Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [159]
The right fats are fabulous
Fat makes food taste good. It’s that simple. It moves tastes around in our mouths, enabling us to really enjoy the nuances and layers of flavors. In addition, fat is necessary for good health. The right kinds of dietary fat ensure healthy skin, properly lubricated joints, and proper brain function. Senior vegans can rejoice knowing that healthy plant-based fats will help them utilize many vitamins and minerals better, which contributes to better overall health.
The fatty acids linoleic, or omega-6, and alpha-linolenic, or omega-3, are good for you. These fatty acids are converted in the body to form the long-chain fatty acids needed by the body. Vegans need to be aware of their fat intake so they consume the healthy ratio of 6s and 3s. Increasing daily omega-3 intake to equal twice the omega-6 intake will help protect against immune and inflammatory disorders, chronic diseases, and psychological disorders that are common amongst America’s seniors.
The average American diet is heavy in animal fats, which are high in saturated fats as well as cholesterol. These fats also are often teeming with toxins. Most agricultural animals are raised on chemical-, medicine-, and antibiotic-laced foods, which are ultimately stored in their fatty tissues. Including healthy vegetable fats from nuts, seeds, avocados, and olives helps vegan seniors to maintain heart and cardiovascular health.
The most dangerous fats are the trans fats, or hydrogenated oils. These fats are made by heating oils under pressure and then adding hydrogen to make them thick and stable at room temperature. Steer clear of commercially prepared, packaged, and refined foods, which are the most common sources of these nasty, artery-clogging fats.
Vegan sources of fat are wonderful for overall health, and they help you avoid the dangerous toxins common in animal-flesh fats. To ensure that you consume the right quantity and ratio of the different varieties of fats, it’s best to avoid processed and refined foods that can rely heavily on fried or hydrogenated omega-6 oils. The vegan sources of omega-3 fatty acids are ground flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, hemp seeds, green leafy vegetables, and walnuts. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in sunflower, safflower, sesame and grape seed oils as well as corn and soy oil.
Because omega-3 oils are highly sensitive to heat, it’s important to use them in warm- or room-temperature applications only. Don’t sauté or fry anything in flax or walnut oil. Instead, drizzle these oils on foods after they’re cooked. Flax oil can be consumed in blended smoothies as well.
Other vegan sources of health-promoting fats are avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and coconut meat. Eating raw nuts and seeds is more beneficial because roasting degrades the quality of the fats.
Keeping your iron in check
Both women and men in their later years still need to be aware of their iron intake. The main preventable cause of iron-deficient anemia in middle-aged men and postmenopausal women is the long-term use of aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDS), including ibuprofen.
These anti-inflammatory drugs are taken to remedy many aches and pains like gout, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, and headaches and migraines. A whole-foods, vegan diet, especially one that avoids caffeine and refined sugars, has been used to greatly reduce these and other inflammatory conditions. And when you reduce these conditions, you reduce the reliance on the iron-decreasing drugs.
Many natural vegan foods contain iron, so be sure to include a variety of them in your weekly menus. Blackstrap molasses, dried apricots, sea vegetables, whole grains, nuts, green leafy vegetables, seeds, and legumes are good sources. Using iron cookware also increases your daily intake. For more information on iron-rich foods, check out the