10 The principle of healthy eating for the elderly needs special attention. According to the physiological characteristics and nutritional needs of the elderly, nutrition experts have summarized the following 10 dietary principles for the elderly, which can be used as a reference for arranging the diet of elderly parents. Let the elderly at home eat healthily while enjoying delicious food. 1. Because of the poor chewing and swallowing ability, the elderly who supplement their nutrition with snacks often can't eat much at one meal and eat for a long time. In order to get enough calories and nutrition for the elderly every day, nutritionists suggest that the elderly eat 5-6 meals a day, and prepare some simple snacks between meals, such as low-fat milk soaked biscuits (or nutritious oatmeal), low-fat milk oatmeal, or bean curd, soybean milk and eggs, or mix small pieces of fruit or fruit paste with yogurt. 2. Use bean products to replace some animals. Middle-aged and elderly people in protein must limit their meat intake, and some protein sources should be replaced by beans and bean products (such as tofu and soybean milk). In the diet of the elderly, each dinner should contain at least 170g of high-quality protein (such as lean meat, fish, eggs, tofu, etc. Vegetarians should get high-quality protein from beans and nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc.). Add vegetables to the staple food and cook together. In order to facilitate the elderly to chew, try to choose soft vegetables, such as tomatoes, loofah, wax gourd, pumpkin, eggplant and tender leaves of green leafy vegetables, and cut them into small pieces or plane them into filaments before cooking. If the elderly usually take porridge or noodle soup as their staple food, they can add 1-2 kinds of vegetables and cook together at a time to ensure that they eat at least 500 grams of vegetables every day. Eating 350 grams of fruit every day is a food that the elderly often ignore. Some soft fruits, such as bananas, watermelons, peaches, papayas, mangoes and kiwis, are very suitable for the elderly. You can slice the fruit or scrape it into mud with a spoon. If you want to make juice, you must pay attention to controlling the amount. You can add some water to dilute it when making juice. 5. Studies on vitamin B supplementation in recent years have gradually shown that vitamin B is closely related to cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, cataracts, brain function degradation (cognition and memory) and mental health that are prone to occur in the elderly. No matter getting sick, taking medicine or after surgery, it will cause a lot of loss of vitamin B. Therefore, for the sick elderly, special attention should be paid to vitamin B supplementation. Raw grains and nuts are rich in vitamin B, so when preparing three meals for the elderly, you might as well add some brown rice and germ. To cook porridge with white rice, you can also put a small amount of nuts into a blender and break them into powder, and add them to oatmeal to cook oatmeal. 6. Limit the intake of oil. The fat intake of the elderly should be mainly vegetable oil, avoid fat and animal fat (lard, butter), and fry and cook food less. In addition, desserts and cakes are also high in fat, so try not to let the elderly eat such high-fat snacks. Polyunsaturated fats (such as corn oil and sunflower oil) and monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil and peanut oil) are best eaten alternately, so that various fatty acids can be absorbed in a balanced way. 7. Add less salt, monosodium glutamate and soy sauce, and make good use of other seasoning methods. Old people who are not sensitive to taste often feel boring when eating. When food comes up, it is easy to ingest too much sodium and bury the hidden danger of high blood pressure. You can make more use of some fragrant vegetables, such as coriander, mushrooms and onions, to scramble eggs or make soup and porridge. The use of white vinegar, fruit vinegar, lemon juice, orange juice or pineapple can also change the taste of food. Some Chinese herbal medicines, such as strong-smelling angelica, cinnamon, spiced, star anise or sweet wolfberry and red dates, replace salt or soy sauce, and their rich taste helps to arouse the appetite of the elderly. 8. Eat less spicy food. Although spicy spices can arouse appetite, eating more of these foods can easily lead to imbalance of water and electrolytes in the body, dry mouth, irritability and poor sleep, so it is advisable to eat less. 9. Add more water during the day. Many old people don't drink much water for a day because they are worried about urinary incontinence or frequent running to the toilet at night. In fact, we should encourage the elderly to drink more boiled water during the day, or make some herbal tea (try not to put sugar) to change their taste, but drink less sugary drinks. Drink less water after meals to avoid going to the toilet at night and affecting sleep. 10. Taking multivitamin supplements once a day is very different among the elderly, so the nutrients that everyone needs to supplement are also very different. It is the most basic and safest way to strengthen nutrition for the elderly to take a variety of vitamin supplements every day, especially vitamin B supplements, antioxidant vitamins C and E, calcium to maintain bones, zinc to enhance immunity, etc. Don't take high-dose single supplements without authorization, especially fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E. If you eat too much, it will accumulate in the body and even cause toxicity. Among many factors that affect the health and longevity of the elderly, reasonable nutrition is one of the most important factors. Experts put forward the following principles for the healthy diet of the elderly: the diet structure should be vegetarian rather than miscellaneous, mainly vegetarian.

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