As you grow older, your appetite, eating habits, and dietary needs all change. You may start to feel full more quickly, or find yourself eating the same sorts of foods over and over. Dietary changes are natural parts of aging, but that doesn’t make navigating them easy—with so many different things to keep track of, trying to eat a balanced diet can start to feel overwhelming. Using key strategies can help to make your mealtimes easier, healthier, and overall more enjoyable.
What to Keep in Mind
While there are a nearly endless number of things to track in terms of your diet—including calories, vitamins, minerals, different types of carbs and fats, proteins, and many, many more—there are a few that are extra important for you as an older adult.
First, it is important to understand that while your caloric needs may be reduced, you still need the same amounts of nutrients. In fact, you may even need more of certain nutrients than in your youth. In order to meet these nutrient needs without accumulating excess calories, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends eating a diet of nutrient dense foods (NDFs). According to their 2020 ~ 2025 Dietary Guide, NDFs include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seafood, eggs, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, and lean meats. Of these NDFs, some should be consumed in higher quantities than others; about half of your plate should be fruits and vegetables, a quarter whole grains, and the remaining quarter protein. This is not to say that you should completely cut out non nutrient dense foods—the recommendation is to get 85% of your total daily calories from NDFs, with the other 15% coming from sources of your choice, including “unhealthy” foods. This allows you to still eat foods like chocolates and candies without upsetting your overall dietary balance.
For older adults, some of these nutrient dense foods are especially important—namely, the proteins. In your later years, your body naturally begins to lose muscle mass, which can lead to weakness and fatigue. Eating enough protein helps to lessen these effects and preserve your muscle mass, making it a crucial nutrient for older adults. Some studies have even linked adequate protein intake with reduced chronic pain! While protein is often associated with meats and eggs, eating other protein sources like fish, dairy, beans, peas, and lentils can help to meet your protein goals without eating the same things over and over.
Even if you have leftovers, you can make your meals less monotonous by slightly changing how you use your leftover foods. When cooking for one, leftovers are quite common—most packages of meat, fish, and vegetables are much bigger than what you need for one portion. As a result, you’ll likely find yourself making more than you can eat in one meal and saving the rest for later. This isn’t a bad thing though—far from it! Leftovers can make future meals much easier for you. If you find yourself getting bored of eating the same meal, try to make something new out of your leftovers rather than simply eating them as they are. Depending on what they are, you can also try freezing leftovers for quick and easy meals later down the line.
Another excellent way to prevent monotony in your eating is to try new flavours and foods! In the rest of this article, you will find ideas for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, which can also be modified to suit your preferences and dietary needs.
Breakfast: Eggs With a Twist
With over 100 ways to cook eggs—yes, really!—it’s no surprise that they are a staple in many peoples’ breakfasts. They are also incredibly nutrient dense, according to Healthline, and have high levels of protein, healthy fats, and vitamins. If you experience difficulty with chewing, their soft nature also makes them easy to eat.
While there are many ways to eat eggs just by themselves, pairing eggs with other foods will increase the number of nutrients you get with your breakfast. Scrambled eggs pair nicely with avocado, which is rich in healthy fats, fiber, and vitamins. You could also make an omelet with spinach, which is a phenomenal source of fiber, vitamins, iron, calcium, and antioxidants (which promote healthy aging by combating oxidative stress, as per Healthline). Or, if you are a fan of toast in the mornings, you could make a toast and egg sandwich, or dip toast fingers in a soft boiled egg. If you usually eat white toast, try eating whole wheat toast instead, to bring more fiber and vitamins into your diet.
Breakfast: Smoothies and Overnight Oats
If you prefer to have quick and easy breakfasts like cereal or toast, you might try making a smoothie or overnight oats. These can be prepared the night before, and offer a lot of variety, meaning that you can easily keep things interesting.
Smoothies can be made with a vast range of foods, and can be excellent ways to get some fruit into your diet. For example, if you have bananas that are starting to brown, you could pair them with a few tablespoons of peanut butter, milk, and greek yogurt to make a rich smoothie that’s high in protein and calcium. Adding a touch of cinnamon, nutmeg, or honey can also help to bring these flavours to life. If you want to incorporate different fruits, or experiment with adding in some vegetables, a simple search on google will bring up thousands of smoothie recipes for you to try. Most smoothies will keep in the refrigerator for 24 hours, meaning that you can premake a breakfast smoothie the night before—just give it a good shake before drinking it!
Another prep-able breakfast is overnight oats. With a simple base recipe of just two ingredients (oats and milk) and endless topping options, this is a recipe that keeps on giving. To make overnight oats, simply mix equal parts oats (rolled, quick, and instant will all work, but will have slightly different textures), seal in an airtight container, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. You can change the volume of oats you make depending on your hunger level—if you aren’t very hungry, ¼ cup of oats may be enough, while those with larger appetites might try using ½ cup of oats instead. You can also mix chia seeds into your overnight mixture to make it creamier and boost fiber, antioxidant, and omega-3 fatty acid content.
After your oats are made, you can add your toppings! For sweet oats, you could try fruits like berries, bananas, and apples, as well as nuts, nut butters, spices, honey, and anything else your heart desires. You can also try making savoury overnight oats by swapping your milk with soup broth, and experiment with adding in savoury elements like vegetables, eggs, cheese, or meat. Varying your toppings will also increase the variety of nutrients you get.
