Use of side dishes for the elderly

 

This is shahab in charge of the blog.

I would like to extend my warmest greetings for the New Year.

We will continue to provide information about food and nutrition in 2022, so please continue to read "Nutrition News". Recently, when I ask elderly couples and single elderly people about their daily meals during nutritional consultations, they say, "Cooking is troublesome," and "I'm worried about accidents while cooking." I often hear the voice saying, However, many side dishes are heavily seasoned, and if you do not choose them well, the nutritional balance will be unbalanced. So this time, I will talk about the precautions when using side dishes.

[Merits and demerits of side dishes]

Advantages

・You can buy the foods you want to eat in small amounts as much as you need . Households can consume not only a simple meal, but also a variety of foods. Disadvantages : You can choose foods safely because nutrition labels, ingredients, allergy labels, expiration dates, etc. are displayed. As a result, it is easy to become deficient in vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber .

[Caution]

Pay attention to balance!

If you choose only what you like, your nutrition will be biased. In order to have a well-balanced meal, it is important to eat a combination of staple food, main dish, and side dish. In addition, single items such as rice balls, sweet bread, rice bowls, and noodles are easy to eat, but they tend to be biased towards sugar and fat. Let's combine milk and salad so that protein, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber can be supplemented.

Get plenty of protein!

Elderly people who lack protein are prone to sarcopenia, in which muscle mass decreases and physical function declines. prize.

Watch your salt content!

Avoid soups and pickles, as many of the side dishes sold on the market are strongly seasoned.

It is important to be conscious of reducing salt, such as leaving the soup in noodles and halving the amount of sauce and salad dressing.

*Daily target salt intake is less than 7.5g for men and less than 6.5g for women (according to Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese 2020)

[ Beware of fire sources ] As you

age, your ability to make judgments and motor functions will decline, so even the slightest thing can lead to an unexpected accident, so be careful with fire sources.

 *Major accidents caused by gas ranges

1. Forgetting to turn off the fire or burning empty (dementia, forgetfulness, etc.)

2. Igniting things around the stove (cloth, kitchen paper, wrapping paper for side dishes and instant food, etc.)

3. Ignite clothing (reaching for the ventilation fan switch, reaching over the stove to change the pot, etc.)

As people get older, their diet becomes thinner and the amount of foods that are difficult to eat increases, which can lead to malnutrition. If it is difficult to eat many foods at one meal, try to get the nutrients you need throughout the day instead of sticking to three meals a day.