
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A furnishing highlight is the ceiling of Brazilwood beams, deftly painted in a leaf and grape filigree.
Here we enjoyed Portuguese cod fish cakes, fresh cheese, mushrooms and thyme ravioli with celery broth and extra virgin olive oil; langoustine and scallops carpaccio with champagne and Ossetra caviar designed as a rosette reminiscent of a cactus flower like the ones on the hills nearby, formed by thin petals of langoustine and scallops, layered, with a pistil of caviar and surrounded by a smooth, champaign and butter sauce.
Columbia Hillen
A gym, and outdoor swimming pool surrounded by tall swaying palm trees and a spa offer leisure opportunities.
Wes Streeting has joked that Sir Keir Starmer’s top adviser Sue Gray had “shot JFK” and “no one should earn more than the Prime Minister” amid a row over her salary.
The Health Secretary made light of suggestions of mounting acrimony at the heart of Government as he spoke at an event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
At a gathering hosted by think tank Labour Together, Mr Streeting told the crowd: “I want to welcome the BBC’s conviction that no one should be paid more than the Prime Minister, that no one should receive hospitality, and that we should judge performance on social media mentions.
“Be careful what we wish for, comrades.”
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He added: “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Sue Gray is hiding Lord Lucan and shot JFK, and I can’t even tell you what she did to Shergar.
“I don’t know how we’re going to recover from this, frankly.”
Ms Gray has been the subject of a series of anonymous briefings signalling discontent within Downing Street just weeks into the new administration.
Leaks about Gray’s £170,000 salary while other special advisers have seen their pay held down have contributed to reports of a fractious atmosphere within Downing Street less than three months after coming to power.
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Her wage is slightly higher than the Prime Minister’s salary of £167,000.
According to the BBC, insiders claimed Ms Gray herself had named the salary after the election, and declined to cut it to earn less than the PM.
Sources close to Ms Gray denied the claims and told i that she did not request her salary and insisting that pay decisions are made by civil servants.
The row, alongside a lingering backlash over the acceptance of luxury gifts from wealthy donors by senior MPs, has threatened to overshadow Labour’s annual conference.
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Sir Keir has insisted he is “completely in control” despite the briefings, while Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner earlier on Sunday said she was angered by attempts “to demonise workers in their workplace through the press and the media”.
John Plender is right to draw attention to the growing preference of defined benefit scheme trustees and the schemes’ employer sponsors to insure their pension obligations (“The lucrative pension fund transfer trend needs urgent scrutiny”, Opinion, September 17). However, the primary reason for this trend has, perhaps, been overlooked.
Beneficiaries of a defined benefit pension rely on the strength of their former employer’s corporate covenant being sufficient to meet, in all circumstances, the “promise to pay” implicit in a DB pension.
Conversely, following a transfer to an insurer, this promise is underpinned by the solvency capital requirement and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In other words, a “promise” becomes a closely-regulated commitment. Hence the market’s rapid growth now that this protection is evidently affordable.
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