Diet tips for women who are entering their 40’s.

Age has a big impact on human life. Whether it is male or female, age affects people of all genders. As age proceeds, the prime signs of aging reflect over the face of a person as the skin starts losing more and more with age. This results in the formation of wrinkles and the absence of glow. Besides this, many changes in the body also take place.

If we consider females, they notice lots of bodily changes as their age move towards 40 and above. Menopause is a primary cause of these changes as it leads to hormonal fluctuations. The major outcome of aging in females is the formation of wrinkles, absence of skin glow, changes in the reproductive system, thinning of hairs, increase in hair fall, joint pain, etc. All these bodily changes may take a female towards depression or stress or decrease in quality of life.

These changes due to aging start affecting other parts of the body too. During this state, if the lifestyle habits remain as they were in young age, then, the aging process starts affecting the cells of the body with more speed than normal.

Thus, diet plays a major role in keeping the body healthy at any given age. For women at the age of 40 or more, it is good to make a few dietary changes. Some of those dietary changes, which can be incorporated are given below:

1 Add fish to your diet plan

Fish is a healthy food item to be consumed once a week. At the age of 40 years and above, it is recommended to eat fish, like trout, which is low in fat but high in nutrients. It also helps to prevent breast cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids present in fish help to support the body of women after 40 years of age. These fatty acids manage heart and blood pressure, thus, preventing the risk of a heart attack.

2 Consume whole grains

Whole grains, such as oats, are very healthy and should be consumed by persons of any age group. They provide energy and inhibit the fat build-up inside the body.

These similarly benefit women after 40 years of age. Whole grains are also rich in healthy carbohydrates, which do not raise blood sugar levels. As diabetes can be a major concern after middle-age, whole grains can also be beneficial to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

3 Regular exercise

Exercise is the key to a healthy lifestyle. It is recommended for every person; in young age till old age. People face most of the problems due to the absence of any physical activity. At the age of 40 years and above, physical activity becomes even more essential to keep the body active and free from diseases. Your body also needs to weigh less after the age of 40. Exercise is an easy way to lose weight.

Be careful about the exercises that you indulge in. If you are unaware of the type of exercises, perform it in the presence of an experienced person who can guide you well according to your age. You can start with walking, running, jogging, light cardio, etc.

4 Consume calcium-rich food

As a woman hits menopause, the joint problem becomes very common for women. Most of the joint problems are due to lack of physical activity and remaining are due to the decrease in calcium levels inside bones.

Thus, daily intake of calcium should be increased from 1000mg to 1200mg, at least. Consume food rich in calcium such as milk, yogurt, broccoli, kale, etc. These food items can make your bones and joints stronger.

5. Inhibit intake of food causing bloating

Bloated stomach is unhealthy for the body. It invites many other diseases and prevents you to eat food properly. A bloated stomach is caused due to eating unhealthy food such as soft drinks, hard drinks, drinking tea in excess, etc. These food items give you the feeling of full stomach, which becomes worse if gas is produced in high amount inside the stomach.

So, the only remedy for this is to control dietary habits. At the age of 40 years, consumption of hard drinks or soft drinks should be avoided as they become difficult to be digested by the body. Also, avoid junk food, which can give a bloated feeling.

6. Add soy to your diet

Proteins are really healthy for the human body and soy is a good source of proteins. Soy or soy-based products are easily available in the market, which can be consumed to complete the need of proteins in the body.

Soy-rich foods include tofu, soymilk, yoghurt, etc.

7. Cut down sugar

When you move towards old age, it is better to cut down sugar intake. The chances of diabetes are high in old age and after menopause. So, try to consume as less sugar as possible.

When you crave for sugar, you can consume sugar replacements such as honey, jaggery, etc, which will not raise the blood sugar levels if consumed in a nominal amount.

8. Start consuming green coffee

Green coffee is an excellent source of antioxidants. It helps in removing oxidants from the body and also helps to lose body weight. Start drinking green coffee at least once in a day, preferably in the morning.

Green coffee preparation is also very simple. It does not involve any hard work. It can be prepared just by boiling water and adding green coffee powder to it. Grecobe is an excellent green coffee bean extract.

9. Consume fiber-rich food

Fiber-rich food consumption is really necessary while moving towards old age. It helps to stimulate intestinal motility to prevent constipation, which is commonly caused at old age.

Fiber-rich foods are cereals, oat bran, beans, peas, multi-grain bread, dry fruits, apricot, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, etc.

An amazing benefit of fiber-rich foods is that they contain cancer-inhibiting compounds such as vitamin A, C, E, selenium, etc.

10. Cut fats 

Limit down the consumption of fatty food items such as ghee, cheese, fried food items, etc. Fats require strong digestive system but as you age, your digestive system starts to weaken. So, consume as less fat as possible for keeping the digestive system working effectively.

