In this article, you will find 11 senior health and fitness tips that are all very doable, user-friendly, safe, and meet realistic and attainable expectations. Seniors need to exercise, and eat decent, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you may think. We will walk you through easy to follow tips that literally anyone can apply and we will show you how to progress one step further in your journey to better senior health and fitness. These tips will show the path that can help seniors feel better, sleep better, prevent injury, recover from injury faster, improve their immune system, and have more energy!
1. It’s Never Too Late To Get Started
I once heard someone say that it’s never too late to do the right thing, which is true for all aspects of life. So, It’s never too late to get started on the path to better senior health and fitness. A lot of times people reach a certain age and think that it’s too late and the damage is done, etc. You have to remember that your health is not stagnant. If you are not proactive and you do nothing to improve your health, it will go backwards. So, when people reach a certain age and they throw in the towel and do nothing to for their health and fitness, they start a steady decline, which leads to becoming overweight, feeling bad, no strength, no energy, limitations in daily living, and constant health problems. Again, it’s not too late. Your health and fitness can be improved in simple progressive steps, so keep reading to find out how!
2. Get enough fruits and veggies
Adults are recommended to eat 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day. Although the meat and 3 at the local restaurant tastes very good, chances are those “3” aren’t counting too much towards your 7-13 servings. You need fresh, healthy vegetables. Preferably raw and not with tons of butter, cheese, sugar, and other ingredients added to them. The benefits to eating more fruits and vegetables are incredible. Eating more fruits and vegetables can greatly improve your immune system, help with joint pain and inflammation, help with heart health, help prevent disease, and many more benefits, including feeling better! I know what you are thinking – “I eat my fruits and vegetables and I take my vitamins.” But remember, the meat and 3 veggies probably aren’t the best for you and definitely aren’t enough, and that multi-vitamin probably isn’t cutting it. Take a look at this article from time magazine which basically states that vitamins can do more harm than good, or at least be a waste of money. So, to ensure that I get enough fruits and vegetables, I turn to whole-food nutrition. Since it is virtually impossible to eat 7-13 servings of raw fruits and veggies every day, I take Juice Plus+ fruit and vegetable whole food nutrition capsules. This is by far the easiest part of my diet. Juice Plus ensures that I get 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day, regardless of what I eat. While I still eat a decent amount of fruits and vegetables in my diet, I don’t get anywhere near the 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables that are recommended. Plus, this allows me to concentrate more on calories when it comes to my diet.
If you are really serious about being healthy and preventing health problems, spend a little time on my Juice Plus+ page and learn more about the importance of fruits and vegetables. We take our health for granted and we also do not realize how far off we are on a daily basis in terms of our fruit and vegetable intake. Juice Plus+ is the only nutritional product that I personally take or recommend. My wife and I have been taking it for several years and we rarely get sick, and when we do, we recover quickly. Our senior parents take it as well, and our children all take it and it seems that they all keep up good health.
3. Balance Protein, Carbs, and Fat
You need all three of these nutrients to some extent. Don’t stress too much over this, but do try to get a good balance of them, especially protein and carbohydrates. As you age, you start to lose your muscle mass and strength. Protein (along with exercise) can help combat muscle loss. As for carbohydrates, they give you fuel. You need them for energy. With carbs, try to have complex carbs, such as brown rice, whole grains, etc. These types of carbs will give you more sustainable energy than simple carbs such as sugars and sweets. But remember, carbs are fuel, so you need to stay active so you can burn this fuel and then replenish and repeat! As for fat, don’t stress too much about fat, just try to keep it moderate. Try to choose foods lower in fats and you will not only be reducing your fat intake, but you will also be reducing your caloric intake, since low-fat and fat-free foods usually have less calories.
4. Drink enough water
Water is one of the few things in life that has all positive qualities and no real negative qualities. Make sure you are drinking enough water. How much? The answer is easy – more than you currently are! Water will help you feel better, have more energy, keep you hydrated, help your muscles function, help you feel full, help your skin, and many, many other benefits. Not to mention, water is calorie-free and most importantly, when you are drinking water, you are not drinking whatever else you would drink, which is definitely worse for you than water!
