Five Foods Your Mother Should Be Eating

Photo Source:  CDC

All of your life, your mom has taken care of you.  She feed you plenty of good food, loaded with good nutrition, so now is the time to make sure that her diet serves up the unique nutrition she needs in this stage of her life.  

Here are 5 foods that mom should be eating to stay healthy:

Yogurt fortified with Vitamin D:

Vitamin D is needed to help her body absorb bone-strengthening calcium. As mom ages, her skin’s ability to make vitamin D from sunlight declines.  To make matters worse, her intestines and kidneys lose some ability to absorb and convert vitamin D into its active form for use in her body.  While milk is fortified with vitamin D, not all yogurts are.  Tell her to choose yogurts that have vitamin D added to get this important nutrient.  Nutrition Bonus Tip:  Yogurt is also an excellent source of calcium, another nutrient that she needs yet many women are falling short of in their diets.

Whole Grain Cereals with Vitamin B12 Added:

Vitamin B12 is important for healthy nerves and red blood cells.  Unfortunately, the body’s ability to absorb naturally occurring vitamin B12 from animal food sources, such as chicken and meat, diminishes with age.  This decline is due to a reduction in the acidic juices in her stomach, which helps her absorb this vitamin from animal foods.  The good news is that synthetic vitamin B12, which is added to fortified foods such as whole grain cereals, doesn’t depend on her stomach acids to be absorbed.  Nutrition Bonus Tip:  Whole grain cereals are rich in fiber, a compound that can help keep her “regular.”

Canned Salmon:

Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among women.  Mom should eat at least two fish meals weekly, especially fatty fish such as salmon, which is rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in order to reduce her risk.  Canned salmon is an affordable and easy way to have her boost her fish intake at lunch.  Nutrition Bonus Tip:  Salmon is an excellent source of protein, another nutrient that mom needs to be having at each meal.

Potatoes:

She ate them as a kid and should eat them in her golden years.  Spuds are an unbelievable, affordable and rich source of potassium in the diet.  Many women are not getting enough of this mineral in the diet, which can help lower high blood pressure.  An elevated blood pressure increases the risk of  stroke, another leading cause of death among Americans.  Nutrition Bonus Tip:  Have mom add a dollop of a vitamin D-fortified yogurt on the top of her baked potatoes for a creamy way to added this vitamin and calcium to her potato.

Leafy Greens:

If mom gets cataracts, which is an age-related clouding of the lens of her eyes, it will affect her vision and lifestyle. Without clear vision, she will have problems with routine daily activities such as cooking, reading, and driving.  While the National Institutes of Health recommends wearing sunglasses and a hat with a brim to block ultraviolet sunlight to delay the development of cataracts, eating antioxidant-rich foods such as green leafy vegetables, may also reduce mom’s risk.   Nutrition Bonus Tip:  Green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach, are also good sources of potassium, which can help lower high blood pressure.

Be well, Joan

Twitter:  @JoanSalgeBlake