How To Learn To Eat Proper Portions

Figuring out how much to eat while achieving or maintaining a healthy weight can be difficult. Getting the proper nutrients and eating the right amount for your weight and activity level tin contribute to healthy aging. This article provides suggestions for how older adults can get the nutrients they need within a recommended daily number of calories.

A calorie is a unit of measurement of measurement that describes how much energy is released when your body breaks down food. Although calorie count alone does not dictate whether a food is nutritious, thinking near how many calories you need tin can guide salubrious eating habits. If you are over historic period 60 and you want to maintain your electric current weight, how many calories practise you need to swallow each twenty-four hours? The Dietary Guidelines suggest:

Unsure which action category you're in? Consult the Dietary Guidelines for definitions of each level. You can increase your physical activity level by adding walking, jogging, dancing, recreational sports, and other similar approaches to your twenty-four hours.

Serving and portion sizes

A "serving size" is a standard corporeality of a food, such as a cup or an ounce. Serving sizes tin assist you when choosing foods and when comparing like items while shopping, but they are not recommendations for how much of a sure food to eat. colorful measuring cups

The term "portion" means how much of a nutrient you are served or how much you eat. A portion size can vary from meal to meal. For example, at home you may serve yourself two small pancakes in ane portion, simply at a restaurant, you may get a stack of four pancakes as 1 portion. A portion size may also be bigger than a serving size. For example, the serving size on the nutrition label for your favorite cereal may be 1 cup, but you may really pour yourself 1½ cups in a bowl.

Portion size tin be a problem when eating out. To proceed your portion sizes under control, endeavour ordering smaller appetizers instead of an entrée equally your meal, or share an entrée with a friend. Or consume only 1-one-half of an entrée and take the residual home to enjoy equally a repast the next day.

Healthy nutrient shifts

Eating the correct amount is of import, just so is making sure y'all're getting all the nutrients you demand. Older adults frequently need fewer calories, but more nutrients, which makes information technology essential to eat nutrient-dense foods. To swallow nutrient-dumbo foods beyond all the food groups, yous may need to brand some changes in your nutrient and drinkable choices. You can move toward a healthier eating pattern by making shifts in food choices over time. Here are some ideas:

graphic with examples of healthy food shifts

Bank check out these tips for planning healthy meals as you lot go older.

Salubrious beverage shifts

It's easy to forget well-nigh calories you consume from beverages. If you lot beverage sodas, flossy and sweet coffee drinks, or alcohol, swapping them out for healthier options tin can make a huge departure. There are plenty of drinkable options that are depression in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium. Hither are some options:

graphic with examples of healthy beverage shifts

100-calorie snacks

Image of Make Smart Food Choices for Healthy Aging infographic. — Read and share this infographic to learn almost making smart food choices for healthy aging.

Another manner to think well-nigh the idea of nutrient-dense and calorie-dumbo foods is to wait at a multifariousness of foods that all provide the same calories. Let'southward say that yous wanted to have a small snack. You might choose:

A 7- or eight-inch banana
20 peanuts
3 cups low-fat popcorn
Two regular chocolate-sandwich cookies
1/2 cup low-fat water ice cream
1 scrambled large egg cooked with oil
ii ounces baked chicken breast with no peel

These choices all accept about 100 calories but provide unlike amounts of nutrients. The right pick for y'all may depend on what else you're eating throughout the day.

Eating healthy is not merely about how much you lot eat, it'due south also about what you eat. Older adults should try to eat foods that are packed with nutrients while limiting foods that are high in calories but provide few nutrients. Swapping out snacks and beverages with nutrient-dense alternatives can assist you become the nutrients you need while staying within your recommended number of calories.

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This content is provided by the NIH National Found on Aging (NIA). NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure information technology is accurate and upward to date.