5. Eat junk food!
What???? That is not a typo! This is my favorite senior health and fitness tip. You need to eat some junk food. You need to splurge. Food = Happiness, and if you are happy, you will do better longer. Strict diets lead to failure. If you deprive yourself of the foods you love, then you will eventually throw in the towel and quit and turn to eating junk food all the time. So, do good most of the time, not all of the time. And regularly choose to splurge and eat dessert and other foods that are bad for you. Just do it in moderation. Try to do more good than bad. Try to eat good the majority of the time, but not all the time. This is the foundation to the Calorie-Budgeting System. Learn this easy to follow system and you will see just how easy it is to get results and be healthy and still be able to eat junk food!
6. Start progressive exercise
Everyone needs to exercise, regardless of age or anything else. If you start exercising, you will feel better, sleep better, have more energy, get injured less, have better mobility and balance, and so on. With exercise, take baby steps. Do this progressively. You don’t have to start with the most drastic, over the top exercise. Just do more than you currently are doing and increase it over time. Take baby steps and consistently make improvements progressively over time. It’s all relative to you, not to what you saw on TV or what your in shape friend tells you that they do. All you have to do is more than you currently are doing! If you need help with where to get started, check out this FREE GUIDE to help you get started on your health and fitness journey.
7. Include Weight training
Everyone needs to do resistance training. Which is usually weight training or some other form of resistance training, such as body weight exercises, bands, balls, etc. Weight training will improve your bone health, increase your strength, increase your energy, help you prevent injury, and helps you feel better. My best advice is to get with a trainer and learn how to exercise safely and effectively based on your goals and physical abilities. If you are in the Birmingham area, we have excellent senior personal training at Hoover Fitness and also via our In-Home Personal Training services. If you are not in the Birmingham area, we do offer online coaching and virtual workout plans – CONTACT US for more info.
8. Make sure to do Cardio
Cardiovascular training is necessary for everyone. Cardio will help your heart health, your energy and endurance, and also your mobility. Cardio could be literally anything that elevates your heart rate for an extended period of time. I think the best way to do cardio is progressively and to increase your level and intensity over time for 15-30 minutes. Remember though, the key to beneficial cardio is having some degree of intensity. Not so intense that you cannot last more than a minute or few minutes, but at a level that you are out of your comfort zone and can make it 15-30 minutes. If you walk, try to walk faster or jog. If you jog, try to run. You can also do machines, like the bike or elliptical. Just remember to give yourself some degree of difficulty. Don’t just log minutes. Put in some work! If it’s easy, it probably isn’t helping any!
9. Get Enough Sleep
Try to get enough sleep! Lack of Sleep (and Stress) will kill your immune system. One easy way to improve your sleep is exercise! The more you exercise, the more your body will want to sleep and recover. Another tip for sleeping better is to eat further away from your bedtime. This way your body will concentrate on sleeping instead of digesting and processing your food. The more active you are and the better you eat, the better you will sleep. And, the better and more sleep you get, the better you feel!
10.. Boost your Immune system
It is important to boost your immune system. If you are sick all the time, you can’t be consistent with your health journey. Get sick less! Recover from illness faster! How do you boost your immune system? Juice Plus+ is one great way to do it. But you can also boost your immune system by following these 11 senior health and fitness tips. Exercise more, eat less junk, reduce stress, sleep more, eat 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day, drink lots of water, stay active, and so on.
11. Take Control of Your Health
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? It’s time you take control of your health and the way you feel. You have probably been living life being led by your symptoms. You wake up and what you do is determined by how you feel. You let your health symptoms determine what you can do. If you follow these tips, you can take control. YOU CAN LEAD!
Do what you want to do and let your health follow. Not the other way around. At first, you will have a ceiling of how much you can do and how good you can feel, but as you reach that ceiling, it rises, and over time you can do more and you can feel even better. It is progressive and continual, but as long as you keep on going, you will keep on improving.
Final Senior Health and Fitness Thoughts
Senior Health and Fitness doesn’t have to be just for those who have been healthy and in shape their entire life. It can be for you too, no matter where you are in life. Remember, whatever your health and fitness looks like, it can improve. Don’t wait – there will never be a perfect time. No more excuses. Everyone can do something. It is never too late to improve and feel better. Don’t throw in the towel. No matter who you are or how old you are, you can make improvements and feel better.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST and get FREE weekly tips and advice that we guarantee will help you on your health and fitness journey!