Cooking For The Elderly - Protein

Caring for Elderly and Disabled people is rewarding and challenging. My favorite part, besides pampering them, is cooking for them. To have someone say "Oh, honey, I'm really not hungry" and then consume every last bite on their plate is such a rush for me! This is not a recipe, but a few ideas that I hope you can use. Recipes to follow!Protein:



An elderly or infirm person requires protein, but may find animal proteins difficult to digest. Since they require at least .5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day, this leaves the caregiver wondering what to serve. Providing digestive enzymes may assist your elderly client or parent in using the animal protein you prepare. Here are some alternatives, should you decide to try incorporating easier-to-digest vegetable proteins:

• Garbanzo Beans (cooked in vegetable broth and served as a sandwich filling, ground meat substitute, or in salads. Set out in a bowl, room temperature, as an easy-to grab snack high in protein and fiber)
• Mung Beans (try cooking into a taco filling, or use to stuff peppers)
• Anasazi Beans (delicious, easy to cook, and a better ratio of carbs to protein)
• Lentils (soup, stew, in salads, as sandwich spread)
• Quinoa (a wonderful grain you can use as you might use rice)

If you do choose to serve your elder animal protein, you may make the digestion process easier by serving these with watery vegetables rather than startches. YES, they were raised on "meat and potatoes" but the days of that combination being easy on the stomach are gone!