So, if you want to remain healthy even after 40 years of age with the menopause, try to incorporate above given dietary changes into your regular diet. They will either keep you away from diseases or reduce the risk of the development of any disease.

Antioxidant and Immunity

Our body is exposed to thousands of germs every day such as bacteria and viruses that are dying to get inside us and take over. The only defense against them is the immune system – a complex army of warriors that protects us.

Inflammation is an important immune system function. It is the process by which the body’s white blood cells and substances they produce protect us from the infection with foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Most people are familiar with the kind of painful inflammation that occurs due to accidents and athletic injuries.

While inflammation helps fight disease and protect parts of the body, it also suspends the body’s normal immune response and certain metabolic processes. In the short term, this is not a problem but in the long term, it causes progressive damage. It can cause serious damage to the body. Inflammation has been linked to major diseases such as Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and signs of aging.

Inflammation is not confined to a particular tissue but involves the lining of blood vessels and many internal organs and systems. This inflammatory process is often associated with free radical damage and oxidative stress and may not cause pain. Because there is no pain, you may not be aware of the serious damage systemic inflammation is causing, often leading to chronic, debilitating and even life-threatening diseases. Oxidative stress, involving over-production of free radicals inside the body, starts damaging cellular proteins, membranes, and genes and leads to inflammation.

Why is boosting the immune system important?

There are many ways the free radicals spoil your system:

• The immune cells themselves (T-cells, natural killer cells, etc) are damaged.
• Next, they knock out the cytokine pathways (communication between immune cells) – they can’t operate properly without communicating.
• And last, but not least, it upsets the delicate balance of free radicals that macrophages use to work. Macrophages actually release their own free radical, nitrous oxide, to destroy bacteria, parasites and viruses. If the free radical/antioxidant balance is out, the nitrous oxide ends up destroying the macrophage also.

So the best way of boosting the immune system is to load up on free radical fighters i.e. antioxidants!

Keeping in mind the importance of oxidative stress in the regulation/dysregulation of the immune system, the use of antioxidants in such diseases has been reasonably proposed. Antioxidants are vitamins and other substances that supply missing electrons to free radicals for preventing damage from them. Dietary antioxidants, in particular, polyphenols, have been shown to be effective for this purpose.

Antioxidant vitamins and trace elements contribute to maintaining an effective immune response inside the body. Antioxidants found in foods protect the cells from the effects of free radicals and can help reduce an over-abundance of inflammation in the body.

• How some antioxidants help in boosting the immune system?

Vitamin C: There has been more research on vitamin C and its role in boosting the immune system than any other nutrient. It increases the production of white blood cells and It also increases interferon, which basically coats the cell surfaces, preventing the entry of viruses.

1. Vitamin E: It boosts the immune system by increasing the production of natural killer cells- important for destroying germs and cancer cells. It also increases B-cells, which are responsible for making antibodies to fight specific germs. Supplementing with vitamin E has been shown in many studies to reverse some of the declines in an immune response that is seen in aging. The major impact of vitamin E on immunity appears to relate to enhanced neutrophil function.
2. Carotenoids (The most famous being β-carotene): These increase production of natural killer cells and helper T-cells. β-Carotene can react with singlet oxygen and serve as a lipid-soluble antioxidant.
3. Bioflavonoids (especially in fruits & veggies): Your cells have receptor sites, which are like parking spaces that allow germs and other toxins into the cell. Bioflavonoids take up these “parking spaces” so the germs won’t have access to your cell.

How to include antioxidants in your diet? 

Adding more fruit and vegetables of any kind to your diet is generally healthy for you. But some foods are higher in antioxidants than others. The five major antioxidant vitamins are mentioned as above i.e. beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E, selenium and zinc.

The best way to increase your antioxidant intake is by eating more nuts, seeds, legumes, colorful fruits, and vegetables – especially those with purple, blue, red, orange, and yellow colors.

By eating a variety of nuts, seeds, legumes, colorful fruits and vegetables you can ensure you give your body and immunity the best treatment. There is one other source you must remember that will also provide you with antioxidants – GRECOBE® (Green coffee bean extract based supplement).

GRECOBE has antioxidants known as polyphenols in the form of chlorogenic acid which might be effective to boost the immune system to fight against various diseases originate due to free radicals.

