Healthy Lifestyle For People Over 50

Introduction

Leading a healthy lifestyle is a non-negotiable element of your plan to lead a long, healthy, happy and prosperous life in your retirement years.

This article will introduce you to the key aspects of your life that this broad subject encompasses.

For your ongoing education and personal action plan, I have sub-divided a “Healthy Lifestyle for people over 50” into four broad categories:

Nutrition for people over 50,
Disease and aging,
Healthy ways to lose weight, and
Exercise and fitness.

Each of these categories encompasses a number of important aspects of a healthy lifestyle, with a specific focus on the areas that are most important for older people.

In this article I will introduce every aspect of the 4 categories. By the end of the article you will have a better understanding of what to expect from Design Your New Life going forward, as we cover each element of a Healthy Lifestyle in depth; providing you with a road-map for your Personal Blueprint.

Nutrition for people over 50

As we age our bodies change; the nutritional needs of people over 50 are different to those of children, teenagers, and younger adults. Good nutrition will be one of the most critical factors in how well you age.

In addition to adopting a healthy diet, with an emphasis on foods that have proven anti-aging properties, you will probably also need to supplement your diet with essential minerals, vitamins supplements and superfoods to ensure that your mind and body function properly.

It would also be sensible to incorporate more organic foods into your diet plan and to ensure that you drink adequate quantities of water.

There will also be some foods that you will need to steer clear of, or substantially cut back on.

– Anti aging diet

Adopting an anti-aging diet will give you greater resistance to disease and illness, higher levels of energy and a sharper and clearer mind.

An anti-aging diet can also make you look and feel younger, and it is the single most important step you can take to slow the aging process. Broadly speaking, eating foods such as fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, and whole grains protects against many chronic diseases that could limit your life.

Fruits and vegetables, in combination with proteins to maintain your body’s cells tissues and organs, and adequate amounts of the right types of fats, form the basis of a healthy anti-aging diet. They are low in calories and are nutrient dense, and they are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre.

You should avoid refined foods such as breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals that are not whole grain. Be smart with your carbs and choose whole grains over processed white flour for more nutrients and more fibre.

The number 1 absolute must to avoid is refined sugar. It is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.

– The importance of water

In addition to your anti-aging diet, you need to remember that drinking sufficient water (Ideally spring or filtered water) is critical; it is the medium in which all your body’s chemical reactions take place, it transports your nutrients, oxygen and waste products and regulates your body temperature.

– Organic foods

Organic foods are growing in popularity, and all the health websites that I have the highest regard for recommend incorporating them into your diet whenever possible.

According to the website www.organicfacts.net “Organic food refers to food items that are produced, manufactured and handled using organic means defined by certifying bodies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under its Organic Food Products Act.

Broadly speaking, organic food is food that is prepared and processed without using any chemicals; that is, organic food production does not involve the use of chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides or chemical preservatives.”

Looking at the research, there is some confusion about what is organic versus natural food. I would be really interested to hear your point of view on this.

Is this something you have experience in? If so please share your point of view/experience/expertise with our community. We need your input. thanks

– Detoxing

A typical 50 year old will be carrying around a substantial amount of toxic sludge in their colon and a range of toxic substances including heavy metals around their waist, which has been deposited there over a lifetime. Your lungs, liver, kidneys and skin are designed to remove these toxins, but they are frequently stretched beyond their limits by our polluted world and an unhealthy western diet.

A healthy anti-aging diet coupled with regular exercise is the best way to remove the toxins that have accumulated in your body over your lifetime and to prevent them from accumulating in future.

But we live in a world where we are exposed to more environmental toxins and pollutants than ever in human history, and after a lifetime of eating the typical western diet, full of unhealthy processed foods most people will have an unhealthy level of these toxins and pollutants in their body.

So it seems like common sense to periodically cleanse your system if you want to keep toxins from prematurely aging you and making you vulnerable to disease. You can do this by periodically fasting, purifying or cleansing, or a combination of all three.

