Nutritional recipes for the elderly

The core of "Nutritional Cookbook for the Elderly" is never to pile up expensive nourishing ingredients, nor to copy the "standard formula" unified on the Internet, but to match the physiological characteristics of the elderly with reduced chewing ability, slow digestion and absorption, and multiple underlying diseases, so as to achieve low burden, high nutritional utilization, and adaptation to individual physical conditions, which is truly useful.

I have been working as a community nutrition guide for almost 6 years, and I have encountered too many elderly people who have made mistakes. Not long ago, Aunt Zhang's wife, who lived in Building 3, had just undergone lung cancer surgery. She felt sorry for her husband's weakness, so she stewed sea cucumbers and cordyceps every day. As a result, the old man had diarrhea after three days of eating. When he went to check for uric acid, it soared to 560. Even his blood pressure, which was stable before, went up. Later, I stopped taking all those horrifyingly expensive supplements and started eating steamed egg custard sprinkled with chopped green vegetables, half a bowl of stewed lean minced pork, and half a pound of stir-fried tender lettuce every day. My weight increased by two pounds in half a month, and the reexamination indicators were all within the normal range.

Speaking of which, there is a hotly debated topic on the Internet right now: Should the elderly be vegetarian or eat meat? On the contrary, I feel that there is no need to argue about right and wrong. I went to give a lecture at a university for the elderly before and met two 82-year-old professors. One is engaged in cardiovascular research. He has been a vegetarian for most of his life. He relies on soy products and two boxes of pure milk to supplement protein every day, with more than a pound of green leafy vegetables. Now his blood lipids are more stable than many 30-year-old young people. ； The other is an orthopedic researcher studying osteoporosis. He must eat one or two lean beef with soy sauce every day and steamed cod twice a week. Now he can climb the fourth floor without holding railings. Last year, his bone density was higher than that of a 60-year-old man who just retired. To put it bluntly, there is no absolute optimal solution. If you have high blood lipids and are overweight, eat more vegetables and less meat to control your calories. ； If your teeth are fine and you have little muscle mass, it would be more cost-effective to eat more lean poultry and fish.

If you really want to know what to eat every day, you don’t have to fixate on what to eat on Monday and what to eat on Tuesday. It’s very flexible. Let’s just say in the morning, if you have good teeth, warm a cup of 200ml pure milk, add a small multigrain steamed bun, add a boiled egg, and nibble on a few small tomatoes, and you can get it done in 10 minutes. ； If you have bad teeth, replace the multigrain steamed buns with glutinous pumpkin, millet and quinoa porridge, replace the eggs with tender steamed egg custard, and sprinkle some chopped shrimp skin for freshness. Oh, and if you have diabetes, add less pumpkin and a handful of red adzuki beans and chickpeas. Just drink half a bowl of porridge, don’t be greedy. There used to be an old man who always said that the more he drank white porridge in the morning, the hungrier he became. Later, I asked him to add a spoonful of chopped peanuts to the porridge and a small section of steamed soft yam, which kept him awake all morning.

The lunch dish must be fragrant enough, otherwise the old man will have a poor appetite and put it down after just two bites. The steamed chicken with shiitake mushrooms that I often recommend to everyone is very good. The chicken legs are deboned and cut into small cubes. The soaked dried shiitake mushrooms are torn into small florets. Add a little ginger and a little salt. Steam for 20 minutes and it will be out of the pot. The meat is so tender that it melts in one sip. You can even eat half a bowl of rice soaked in fresh juice after steaming. If you have gout, replace the shiitake mushrooms with iron yam and steam them with finely chopped lean pork. The freshness is exactly the same and does not increase purine levels. You can choose whatever vegetables you like, including lettuce, broccoli, and chrysanthemum. When frying, add less oil and stir-fry for a minute before scooping out. Don’t stew them until they turn brown or stale, as all the vitamins will be lost. If your teeth are not good, chop them up and stir-fry them. The texture will not be much different.

Don't eat too much at night. Many elderly people are afraid of waste. They eat the leftovers from lunch all hot at night. Their stomachs are so bloated that they can't sleep in the middle of the night. It's really unnecessary. Just make something refreshing, such as shrimp and tofu stew. Cut the soft tofu into small pieces, throw in the shrimp with the back and deveined, add half a bowl of water and cook for 5 minutes. Just sprinkle with chopped green onion. It's so fresh that you can even add less salt. Just have it with half a bowl of multi-grain rice. If you rarely go out and have diabetes, change the staple food to half steamed corn, add a small plate of cold spinach and fungus, and sprinkle some white sesame seeds for flavor. It is much better than drinking white porridge with pickles. I used to have an aunt who drank white porridge with pickled radish every night, and her legs always cramped in the middle of the night. Later, she changed the pickles to this cold dish, and added some oats to the porridge. Within half a month, she said her legs were not numb so easily.

Oh, by the way, don’t believe in the “senior-only” gimmicks. Most of the milk powder and protein powder for the elderly have added flavors and charge an extra IQ tax. If you can eat normally, a cup of pure milk, an egg, one tael of lean meat, and half a catty of vegetables every day will be much better absorbed than health care products bought for tens of thousands of yuan. Some elderly people are afraid of high blood sugar and even dare not touch fruits. There is no need at all. If the blood sugar is stable, eating a small apple or a handful of strawberries every day is much more comfortable than taking synthetic vitamin tablets. If the blood sugar is not well controlled, just eat half a kiwi or about 10 small tomatoes. This will satisfy your cravings without burdening you.

To be honest, I have made hundreds of personalized recipes for the elderly in the community in the past few years, and they have never been the same. Aunt Zhang has diabetes, so I replace all her staple foods with low-GI foods. Uncle Li has full dentures, so I ask his children to chop all the vegetables into fine pieces. Aunt Wang has gout, so I cut out all high-purine ingredients for her. There is no universal nutrition recipe for the elderly. After eating it, your stomach will feel comfortable, your body will feel strong, and your health indicators will be stable when you go to the hospital. This is the best recipe for you.