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Everyone knows you are supposed to eat right to stay healthy. That usually translates into lots of vegetables, fiber, low-fat dairy products and fish instead of red meat. Reducing sodium by avoiding table salt and processed foods is considered the Holy Grail of a healthful diet.
This is all very good advice if you want to live to a ripe old age. But what if you already have achieved that milestone?
We recently received the following question from a reader: “I accompanied my 91-year-old mother to her doctor this morning. He seems great: young, energetic and interested. He's treating her for degenerative arthritis and gave her a cortisone shot for her shoulder.
“I asked him what she should be eating and he said ‘Oh, I let everybody over 90 eat whatever they want.’
“Later I said to my mother, ‘Well, if you want to live to be 100, it would be good to eat carefully and take appropriate supplements.’ I wonder what you think about her doctor’s cavalier attitude regarding her diet.”
We actually side with your mother’s physician. When you reach a certain age, there should be relatively few restrictions. There isn’t a lot of data on what a 90-something should do to stay healthy. Most physicians assume that they should do the same things younger people do, but that may not be true.
For example, lowering cholesterol does not appear to provide the same survival benefit for people over 80. In fact, there is even some data to suggest that older people with low cholesterol don’t live as long as those with higher levels (Archives of Internal Medicine, May 10, 1993).
We hear from too many older people that the quality of their lives has been compromised by side effects from cholesterol-lowering drugs. Someone who is 80 or 90 should not be crippled by muscle pain or weakness just to lower cholesterol. That’s doubly true since there is little, if any, evidence that there will be substantial benefit.
Sometimes, strict adherence to rules can be counterproductive. Dr. Peter Lamy, a world-renowned expert in geriatric pharmacology and nutrition, offered the following anecdote:
“A 73-year-old man told me this story. His father is a 93-year-old immigrant from Russia, who likes pickles, salted herring, borscht, and other good, salty foods. His new physician cautioned him strongly: ‘How can you eat those foods? Don't you know they contain salt, and salt is a risk factor?’
“The 93-year-old man, trained to respect authority, was in fact told not to eat the foods he likes because of the potentially life-shortening risk factor. What we have now is a not-so-healthy 93-year-old because he does what the physician tells him and a 73-year-old son trying to get his father to eat.” (Currents: Journal of Food, Nutrition & Health, 1985).
When you reach your 90s, you have already beaten the odds. At that age, it makes more sense to enjoy every day as it comes along rather than deprive yourself in an effort to extend your life a few more months or years. As a relative once said, “It’s not how long you live, but how you live that counts.”
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If you have lived to 90, you are already doing something right for your particular physiology. Why would anyone want to change that? (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.)
I turned 90 yrs of age July 24 2007. To me it depends on whether you want to continue living, and not check out any time soon. I'm not ready to die yet, so I'll continue eating the prescribed healthy diet that helped get me here in the first place. it doesn't mean you can't eat a pizza once in a while.
I AM A 90 YEAR OLD PERSON AND JUST BECAUSE I ATTAINED THIS AGE DOES NOT MEAN THAT I CAN GO OFF ON A SPREE AND IGNORE COMMON SENSE. IN FACT I INTEND TO CONTINUE LIVING AND DOING WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING UP TO THIS TIME.
My father will be 97 in May. His diet has always consisted of rice and grits both rinsed well. Scrambled eggs-n-sardines--good muscle-building protein and omega 3. Onions, garlic and hot peppers. This has been going on since I can remember, and I am 50. Now we know more about the benefits of most of these foods. He was born right after the turn of the last century and achieved a third-grade education. He was eating right before he knew what he was doing!
My mother is 90 years old. She does not want to eat and she is constantly suffering with problems relating to her bowels. She is either going 6 or 7 times a day, or she is backed up and can't move her bowels at all for days. She is primarily bed ridden so we keep Depends on her. She is basically too weak to go to the bathroom each time nature pays a call. She has been in the hospital with this problem and after a few days, she is sent home only for the problems to occur over and over again. What can we do to possibly make these episodes subside some.
My 99 3/4 year-old mother fell down the stairs and has become an invalid practically overnight. She has no appetite and complains of "stomach pains" but we can't find anything wrong. Should I just accept this as an end of life phenomenon, or is there something more I should/could do?