List of healthy recipes for the elderly

200-300g of cereals and potatoes (1/3 of whole grains and miscellaneous beans), 300-500g of fresh vegetables (not less than 50% of dark green leafy vegetables), 120-150g of high-quality protein (1/3 of fish, poultry, eggs, and soybean products) /4 is appropriate), the cooking oil should be controlled at 20-25g, the daily salt intake should not exceed 5g, in addition, drink 300-500ml pure milk or the same amount of sugar-free yogurt every day, and eat animal liver 1-2 times a week, about 20g each time. Elderly people over 80 years old can reduce their intake of cereals and potatoes by about 10% on this basis, and increase the proportion of high-quality protein by 10%.

Don’t think it’s hard to memorize these numbers. I’ve met many elderly people who found it troublesome at first. After two months of adjustment, their previous minor problems like soft legs and constipation were relieved a lot. Let’s take the 72-year-old Aunt Zhang in our community. She heard from a health-preserving account that “elderly people should be vegetarians if they want to eat light meals.”

Speaking of adjustments, many people ask whether diabetics can drink porridge. I have encountered two schools of thought arguing before - most doctors from traditional endocrinology departments will advise people with diabetes to avoid porridge completely, believing that softly cooked cereals raise blood sugar quickly and can easily lead to blood sugar fluctuations.； However, new research in the Department of Geriatric Nutrition in the past two years has also given different conclusions: if you add more than half of the mixed beans, oats, and quinoa when cooking, control the cooking time within 20 minutes, and drink it with 1 boiled egg + 1 small dish of cold salad, the fluctuation in blood sugar 2 hours after the meal will be even smaller than eating white rice, which is especially suitable for elderly people with diabetes who have bad teeth. You see, there is nothing that you absolutely cannot eat. The key is how to match it.

Uncle Li, who came to me for consultation before, had gout for five or six years. He was so scared that he didn’t even dare to touch meat. He only ate green vegetables and white porridge. As a result, the uric acid did not drop and he developed mild sarcopenia. Later, we replaced the red meat with 100g of skinless chicken thighs for him every day, ate 50g of steamed river fish twice a week, and only ate northern tofu with low purine content as soy products. We also asked him to drink 200ml of low-fat milk every day. In half a year, his uric acid dropped by 82 μmol/L, and he never had gout.

By the way, if an elderly person living alone finds it troublesome to cook, there is no need to prepare a table full of dishes every time. I often give them advice: pack multi-grain rice into portions of 100g each and freeze it in the refrigerator in advance. When eating, just take it out and heat it for 2 minutes. Then boil vegetables and fry an egg. In 10 minutes, you can have a nutritionally balanced meal. It is much better for your health than eating leftovers or soaked noodles every day.

Speaking of which, there is another topic that is debated by many people, which is whether the elderly should be vegetarian or not. It is true that many vegetarians believe that the elderly can lower blood lipids and live longer by being vegetarians. However, our two-year follow-up data shows that the rate of muscle loss in elderly people over 60 years old is three times that of young people. The probability of sarcopenia in elderly people who are completely vegetarian is 2.7 times that of those who eat a normal diet. Of course, if you must be a vegetarian for religious reasons, it is not impossible. As long as you eat more chickpeas, northern tofu, and low-fat milk, and supplement about 10g of isolated soy protein every day, you can also get enough nutrition without having to carry it hard and cause malnutrition.

Last week, I prepared a day's recipe for 82-year-old Grandma Wang. She has bad teeth and a slight high blood pressure. You can refer to the following: In the morning, she made porridge with 30g of oats and 10g of rice, a boiled egg, and a small plate of spinach mixed with 1g of salt.； Lunch is 100g of multigrain rice, 80g of steamed sea bass, 150g of stir-fried broccoli, and a small bowl of tomato and egg soup without salt. ； Afternoon snack is 150g sugar-free yogurt and 4 small tomatoes ； In the evening, I made porridge cooked with 50g of millet, 100g of stir-fried winter melon, and 100g of stir-fried celery with dried fragrant seeds. Grandma has been taking it for half a month, and recently her blood pressure has stabilized at around 130/80, and she says she doesn’t feel hungry as easily as before.

In fact, if you really want to talk about it, there is no completely unified recipe. After all, everyone's taste and physical condition are different. There is no need to get too hung up on numbers. For example, some elderly people just want to take a bite of pickled radish. There is no need to prevent them from eating them at all. Just pick up a small strip at a time and add 1g less salt when cooking that day. It is better than forcing them not to eat at all and finally being able to secretly eat a big bowl. If you are really not sure what to eat, many community health service centers now offer free nutritional assessments for the elderly. You can measure your muscle mass and check your blood tests, and the doctor will be able to give you a plan that suits you. It is very convenient.