Nutrition during Middle Adulthood

It seems that for life to be fair, if you survived adolescence everything else should be easy. It also seems that there should be some relaxing time in between being a teenager and becoming middle aged. Well in between leaving the teenage years and visiting the golden age there is. It's kind of a middle zone like the middle school child. It ranges from around 25 to around 50. After the high caloric demands of a growing teenager and before aging brings on a gradual decline in the normal physiologic functions is what I like to call middle adulthood. This should be a time to relax about eating, you are not growing (unless you are pregnant and that's another article) and you should enjoy yourself.

Sadly, this is when many people in the prime of their life develop some devastating diseases. Heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes affect this age group. Many of these health concerns revolve around lifestyle choices. How much you eat, exercise, relax and sleep can contribute to your health or lack of it. It really is still unclear whether these diseases are caused by or just aggravated by lifestyle choices, but there is strong evidence that they are related. One of the lifestyle choices that may contribute greatly to these diseases and to decreased enjoyment of life is weight gain. It has been affectionately called the "middle age spread". While there are many factors that contribute to this weight gain, there are two main ones. During this time caloric needs have reduced, as I said you are not growing anymore and activity level drops for most of us dramatically.

The hard facts are you need fewer calories and you are busy with starting a career and a family. You probably don't play sports anymore, you drive more than you walk and sit more than you stand. You don't have time to sleep or relax and stress can add weight. One more insult to injury is that while you need fewer calories, your nutrient needs to not drop. So you need to make the food you eat have more nutrients. You may need to limit high calorie foods, pizza and beer 2 or 3 nights a week is going to put on the pounds.

Okay, the good news is you can control half of this equation. You can make sure that you increase your activity level. Exercise does many things that dieting alone can not. If you just reduce your calorie intake your body is going to think it is starving and slow down your already decreasing metabolism. You eat less and don't loose any weight or worse you gain weight. So, watch what you eat. Increase fruits, vegetables, fiber and water. Decrease high calorie foods with no low nutritional value. Cookies and chips are fine in moderation, but you can't eat them all day long. Don't forget to get off the coach. Join an adult sports league, take an exercise class, take the dog for a walk, and chase your kids or your partner around, just move. Exercise can also decrease depression and relieve stress. Remember I said stress could add weight. Some times you can reduce your weight just by reducing your stress. One more thing make sure you get enough sleep, everything seems better after a good nights sleep.