The feeling of bloated belly (tight belly or abdominal area) makes the things bad whole day. There are many reasons for such kind of bloated feeling. The dietary habits or lifestyle changes of people make the health worse with time. Bloating is one of those health issues.
People look for medications or exercises to get relief from bloated belly but sometimes these management strategies don’t work well. This is because you need to change your bad habits, which are contributing in making the belly unhealthy. Some of those bad habits, which are in front of you but not known for bloated belly are given below.
1. SITTING ALL DAY
One of the causes of major health problems these days is “Sitting for the whole day”. The lack of body movement invites many diseases. The bloated belly is also one of the outcomes of sitting.
Sitting for whole day causes the belly not to move even an inch. This causes difficulty in digesting food and oppositely leads to the formation of food chunks inside belly giving the feeling of bloating.
The regular body movement, like regular walking after 1-1.5 hours of sitting, makes the belly working effectively so that the food or any consumed meal can be passed through digestive system easily. This will prevent the feeling of bloated belly.
2. DRINKING LESS WATER
This is much known to everyone that sufficient amount of water is mandatory for the proper working of human body. Many people ignore consuming water for whole day due to many reasons and face diseased state.
Bloated belly can also be caused due to lack of drinking water. The water helps to make the food move easily inside body and helps to pass it through digestive system and ease its excretion. Thus, when you drink less or negligible water, all the food processing inside body gets disturbed.
Thus, it is mandatory to drink sufficient water for whole day after some breaks. It will help to prevent many diseases along with providing relief from bloated belly.
3. CONSUMING SOFT DRINK OR ALCOHOL
The young generation prefers drinking soft drinks, such as cola and others, these days. This is a major reason for not drinking enough water. These soft drinks and hard drinks (such as alcohol) cause the production of gas, which accumulates inside belly and give bloated feeling.
It is better to avoid drinking soft drinks and hard drinks to prevent the formation of bloated belly and to avoid the other severe diseases, which might be caused by soft drinks and alcohol consumption.
4. STRESS
Stress is a very common problem and underlying cause of many diseases. People don’t even recognize that they are passing through stress and unknowingly face diseased state. Some people even feel bloated after stress. It has been observed during some scientific studies that stress leads to acid production inside stomach. This acid further produces gas and ultimately leads to bloated belly.
Try to make yourself stress free by going for a walk, involving in activities related to kids, performing yoga and meditation. This will make you stress-free and will also provide relief from bloating.
5. EATING FAST
Eating your food quickly contributes in feeling bloated. Whenever you feel such way, always try to chew your food slowly and completely.
Fast eating results in swallowing air along with food through mouth. The quick eating also results in swallowing un-chewed food. The un-chewed food obviously cause problem in the stomach and will also take more time be digested. In the mean time the stomach becomes bloated.
6. EATING DINNER JUST BEFORE BED TIME
Doctors always recommend consuming the meal 2-3 hours before bedtime because lying just after eating will lead to accumulating the meal inside stomach for long time and creates difficulty in digesting it on time. This will result in bloated stomach till morning.
So, first suggestion is to eat less for dinner and second is to eat atleast 2-3 hours before going to bed. Less food will be easy to digest and time gap between eating and sleeping will help to prevent bloating.
7. CHEWING GUM
People chew gum either on daily basis or after long time. Chewing gum is not much bad for health if chewed once after a lot of days but its consumption on regular basis causes swallowing of un-required air inside body every time the mouth is opened.
People chewing gum on daily basis for long time face this problem of bloated belly. They unknowingly chew gum till they know the reason. So, avoid chewing gum on daily basis.
8. CONSUMING TOO MUCH SUGAR
The extra sugar in food items is always harmful for human body. In case of packaged food and food items with artificial sweeteners, the artificial sugar causes many health problems such as bloated belly.
When extra sugar is consumed, it is taken as feed for the bacteria of intestine which convert it into gas. The gas moves to stomach and causes bloated feeling. So, for maintaining good health, it is better if you avoid artificial sweeteners and avoid consuming extra sugar too.

9. CONSUMING DRINK THROUGH STRAW
Usually, the soft drinks, juices or some forms of tea & coffee are consumed through straw to make the drink easy to sip. But in actual situation, you are not swallowing only drink but also swallowing the air trapped inside the straw, every time you sip from it.
Straw definitely makes it easy to sip the drink but it is making you unhealthy too. If you compare drinking directly from cup with drinking through straw, you will definitely face improvement.
10. CONSUMING TOO MUCH TEA
Tea is consumed by many people for staying strong and active whole day. But only if consumed in normal quality, it helps to stay active. When tea is consumed in extra quantity and multiple times in a day, then, it causes gas production as a side effect of caffeine. Tea made with artificial sweeteners also causes bloating due to gas production.
So, tea should be consumed as less as possible to keep the stomach healthy and fit. You can always replace your tea with green coffee which can provide you similar activeness but without any side effects such as bloating. Green coffee (such as Grecobe) will make your belly light and provides you activeness and freshness you require from a beverage.
Try to manage these bad habits as early as possible and you will feel healthy again. Sometimes, the reaction of body towards food items varies from person to person. It is important to look for the reasons for bloating at your own to make the body healthy by making dietary changes.