My research has revealed literally thousands of detoxification and cleansing programs we can choose from, most of which claim to be the ultimate solution.

I will look in detail at the ones that seem most credible to me and publish regular articles providing my comments and links to those that appear to be credible.

I would be really interested to know if you have a favourite detox or cleanse that works for you. Please let me know by making a comment at the bottom of this article. 🙂

– Minerals, vitamins, supplements and superfoods

Recent studies show we are not getting the amounts of vitamins, minerals and nutrients we need from our modern diet.

There are now thousands of published studies supporting the use of vitamins and supplements, and we are now also able to measure the positive effects that many supplements provide.

There are too many vitamins, minerals and supplements to mention here, but some of the key ones for older people include Vitamin D3, vitamins B6 and B12, Omega 3 wild fish oils, multivitamins and glucosamine.

The growing number of superfoods, now widely available has provided a new source of incredibly powerful natural nutritional supplements. Goji berries, as shown in the picture above are higher in anti-oxidants than any other plant.

Disease and Aging

I need to make it clear up front that “Design Your New Life.Com” is not a website that provides medical advice for specific diseases: I am not qualified to do that and in any case there are a number of excellent websites that provide that information and advice.

I will provide links at the end of this article to the ones have I used myself in my research and for personal reference and am happy to recommend to you.

I am not suggesting that this is an exclusive list, but these sources all provide excellent and comprehensive information and support. If you have already found other websites that you think I should add to my list, please let me know by posting a comment at the end of this article.

But I will, however, both on “Design Your New Life.com” and in my regular email news updates, let you know when I see new information about any age-related disease that I think you should be aware of and also provide a link for you to find more information, in case it is relevant or interesting for you or someone you know.

What I will also do is provide an ongoing stream of information to support the fact that it is not inevitable that you will contract any age related diseases as you grow older; that there are simple habits you can adopt that will minimise the risk of contracting them:-

By adopting an ant-aging diet, adding vitamins and supplements to your nutrition plan, drinking lots of clean water, detoxifying your body, stopping any unhealthy addictions, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly and most importantly maintaining the right mindset and attitude about aging and your purpose in life.

Every one of these topics is and will continue to be key elements of the “Design Your New Life.Com” four part system, and I will provide information and ongoing updates on a regular basis on each of them. Remember that my website is designed to be your “One Stop Shop” for everything you need to design your personal plan for a long healthy happy and prosperous retirement.

Healthy weight loss for older people

Extensive research from numerous highly reputable sources, confirmed what I already believed to be the case; that for the vast majority of people, diets do not work in the long run.

Of course there are exceptions, and these are the stories you see in the media and in advertising aimed at selling you a particular diet. It would be fascinating to see how the people featured in these amazing diet success stories are doing 5 years later.

A short-term diet is not the road to long term sustained weight loss and good health. What you must do to make permanent changes, is to adopt all the elements of a “healthy lifestyle”.

So it is no coincidence that that is exactly what I am recommending that you do in this article and on my website.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle along the lines presented here, and sticking to it, will ensure that you progressively improve your overall health and will lead to a reduction in your weight, because you are now leading a healthy lifestyle and you have stopped doing the things that caused you to be overweight in the first place.

If, as part of your overall plan to design a long healthy happy and prosperous retirement life you feel that a structured diet plan would be the best course of action for you personally, I suggest that you take a look at the Atkins diet and a Mediterranean diet.

Both of these dietary plans follow a nutritional plan with fruit, vegetables, salads, lean meat, fish, nuts, and whole grains as their core ingredients. I will post links to the sites I used at the end of this article.

Update October 2018: Since I wrote this original article a number of new diets have become popular, based on high fat and low carbs, and they are proving to be very effective in weight-loss and many other areas of health, including potentially curing a number of autoimmune diseases which are currently classified as incurable by conventional medical science.

I am excited that I have discovered new programs covering exactly how these new diets work, what to eat and what not to eat, menus and recipes to make them attractive and nutritious, and how to safely practice them.