Lunch: Healthy Wraps
If you find yourself trying to come up with ways to use leftovers, making wraps is a great option. Whether you have leftover fish, meat, or vegetables, wrapping them up in a tortilla can make them feel like a whole new meal, especially if you add some fresh vegetables and sauces. Wraps are also great because they pack all of the nutrients of a meal—protein, vitamins, fiber, etc—into one single dish. And, as a bonus point, tortillas keep very well in the freezer, which can help to reduce food waste. Simply cover your frozen tortilla with a damp paper towel and microwave it at 1 minute intervals to thaw it out.
If you don’t have any leftovers to wrap up, you can try making other kinds of wraps. As with any food, there are plenty of recipes to be found online, but you can also keep things simple with staples like chicken, tuna, or egg salads. Simply mix together some mayonnaise, greek yogurt, mustard, or salsa with ¼ ~ ½ cup of shredded chicken, canned tuna, or 1 ~ 2 hard boiled eggs, then place that onto a wholewheat tortilla to create your base. From there, you can add in vegetables like celery, lettuce, cabbage, onions, avocados, and cucumber to make a delicious and nutritious lunch. As a general rule of thumb, you should aim for ⅔ of your wrap’s volume to be made up of vegetables, with the other ⅓ being your source of protein.
If you are looking for ways to meal prep and make lunchtime a bit easier, having pre-cut vegetables and shredded chicken on hand will make wrap assembly even easier. This can be a great way to use up extra chicken, if you have some left over from other recipes!
Lunch: Hearty Soups
If you have vegetables lying around and want to use them up, making a batch of soup can help! Most vegetables can be incorporated into a soup in some way, and soups freeze very well, meaning that you can make a large batch and then freeze containers for later days.
One of the easiest soups to make is a roast vegetable soup. To make this soup, roughly chop roasting vegetables like broccoli, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers into similar sized chunks, then toss them along with 1 ~ 2 garlic cloves in olive oil and spices (salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin work well here). After they are coated, roast your veggies in a large pan until the vegetables are cooked through, flipping halfway through. This process usually takes about 30 minutes at 400℉ for harder vegetables like potatoes and carrots, while less time is needed for soft vegetables like peppers and tomatoes. Once your vegetables are all cooked, transfer them to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy, then simmer along with some soup stock to complete your soup. Using an immersion blender can help to get any lingering chunks if you want a completely smooth texture.
On its own, this soup is a fantastic source of vegetable nutrients, including tons of vitamins and dietary fiber. If you are looking to boost the protein content of this soup, or make it more filling, try adding in lentils, beans, peas, or shredded chicken.
Dinner: Baked Fish and Vegetables
According to the USDA, people tend to get most of their protein from meat, poultry, and eggs, while seafood is underconsumed. If you are looking for a way to include more fish into your diet, making this one-pan dish can provide you with the added protein benefits while limiting dishes and clean up time. And, as this recipe is easily scaled up, you can make enough to last for several days in a row—the roasted fish and vegetables can also be made into wraps for lunch, or incorporated into pastas and casseroles.
As with the other recipes on this list, you can use a wide range of ingredients depending on what you have on hand. This recipe can be made with sweet potato, broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, carrots, or any other roasting vegetable. For the fish, you could use something like salmon, trout, cod, or tilapia. Simply preheat your oven to 400℉, and chop your vegetables into bite sized pieces. Toss them in olive oil and any spices of your choosing, then place the hard vegetables—potatoes, carrots, etc—onto a pan and let them roast for 30 minutes, flipping them halfway through. While you wait, you can chop softer vegetables and garlic, and prepare your fish fillets. Once 30 minutes have passed, add in the remaining vegetables, garlic, and fish, then let them roast for another 10 minutes or until everything is cooked through.
This meal is rich in many nutrients, from vegetable vitamins and fiber to protein and healthy fats from the fish. In general, white fish like cod are lower in fat, while red fish like salmon are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Depending on your overall diet, you may want to prioritize one kind of fish over another.
Dinner: Stir Fry Variations
A final easy way to use up ingredients cluttering up your fridge is to make a stir fry. When cooking for one, most packages of meat and vegetables are too big to use up in one meal, which can lead to a fair amount of food waste unless you use them up in other ways. By tossing together a bunch of your leftover food, you can make a delicious meal while also reducing your food waste.
To make a stir fry, start by choosing your protein source. This could look like chicken, meat, fish, tofu, lentils, beans, or eggs. Next, choose your vegetables—remember, veggies should make up about half of your plate, so don’t be afraid to use a fair amount. Common stir fry vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, carrots, green beans, peppers, onions, and eggplant, but just about any vegetable can be used. After gathering and preparing your main ingredients, along with any aromatics, spices, and sauces, you can start frying them up. Start by cooking aromatics with a bit of oil until they are fragrant, then add in any meat, followed by hard vegetables, then soft vegetables. If you are including grains, lentils, or beans, try precooking them and then adding them in alongside your soft vegetables. Finish by adding in your sauces, and you’re all done!
Stir fries are also great leftovers to have, as you can make them into wraps, make fried rice with them, or just reheat them to have the next day. With a good balance of vegetables, proteins, and grains, these will make highly nutritious additions to your diet.
A Final Note on Eating Alone
While we have highlighted leftovers and food waste as potential difficulties of eating alone, there can also be mental impacts as well. According to the University of Oxford, people who eat with others are more likely to “feel happy and satisfied with their lives”. As older adults, this is especially important—your opportunities to socialize tend to become fewer as you grow older, meaning that more time is spent alone. By making plans to eat with other people, whether that be friends or family, you can set yourself on track to feeling healthier in both body and mind.
