How do nutritional needs change as people age?
The nutritional needs (in particular, calories) decrease IF activity levels decrease but, more importantly, nutritional deficiencies throughout life start to rear their ugly heads as a person gets older. The result is that health problems can make a person suddenly more aware of nutritional needs they have had throughout their lives (needs that were either ignored completely or ignored most of the time). For this reason, eating saturated fat and cholesterol in moderate amounts, eating whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and drinking enough water to digest all the food that is eaten takes on added significance with age. I eat healthy food both to recover from my training as well as for my future health. Each year I tend to eat foods with more and more fiber, vitamin, and mineral content and more healthy fats. The benefits I get (they are dramatic) would no doubt have been there had I tried them when I was younger. It is also true that recovery becomes more difficult with age, and this
