In our perception, a light diet has always been a healthy way to eat. And as anyone who has been in the hospital knows, doctors often tell us? recommend a light diet when we go home? ,? Eat less fish and meat, less oil, less sweets, low-salt diet? and so on. We have long accepted this dietary concept, and the older we get, the more people eat lightly. What exactly is a light diet?
Doctors are right to advise us, and the Chinese Academy of Nutrition also recommends a diet that? low salt, low fat, low sugar? However, in reality, due to the lack of basic nutritional knowledge, many people do not know how to eat a proper light diet. Before that, I asked the old man in our family to take a look at his light diet recipes:
Breakfast: thick rice soup or corn grits congee, coleslaw (cucumber, onion, etc.) or stir-fried vegetables (beans, eggplants)
Lunch: noodles in soup (in which there is shredded meat, a little vegetable)
Added meal: occasional fruit
Dinner: thin porridge, steamed buns, vegetables
Supper: thin porridge, steamed bread, vegetables
And finally, the old man in the family, who has been in the family since the beginning of the year, is not aware of how to eat properly.
At last the old man gave me another: ? I'm alone at home, so it's convenient to eat and save time and also relatively light, eat all the vegetables grown at home, quite healthy?
Such a seemingly healthy and light diet, in fact, is an irrational and unbalanced diet, nutrient intake is too small, completely unable to meet the nutritional needs of the elderly. Eating too much rice and noodles (carbohydrates) is not conducive to blood sugar control. The elderly intake of fat is too little, will lead to insufficient energy intake; protein intake is too little, will cause muscle reduction, low immunity; calcium intake is reduced, the most prone to osteoporosis, walking slowly, easy to fall and fracture.
So what kind of nutrition does the elderly need in their daily lives? As the elderly gastrointestinal digestion and absorption function and their own metabolism is weakened, we generally believe that eating a little soup soup, noodles, rice well-digested food, eat not hungry even if it is accomplished,
In fact, the elderly need to consume more nutrients to meet the body's needs.
The most important nutrients that need to be supplemented are protein and calcium (and does not mean that other nutrients are not consumed)
The elderly in the supplemental protein, taking into account the elderly appetite as well as the decline in digestion and absorption, it is recommended that high-quality proteins such as milk (milk easy to drink diarrhea is recommended that the first choice of yogurt), eggs, poultry (chicken, duck), meat (lean pork), soybeans. Dishes should have color, aroma and taste to enhance the appetite of the elderly. It is recommended that the elderly can eat like this: a cup of milk or yogurt (280ml), eat an egg, eat two or three two lean meat and fish, and then eat a little soy products. It is also necessary to increase outdoor activities, such as walking, playing Tai Chi, square dancing, etc., to prevent muscle atrophy.
With increasing age, the effectiveness of calcium absorption and utilization gradually decreases in the elderly, so the elderly need more calcium than the young. Dietary provision of adequate calcium can slow down bone loss, the Chinese Nutrition Society suggests that the elderly over 50 years old should intake of calcium 1000 mg per day. Milk is the most suitable for the elderly to supplement calcium consumption, every 100 milliliters of milk calcium content of up to 100 milligrams or more, and the absorption effect is good. Beans and soy products, sesame paste, and dark green vegetables are also better sources of calcium. But vegetables (such as spinach, amaranth, cabbage) containing more oxalic acid, will affect the absorption of calcium, blanch again before eating boiling water to remove some of the oxalic acid.