Sample menu for older adults to meet their changed increased nutrient demands!

Older adults need extra nutrients for their aging body. They are prone to muscle mass loss that increases their frailness and causes stumbles. Moreover, they require nutrients for the weakened bones and teeth. Here is a sample menu for this group of citizens.

Older adults and their problems

Aging brings with it a number of problems. These include chronic inflammatory diseases such as high blood pressure, indigestion, low immunity, heart ailments, kidney problems, type 2 diabetes mellitus etc. To overcome and fight these diseases, the elderly people require more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. All these come from eating fresh fruit and vegetables.

The elderly population have sluggish gut. There is a lot of gut issues including constipation. Fiber rich foods assist in regulating bowel movements. Moreover, the muscle mass falls with age. For this, elderly people need to have more protein rich foods in their diet. They should consume healthy fats and also have more of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamin D for their weakening bones and osteoporosis.

Older adults living alone find it challenging to shop and cook. They should plan meals in advance and purchase in advance in person or online for it. Avoid sugars, processed meals, salt and saturated fats in foods. Here is a sample menu for older adults.

Sample menu

Elderly people should continue to eat healthy and balanced with extra nutrients. Their food should have the macronutrients and micronutrients along with phytochemicals. They should adhere to 5 a day which means they should have 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Moreover, they should have plenty of milk and milk products to counteract the effects of weakening bones on their body. Additionally, they should soak in the morning rays for vitamin D.

Here is a sample menu. They can use this as a foundation and vary the contents as per their taste and liking to suit them. But the foods from same food group should be replaced in place of the existing one. That will ensure that they get all the essential nutrients easily and simply with less efforts and in a budget.

For breakfast, they can have:

A smoothie with added yoghurt, fruits, or spinach. Do not add sugar in it. They can also opt for a whole grain toast with a vegetable egg omelet. Some may like banana split oatmeal or an avocado breakfast bruschetta. Eggs topped on kale or sweet potato grits would be nutritious, delicious and easily digestible.

In lunch, they can go for:

Apple coleslaw or whole grain bread sandwich containing avocado, tomato and chicken. Some days they can eat stir fried vegetables with quinoa. Sweet potato and black beans quesadillas might also taste delicious and also be nutritious. Moreover, other healthy options for lunch are Sanchico tuna salad.

For snacking, these are healthy options:

Carrot sticks with hummus or celery with natural peanut butter with no added sugar, yoghurt with added natural fruits and/or nuts and seeds, chili popcorn, banana cocoa yoghurt pops or yummy bean dip.

In dinner, opt for:

Roasted vegetables with chicken breast and hummus, or whole grain pasta in tomato sauce with ground turkey. Alternatively, one can have plant based foods such as zucchini with sweet potato along with roasted salmon.

Also, read 8 soft and nutritious foods best for elderly people with no teeth!

Fatty fish has a lot of omega 3 fatty acids that are good for the body. Fish with spinach, Eve’s tasty turkey tetrazzini or Argentinean grilled steak with salsa criolla are also healthy meal choices for dinner.