Tips for seniors to enjoy New Year dishes: chop and shred for easier swallowing

As the Chinese New Year approaches, Taipei Medical University Hospital has designed a New Year's Eve dinner set for the senior citizens for the first time. From staple food to dessert, there are 9 dishes in total, symbolizing "longevity". Nutritionists have taken the health needs and chewing ability of the elderly as the main considerations in the selection of ingredients, knife skills, and cooking time. In particular, "cutting into strips and chopping into small pieces for easy swallowing" is a little secret that can help the senior citizens eat healthily without burden.

According to Taipei Medical University Hospital Director Chen Ruijie, in order to allow the elderly to have a comfortable New Year, the hospital began to assist the elderly in cleaning their home environment last year. This not only allows the elderly to live comfortably, but also improves their walking routes at home to avoid falls. This year the service has been upgraded again, with the nutrition room specially designing a New Year's Eve meal package for the elderly to add to the New Year's Eve meal.

Designing New Year dishes for seniors to focus on less chewing

Director Su Xiuyue of the Nutrition Department of the Peking University Hospital, who conceived the menu, said that during the aging process of the human body, problems with taste and teeth may have an impact on daily life. In particular, the elderly with oral problems usually choose liquid, easy-to-chew foods, and therefore often exclude many foods with high nutrient density, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables and meat, resulting in nutritional deficiencies.

In addition, the elderly often suffer from reduced body resistance and decreased muscle mass due to insufficient protein intake. To this end, the 9 dishes in the nutrition team's New Year's Eve dinner set are all designed based on the principle of "cut into strips and chop into small pieces for easier swallowing, cook twice as much for less chewing, and have a higher nutritional density." For example, the carrots, black fungus, cassava and dried tofu in the "vegetarian assortment" are all shredded and stir-fried to make the dish easier to eat and add diversity to the diet; the staple food of rice is added with shredded pumpkin to make "pumpkin rice", and this simple action instantly increases the calorie density of the food; the "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall", a must-have for the New Year, and the "Radish and Wolfberry Pork Rib Soup" which symbolizes good luck are also served on the table, but the cooking time needs to be doubled to make the ingredients softer and easier to swallow.

Cut food into small pieces to make it soft

Director Su Xiuyue emphasized that in order to increase protein intake, pork is included in the New Year's dinner set. Considering that it is difficult for the elderly to chew pork if it is cut into pieces, the soft "Cabbage Lion's Head" is made with minced pork, tofu and cabbage. The "Steamed Snapper Slices" and "Goji Berry Drunk Chicken" are respectively made with fish slices and boneless chicken legs as the main ingredients, both of which can prevent the elderly from eating fish bones and bones, while taking into account nutritional intake and having auspicious meanings such as "abundance every year" and "starting a business with chicken".

At the same time, Yuanbao, which brings good luck for the new year, is also cleverly included in the New Year's Eve dinner set for the elderly. As the traditional Yuanbao has a thick skin, it is not suitable for the elderly with poor dental condition. Therefore, thin-skinned "wontons" are made into small Yuanbao, and the meat filling is mixed with vegetable puree made of leeks and beetroots, enriching the color and diversity of the diet. For dessert, purple rice porridge is made with purple rice rich in anthocyanins, red beans high in fiber, and glutinous rice, which is antioxidant and provides fiber.

[Nutritionist’s Intimate Reminder]:

Different dietary patterns can be adjusted according to the elderly's physical and nutritional status. The most important thing is to make sure the elderly can eat enough. Cut the food into small pieces and cook or stew it to make it soft and moist. In addition, adding egg drops, vegetable puree, minced meat, olive oil, etc. to porridge, or adding pumpkin, potato, yam, beans, etc. to the soup are all little secrets to increase nutrition and calorie density.