Last week we were talking about how to take care of ourselves to prevent certain age-related pathologies. We started talking about the lack of vitamin D, high cholesterol and hypertension, and in order not to lengthen the post too long, we leave another three (diabetes, osteoarthritis and obesity ) for this week.

Diabetes (type 2)

Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose values are elevated because of not producing enough insulin or not using it properly. It is a silent disease, so it produces almost no symptoms at the beginning. However, if not cared for well it can cause very-very important injuries (vascular diseases, vision loss, neuropathies, etc.) that greatly affect the quality of life. Nevertheless, initially, with certain dietary guidelines (in medical consultation you hear a lot “but if I don’t eat sweets”, but there are other foods that also contribute to having high glucose) and with daily physical activity (such as walking between half an hour and an hour) it can be well controlled.

General recommendations

To avoid:

• Alcohol (very important)
• Sweets, industrial pastries and ultra-processed foods in general
• Added sugars
• Refined pasta, rice and flours
• Fruit juices
• Sugary cereals
• Sugary or flavored yogurts
• Fruit in syrup, candied and / or dried fruit (the latter can be eaten sporadically)
• Battered and fried foods

Food Allowed:

• Vegetables and fruits: In this group of foods, we are going to highlight that it is interesting to eat apples (they help regulate blood glucose well) and pods or green beans (they have a certain antidiabetic role).
• Whole grains (pasta, rice, bread, etc.) and always accompanied by vegetables.
• Legumes: they are always healthy. As a tip, we can cook them, put them in the fridge 24 hours so that in this way they are more digestible, and improve their glycemic index.
• Fish, eggs and meat, avoiding that they are fried or battered.
• Potato and other tubers, always accompanied by salad, cooked and put in the fridge for at least 6 hours. In this way, its GI goes down and the starch they have becomes resistant starch.
• The use of cinnamon as a spice helps by its hypoglycemic action to control glucose values. In addition, it is a good natural sweetener.

As always, it is advisable to practice regular physical activity, maintain regular meal times and good sleep hygiene, as a very important part of a series of guidelines that must be maintained in order to have glucose values well regulated. These are just some general guidelines to follow, but as I always say, it is much more important to remove what hurts us than to continue with bad habits and add what works for us. Remember: you should always follow the guidelines of a health sector professional to have good control of the disease.

Osteoarthritis

Over the years, our joints “suffer” and osteoarthritis appears (the articular cartilage is damaged), which is usually very annoying due to functional disability, joint stiffness and the pain that it can cause (mechanical pain that disappears at rest). It is a more frequent pathology in women from 55 years of age. Risk factors for the development of osteoarthritis:

• Obesity and overweight
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Postural alterations
• Joint injuries, repeated intense exercises (high-performance athletes suffer this pathology more frequently) can favor the appearance of it.
• Menopause, since the decrease in estrogen levels is another risk factor.
• It has a genetic risk component that, added to the above factors, can cause the disease to appear.

It is recommended to moderate or limit the consumption of the following foods due to their purine content:

• Red meat
• Sausages
• Seafood
• Added sugars
• Some vegetables like asparagus, cauliflower or spinach.

It is very advisable:

• Foods rich in vitamin C such as kiwis, citrus fruits, peppers, broccoli (its anti-inflammatory role is very interesting), etc.
• Foods with omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids such as oily fish, olive oil, flax and chia seeds, nuts…
• Finally, a couple of spices with powerful anti-inflammatory action: ginger and turmeric (accompanied by black pepper to promote its absorption).

In addition to all this, it is necessary to carry out a practice of gentle and regular exercise, control overweight or obesity, if any, and have correct postural hygiene.

Overweight / obesity

Over the years, it is more common for us to be overweight or obese, the result, among other reasons, of the decrease in energy expenditure at rest that occurs as we age. It is known that the problem of weight is bad for health in general, since it favors the appearance and maintenance of diseases such as those we have talked about previously , in addition to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, cancers such as colon, breast, etc., dyslipidemia, fatty liver, etc., diseases that affect both the quantity and the quality of life. That is why it is important to have good weight control and for this, I advise you a couple of dietary guidelines that help achieve that goal. (Remember: you have to stay away from miracle diets or diets that sell brutal weight loss in a very short time or diets in which you do not eat the entire food group) In addition, you have to eat properly: Both the Mediterranean diet and Harvard dish (half of the plate, Vegetables and fruits, a quarter of proteins and another quarter of carbohydrates ) they are excellent models to achieve weight loss goals gradually, easy to do and with varied foods to be well nourished . Moreover, if you are not able to do so, seek help from good health professionals.

Dr. Arantza López-Ocaña

The post “Senior” health II: Diabetes, osteoarthritis and obesity appeared first on Cooking With Serrats.