Dieting Tips
for Seniors
Fewer Calories/
More Protein ideal, and the phases could be hard
to comprehend.
For Amy Campbell, a registered
dietitian and diabetes educator, the
DASH, TLC and Mediterranean
diets stood out as smart choices for
older adults, because they’re good
for weight loss as well as control-
ling conditions such as diabetes
and high blood pressure. “For diets in general, it’s best to try
and make it easy and fit comfort-
ably into a person’s life,” Campbell
says. “Ones that promote good
health but are as easy to follow as
possible.”
As with anyone, overweight and
obesity can be issues for seniors,
Campbell says. “People are living
longer, so we’re seeing more of it
in older adults.” And, she says, “As
we get older, our calorie needs go
down. People don’t need to eat as
much as they did when they were
20 or 30.” Older women generally
need anywhere from 1,600 to 2,200
calories per day, depending how
active they are, Campbell says,
while younger women need about
1,800 to 2,200 daily. For older men,
the range is 2,000 to 2,800 calories
per day, compared with 2,200 to
3,200 calories for younger men. Michael Davidson, d
irector of pre-
ventive cardiology at the Universi-
ty of Chicago Medical Center and
a Best Diets panelist, says Weight
Watchers and diets with simi-
lar structures score well because
of their simplicity. With Weight
Watchers, for instance, foods are
assigned different points, which
you add up daily to stay at your
personal target, which is based
on your sex, weight, height and
age. “You don’t have to do a lot of
thinking about what type of bal-
ance of foods or menu plans,” Da-
vidson says, which may be some-
what more challenging for seniors.
Frail elderly people face differ-
ent issues. “One concern for older
people is getting enough protein,”
Campbell says. “We need more as
we age.” A lack of protein puts peo-
ple at risk for lower immune func-
tion and osteoporosis. Long-term compliance was an
important factor in ranking di-
ets, Davidson says: “What can be
a lifelong change instead of just
a short-term fix for the patient?”
Therefore, he says, “it’s really more
about variety and food choices, as
opposed to portion sizes, that are
applicable to an elderly individual.
So it’s the kind of diet I prefer for
those patients.”
You don’t necessarily have to fol-
low a specific diet, she says, “just a
well-rounded diet with extra pro-
tein.” That means making the most
of the calories you take in, she says,
not just eating a bowl of cereal for
dinner or making entire meals
of toast and tea. “You don’t need
animal protein in every meal,”
says Campbell, who praises len-
tils, beans and chickpeas as great
sources of inexpensive protein to
round out meals.
Campbell says a very low-fat plan
like the Ornish diet might be less
appropriate and harder for seniors
to follow. Similarly, she says, the
Biggest Loser diet would not be
Simplicity and Balance
Davidson sometimes sees iron
deficiency in frail older patients.
“They don’t eat enough red meat;
they don’t get enough iron in the
diet,” he says. Although the paleo
diet was lower-ranking among the
Best Diets, he says “it could be a
good diet. It’s had a little bit of a
hype to it, but the principles are
not far off, such as people eating
more complex carbohydrates and
more lean meats.” He points out
that constipation can be an issue
for seniors on low-carb, low-fiber
diets.