What should the food for the elderly look like? How to eat healthy?

Key Takeaways

• Food for the elderly must deliver an appropriate amount of energy at the right quantity. It must be easy to chew, looks palatable and properly nutritious.
• According to 9 principles of nutrition to promote better eating and prevent the loss of appetite, food for the elderly must be diverse.
• Protein is what the elderly really need. It must be the main component in food for the elderly to help body repair.

Special care of food for the elderly

The older one becomes, the more their health deterioration affects their mind. This is because the deteriorating body with age can cause their movement to get slower and less agile. At the same time, their taste buds also deteriorate, causing the taste not as good. The elderly then feel the loss of appetite.

Food for the elderly is what caretakers have to really be mindful. Food nourishes the body and proper nutrition is important for health, with disease prevention. For the elderly nutrition, food selection should be specially important. They should eat nutritious food diversely and in balance.

How should the elderly food be like?

The elderly food should have appropriate amount of energy at an appropriate quantity and contains complete nutrients. The food must be easy to chew, swallow, digest and not too tasty in order not to affect the digestion system. Herbs can be used to add tastes, scent and color to the food and increase appetite.

The older one becomes, the more health deterioration affects one’s mind. This is because when health gets worse by age, movement also become slower and not as agile as before. The tastes bud also deteriorate, causing food to taste less delicious. Hence, the elderly can experience loss of appetite.

Therefore, the food for the elderly is an important matter for caretakers to pay special attention. Food nourishes the body and proper nutrition is important for health and disease prevention. For the elderly nutrition, food selection should be specially important. They should eat nutritious food diversely and in balance.

How to select food for the elderly?

Food and eating is so important. Therefore, one should selecct only what is good and nutritious for body good health. Food selection for the elderly needs to be done with a special care. Today Thai Nippon Foods offers 9 nutrition principles to select food for the elderly as follows:

1. Consume five groups of nutrients proportionately and keep track of your weight.
2. Consume rice as the main food especially brown rice.
3. Regularly consume fruits and vegetables of the season.
4. Regularly consume fish, eggs, lean meat, nuts and products made from nuts.
5. Drink milk and eat products made from milk regularly. 
6. Avoid food high in fat sugar, salt.
7. Drink sufficient water
8. Eat food that is cooked clean and safe.
9. Avoid or reduce alcohol consumption.

Food for the elderly must contain an appropriate amount of energy. The elderly need 1,400-1,800 kcal from food per day, depending on each day’s activities for complete nutrition in easy guidelines.

Eating five groups of nutrients

1. Protein : Protein is the nutrient the elderly need most. It helps repair the body. Protein can be found in eggs, meat, chicken breasts, pork, salmon, barramundi, etc. or milk protein. The elderly should consume 120-160 grams of protein daily.
2. Carbohydrate : Rice is the main source of carbohydrate the elderly should consume. The rice should be whole rice. Other sources of carbohydrate for the elderly can come from taro, potato or noodles.
3. Vegetables : Consume different colors of vegetables. Slice them into small pieces. Then, steam or boil them for easy digestion. Ivy gourd leaves, morning glory, pumpkin, carrot, tomato, etc. are examples. A diet for the elderly should contain two ladles of leafy green vegetables and one ladle of yellow or orange vegetables per day.
4. Fruits : Fruits contains vitamins and fiber which aid digestion. The fruits should be soft and easy to chew, such as papaya, orange, ripe banana, watermelon and dragon fruit. Anyway, even if all fruits can be eaten, fructose in them should be monitored. Hence, one should not consume more than three handfuls of fruits per day.
5. Fat : Select fat from vegetables, such as vegetable oil. Do not consume more than two tablespoons. For the elderly diet, lard and coconut oil must be avoided due to high cholesterol and saturated fat, which can lead to illnesses.

Food for the elderly should contain complete nutrients at an appropriate and sufficient amount each day. Other than eating all five group of nutrients, one should eat diversely in an appropriate amount, along with having some activities of movement, such as exercise for long-term good health.

Food to avoid for the elderly

• Spicy food : Spicy food should be avoided, whether it is sweet, salty, spicy or sour. It is the cause of acid reflux and other diseases, such as kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.
• Fried food, fast food and fatty meat : Naturally, fried food is full of fat, such as fried chicken skin, fried banana, fried streaky pork, fried chicken and deep-fried doughsticks. These foods are high in fat, affecting the health of the elderly. They are also difficult on the digestion system.
• Pickled food : Salt is usually used in food preservation by pickling. The foods as a result taste salty and high in sodium. They should be avoided, such as pickled mustard greens, pickled bamboo shoots, and also every pickled fruit.
• Alcohol and caffeine drinks : Alcohol and caffeine stimulate the nervous system and the brain. If being consumed in large quantity, they can deteriorate the body’s strength.
• Avoid smoking : Cigarettes contain nicotine, which causes cancer. Smoking in large quantities increase the risk of repiratory diseases.

Thailnd is becoming a complete elderly society. Therefore, we should pay attention to our health and the ones at home. The foods for the elderly today are enriched with different nutrients, especially protein which the elderly need. Just include meat packed with protein, such as Steamed Chicken Breasts from NH Foods, you will receive complete nutrients which are delicious and ready to eat. Protein from chicken breasts is easy to eat and can be cooked for the elderly in different dishes. Here are the menus from chicken breasts: For the healthy ones to read! Five dishes of chicken breasts anyone can cook! – THAI NIPPON FOODS CO., LTD)

Steamed Chicken breasts from NH Foods can be purchased in leading convenient stores such as Big C, mini Big c, Tops market, Tops daily, Don Don Donki, Aeon, UFM Fuji Super 1-5, The mall

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