Seniors need fewer calories as they grow older, food choices are more critical than ever. They’ve got only so many calories with which to make the right decisions. If they don’t choose wisely, they may gain weight while attempting to get the nutrients they need from their daily diet, and weight gain carries its own set of health risks.

MyPyramid.gov—Steps to a Healthier You, provides information on eating a healthy, balanced diet. Developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the new food pyramid—which can be customized based on age, sex, and activity level—is interactive and offers personalized guidance on sources of nutrition and portion size. To customize your senior’s food pyramid, visit www.mypyramid.gov.

To help older people manage nutritional and caloric intake, the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University also developed a food guide pyramid specifically for people age 70 and older. It’s a good guide for anyone over age 50, too.

It’s important to pack the most nutritious foods possible into your senior’s daily diet. As they age, they need to make a concerted effort to get more of some nutrients and less of others. In most cases, it’s not because their body actually needs more or less of the nutrient now, but that their body’s ability to absorb or retain it has changed, their eating and other lifestyle habits have changed, or they are more vulnerable to diseases that can be affected by too little or too much of a nutrient.

As a result, you need to know which nutrients to boost and which ones to cut back on, as well as how to make the most of dietary sources. This knowledge can mean the difference between maintaining your senior’s good health as they age and being vulnerable to life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.