Eat small meals and supplement with snacks for nutrition
Due to poor chewing and swallowing abilities, elderly people often can't eat much in one meal, and the mealtime can be quite long. To ensure that elderly people consume enough calories and nutrients every day, nutritionists suggest having 5-6 meals a day for the elderly. In addition to the three main meals, prepare some convenient snacks such as low-fat milk with biscuits (or nutritional cereals), low-fat milk with oatmeal, or tofu pudding and soy milk with eggs. You can also mix small pieces of fruit or fruit puree with yogurt.
Replace some animal protein with soy products
Elderly people should limit their intake of meat, and part of their protein should be replaced with beans and soy products (such as tofu and soy milk). Each main meal for the elderly should contain at least 170 grams of high-quality protein (such as lean meat, fish, eggs, tofu, etc.). Vegetarians can obtain high-quality protein from beans and various nuts (such as peanuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc.).
Cook staple food with vegetables
To facilitate chewing for elderly people, choose vegetables with softer textures, such as tomatoes, luffa, winter melon, pumpkin, eggplant, and tender leaves of green vegetables. Cut them into small cubes or shred them before cooking. If the elderly usually eat porridge or noodle soup as their staple food, you can add 1-2 types of vegetables each time to ensure that they consume at least 500 grams of vegetables every day.
Consume 350 grams of fruit every day
Fruits are often overlooked by the elderly. Some soft-textured fruits, such as bananas, watermelons, peaches, papayas, mangoes, and kiwis, are suitable for elderly consumption. You can cut the fruits into thin slices or scrape them into puree with a spoon. If making fruit juice, pay attention to portion control and dilute it with water.
Supplement with vitamin B
Recent studies have shown a close relationship between vitamin B and cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, cataracts, cognitive and memory decline, and mental health issues commonly seen in the elderly. Both illnesses, medication, and surgeries can cause a significant loss of vitamin B. Therefore, it is important for elderly people with illnesses to pay special attention to supplementing vitamin B.
Unprocessed grains and nuts contain rich vitamin B. Therefore, when preparing meals for elderly people, consider adding brown rice, germinated rice, etc., to cook congee with white rice. You can also grind a small amount of nuts into powder using a blender and add it to oatmeal to cook oatmeal porridge.