Another new and comprehensive program shows these new diets are being used world-wide to cure a number of the most common autoimmune diseases (You will find this evidence-based program really revolutionary and super exciting if that’s a problem you, a member of your family or a friend is suffering from).

I will share these exciting updates and much much more in my new program “How to Create Your Personal Blueprint for a Long Healthy and Wealthy Retirement Life” which will be released soon.

Exercise and fitness for people over 50

No matter what your age, exercise can provide enormous benefits for your health, and its importance increases once you are over 50. Regardless of whether you are healthy or dealing with an illness, there are many ways to become more active.

Among its many benefits for older men, regular exercise can: –

boost your IQ and help you to think more clearly
increase your energy levels,
enhance mobility, flexibility, and balance in over 50’s,
improve your mind, mood, and memory,
manage and deal with the symptoms of illness or pain, and
even reverse or slow down some of the symptoms of aging.

People who are inactive frequently experience numerous signs of accelerated aging, including: a decrease in bone mass and density, poor cardiovascular tone, and increased incidence of heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Exercise is the key to staying strong, energetic, and healthy as you get older, and once you get over the initial scepticism and learning phase and start to feel the benefits, it can actually be fun.

You are never too old to start exercising, and an ever increasing body of research confirms that a lack of exercise is a threat to your overall health and mental well-being, and will probably shorten your lifespan

I have recently discovered and personally using a high quality comprehensive program to fine tune my personal stretching and exercise routines. I will be recommending to all participants in my new Blueprint Program that they should use this same program to cover this critical element of their personal blueprint.

In addition to nurturing you physical and mental health, it is important to remember that consciously exercising your brain is just as important as exercising your body. Like your muscles, your brain starts to atrophy (waste away or shrink) through lack of use.

Here are some activities that will promote your brain health:

Eating a healthy diet,
walking, jogging, or cycling regularly to promote cardiovascular heath and good circulation,
meditation or some form of relaxation technique,
reading a novel or print media to keep you informed about what’s happening in the world,
listening to classical music,
learning a new skill e.g. a language or a musical instrument,
playing games that require planning and memory, such as chess and bridge,
solving mental puzzles and games, like crossword puzzles, Sudoku, even Monopoly,
activities that improve your vocabulary such as crosswords and Scrabble, and
doing simple sums in your head rather than reaching for a calculator.

If you have physical limitations, exercise engage yourself in light physical activities that can help you maintain your vitality. e.g. Gardening, DIY, washing your car, cleaning and house maintenance.

Conclusion

In this article, I have introduced you to the key elements of a healthy lifestyle, which as I said in the introduction, is a non-negotiable element of your plan to lead a long, healthy, happy and prosperous life in your retirement years.

As I have mentioned, this article is just an overview, designed to provide you with a road-map for your personal action plan. I hope that you now have a better understanding of what to expect from Design Your New Life.com and my upcoming Blueprint program going forward.

I have recently released my updated free eBook “10 secrets to live a long healthy and wealthy retirement life.

You can get your personal copy by clicking on the link below:

10 Secrets To Live A Long Healthy And Wealthy Retirement Life

This report provides a helpful overview of what you will learn in-depth, if you join my new program “Blueprint for a long, healthy and wealthy retirement life”

Last Updated October 2018

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Resources for useful information on specific diseases and healthy lifestyle in general:-

Dr. Mercola’s website has a healthy bias to natural foods and shows you why an active, healthy lifestyle is easier than you think. It spells out how you can Take Control of Your Health! This is one of the most popular and informative health and well-being sites on the Web. www.mercola.com

Resources for formal weight loss programs, the Atkins diet and a Mediterranean diet:-

The Atkins diet, to quote their website “Is based on proven Atkins principles of eating protein and fibre rich foods that leave you feeling more satisfied”.http://atkins.com/

The Mediterranean diet, according to Wikipedia “is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of Greece, Spain and southern Italy” There is no official website so I will give you the link to one that I found useful and comprehensive: https://www.mediterraneanbook.com/