79-Year-Old Certified Nutritionist: Diet for Strength and Longevity | Invesloan.com

At 79, Tom Rauscher can deadlift 275 pounds, more than twice his body weight. He recently placed third overall in powerlifting at the 2025 National Senior Games in Iowa, beating men many years younger than him.

Business Insider’s Sarah Andersen and Mark Adam Miller followed Rauscher earlier this year as he trained for the games:

While his diet is a key part of his training, he’s not super strict about it. Rauscher allows room for the occasional chocolaty treat, eats dairy and meat, and avoids extreme restriction plans, such as low-carb or high-protein diets.

That said, there is one type of food he’s diligent about eating. “Basically, I have nuts at every meal because they provide healthy fats,” he said. Plus, research suggests that regularly eating nuts can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

“Diet depends on one’s goals,” said Raushcer, who holds multiple certificates in nutrition, fitness, and weight management. “I want to be able to do daily moderate to intense exercise, have a high strength-to-weight ratio, and minimize my risk of metabolic syndrome.”

Rauscher eats a sustainable, balanced diet that loosely follows the 60-20-20 rule — 60% of calories coming from carbohydrates, 20% from protein, and 20% from fat. He also mainly sticks to three meals a day, limits snacking, and avoids fast food and alcohol.

Here’s what he typically eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for strength and longevity.

Breakfast is more carb-heavy than his other meals

Rauscher is very active and works out every day, sometimes twice daily. So, for breakfast, he ensures he gets a healthy dose of carbohydrates to prepare himself for the day ahead.

Typically, he’ll have a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal — such as Grape Nuts or wheat bran — with skim milk, which he drinks because it doesn’t contain any saturated fat.

To that, he adds chia seeds for an added boost of healthy fats, fresh fruit for more nutrients, and a scoop of protein powder for extra protein.

With that, he’ll have some unsalted nuts, such as almonds, cashews, pistachios, or walnuts, and finish it off with a glass of V8 juice.

When he’s looking for more protein, he’ll have a protein smoothie or make an egg-white omelet with salsa and usually some leftover chicken or fish, paired with a piece of whole-wheat toast and peanut butter. He uses canola or olive oil to cook with, avoiding butter because of its high saturated fat content.

One common breakfast item he avoids, though, is coffee. It’s not for health reasons; he just doesn’t like the smell. Instead, “I drink green tea, typically at breakfast and dinner, and enjoy an occasional cup of hot chocolate.”

Lunch is typically small and simple

Lunch, which Rauscher usually eats around 12:30 or 1:00, is often a sandwich on whole-grain bread with either deli meat or leftover chicken, turkey, or salmon and toppings like tomato or hummus.

He pairs it with a glass of V8 juice or skim milk, then has some fruit and nuts for dessert, like a banana with a spoonful of almond butter.

On days when he has time, he and his partner will make homemade soup or take a can of lentil soup and boost it with leftover chicken and veggies.

The goal is a lunch that’s substantial enough to power the afternoon workout classes he teaches at the gym and sustain him until dinner.

Dinner is the main course of the day

Rauscher and his partner, Carol, who is highly into fitness and nutrition as well, usually eat dinner late, around 8:30 or 9 p.m. It’s a habit that started when they spent evenings caring for her mother, who lived to 101. By then, they’ve usually worked up an appetite.

Every dinner usually begins with a big salad — a colorful mix of greens like spinach, kale, and lettuce, topped with items like tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, avocado, onions, and a light store-bought vinaigrette.

Then comes a serving of lean protein like chicken, turkey, or pork tenderloin, cooked in olive oil. Rauscher said he and Carol don’t abstain from red meat, but they keep it to a minimum, like a lean steak every other week or so.

They pair the protein with a grain, such as rice, quinoa, bread, or whole-wheat pasta, and at least two cooked vegetables — cracked corn, sweet potatoes, zucchini, or green beans are regular favorites.

Dessert is usually fat-free yogurt topped with berries and a sprinkle of nuts, but sometimes they’ll indulge with a piece of chocolate.

Rauscher said he completely avoids alcohol, preferring skim milk or V8 to accompany most meals.