Healthy recipes for three meals a day for the elderly

There is no one-size-fits-all recipe that can be used by everyone. The best recipe is the one that suits your teeth, underlying diseases, and eating habits.

Last month, I was doing a free nutrition clinic in the community. I met 72-year-old Aunt Zhang and asked me about the "Elderly Longevity Recipe" I searched online. She said that after eating it for half a month, she felt weak all over and it was difficult to carry a vegetable basket. I took it over and took a look. The recipe was white porridge with stir-fried vegetables. There was not even a hint of oil in it. The total protein for the whole day was less than half a tael. It was strange that I had enough strength.

Don’t stick to white porridge and pickles for breakfast. Your blood sugar will rise quickly and you won’t be full, and you’ll be hungry two hours after eating. If you have good teeth, cook some oatmeal and quinoa porridge in the morning, throw in two red dates for flavor, add a hard-boiled egg, half a plate of stir-fried chicken, and grab five or six original almonds. You can walk around all morning and pick up your grandson without panic. If you have weak teeth and can't bite hard food, replace the oatmeal with thick millet porridge, steam the eggs into a tender custard, and boil the vegetables until soft and chop them into small pieces. Oh, by the way, the debate about whether egg yolks can be eaten has been going on for more than ten years. The older generation always said that egg yolks are high in cholesterol and block blood vessels. Nowadays, there are many popular sciences saying that egg yolks are rich in nutrients and do not need to be thrown away. In fact, there is evidence for both sides: it is perfectly fine for healthy elderly people to eat a whole egg a day. Even if they have high blood lipids, there will be no metabolic burden if they eat a whole egg every other day. After all, the lecithin and vitamin D in the egg yolk are good for protecting bones and nourishing the brain. There is really no need to throw away all the essence for that little cholesterol.

Walking to buy groceries in the morning and finishing housework until noon is actually the time when the elderly have the best digestive function of the day, so they can eat more heartily without having to suffer from too little soup or water. I once met a 70-year-old Uncle Li, who has type 2 diabetes. He was told that eating staple food would raise blood sugar, and he only ate vegetables. As a result, he fainted due to hypoglycemia while shopping for vegetables. Later, he was given 1 fistful of multi-grain rice per meal, mixed with rice. Half brown rice or red beans, cooked until soft, paired with 2 taels of lean pork and fried green peppers, or a palm-sized piece of steamed sea bass, plus two fists of fried spinach and cold fungus. Later, after the meal was measured, my blood sugar did not spike, and I never suffered from hypoglycemia again. There is also a long-standing controversial saying that "the elderly live longer if they eat vegetarian food." The vegetarian party believes that less oil and less salt can reduce the metabolic burden. Many elderly people who eat vegetarian food do live to be 80 or 90 years old. However, from the perspective of clinical nutrition, the muscle loss rate of the elderly is already faster. A complete vegetarian diet It is easy to be deficient in high-quality protein, iron, and vitamin B12. On the contrary, it is easy to suffer from sarcopenia, anemia, and staggering when walking. Therefore, it is more recommended to be omnivorous. Those who are true believers in Buddhism or are used to vegetarians should also eat more tofu, dried tofu, and fermented soy products, and supplement with extra B12. Don’t just carry it. If you have good teeth, it's okay to eat tender stewed pork ribs or pork elbows in sauce once in a while, but just don't eat them every day. Don't hold yourself back too hard, which will make you greedy and eat more. If you usually like to drink two sips, don't exceed one or two white wines or half a glass of red wine a day. Just don't be greedy. Feeling comfortable is more important than anything else.

Many elderly people are afraid that they will accumulate food and gain weight if they eat too much at night, so they often just eat a steamed bun and order pickles. In fact, it is really unnecessary. Eating less does not mean not eating enough nutrition. Grandma Wang, who lives downstairs in my house, used to eat half a corn for dinner. She would always wake up hungry at around three in the morning and stay up until dawn with her eyes open. Her blood pressure would fluctuate. Later, she had a change. She had half a bowl of pumpkin and yam porridge for dinner, with 4 soft-cooked chicken breast meatballs, and a fistful of cold lettuce. After eating, she would go for a half-hour walk. When she came back, she slept much better and her blood pressure was also stable. The elderly with gout stopped eating seafood and thick broth, and replaced the meat with eggs and blanched lean meat, and they could still eat comfortably. If you are unable to bite hard things while wearing full dentures, you can chop up all the ingredients and boil them until soft, or even make them into fruit and vegetable juices and meat puree. As long as the nutrition is sufficient, you don't have to pursue "eating them in their original form".

Having been working on nutrition for the elderly for almost ten years, I really feel that there is no template that I must follow. I have seen a 92-year-old man eat two pieces of braised pork every meal, and his physical examination indicators were all normal. I have also seen people who eat healthy recipes but are malnourished. The core thing is that you can eat comfortably and have stable indicators in regular physical examinations, which is better than anything else. Oh, by the way, don’t forget to drink enough 1500ml of warm water every day. Don’t wait until you are thirsty before drinking. This small detail is more useful than how many expensive supplements you take.