If you want to live a long, healthy life, take a good look at what’s on your plate. While you don’t need to be strict about healthy eating, the food choices you make regularly can affect your long-term health — especially when it comes to one nutrient in particular.
While many people just want to live as long as possible, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, the author of the new book out this month “Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life,” tells TODAY.com that he’s focused on a different version of longevity: aging healthily.
When it comes to food choices, healthy aging doesn’t mean restricting yourself, he says, but rather making nutritious choices most of the time and allowing yourself an occasional high-quality treat.
But there’s one health-boosting nutrient that the vast majority don’t get enough of, says Emanuel, who trained as an oncologist and is now a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
So if you have to pick just one nutrient to prioritize for healthy aging, that’s the best place to start, he says.
Healthy Aging Tip of the Day: Prioritize Fiber for Healthy Aging
Emanuel’s top nutrient for healthy aging is fiber.
Not only does fiber support your gut health, but it also aids heart health and blood sugar control. However, studies consistently show that people in the U.S. do not get enough fiber in their diets. Only 5% reach the recommended fiber goals, according to one estimate.
“That’s ridiculous — just ridiculous,” Emanuel says. “We need to change that.”
Why It Matters
As dietitians have told TODAY.com over and over, fiber is the one nutrient we should probably be eating more of.
The recommended daily value is generally between 25 and 38 grams depending on your gender. But most of us fall pretty far short of that amount, typically eating around only 14 grams of fiber per day.
The problem is that, as Emanuel notes, fiber is essential for many functions in the body. You might already know that fiber helps keep your bowel movements regular, but it does so much more than that.
Fiber can aid in heart health by keeping your cholesterol at favorable levels, and it can help prevent blood sugar spikes. Because fiber aids in fullness and slows down digestion, it can also be useful for weight loss.
Meeting your fiber requirements can also help prevent chronic diseases, like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even colon cancer, as TODAY.com explained previously.
For all of those reasons, if you’re not already prioritizing fiber in your meals, now is the time to make it your goal for better health today and as you age.
How to Get Started
Eating a variety of plant foods — fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds — will add multiple types of fiber and additional healthy compounds to your diet.
If you’re interested in trying fiber supplements, keep in mind that Emanuel prefers to hit his fiber goals with food because supplements typically only have one or two types of fiber.
Emanuel prioritizes fiber in his own meals by adding berries to his high-protein breakfast, snacking on nuts during the day and eating a lot of vegetables with dinner.
He also encourages anyone focused on healthy aging to eat more fermented foods, such as yogurt, kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, miso and kombucha. They contain probiotics, beneficial bacteria that support a healthy gut microbiome and promote digestive health. Some research also suggests a favorable gut microbiome plays a role in heart and metabolic health, as well as mental health.
Certain types of fiber, called prebiotic fiber, help feed the good bacteria in your gut, Emanuel explains. So, adding both of these types of food to your diet can be even more beneficial for your health. Prebiotic fiber naturally occurs in certain fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, including asparagus, green peas, apples, oats and flaxseeds.
A bowl of Greek yogurt topped with raspberries and a handful of homemade granola bursting with toasted oats and flaxseeds is a perfect way to incorporate protein, fiber and probiotics into a single meal.
TODAY’s Expert Tip of the Day series is all about simple strategies to make life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, different qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental wellness and more.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com