Commented on a discussion 2/21/2011 at 10:01 pm
PROTEIN - Okay, as my own teeth are pretty functional when eating a T-bone, I won't argue with you on the evolutionary possibilities.
Since you seem open to my father continuing to eat his
...Read MorePROTEIN - Okay, as my own teeth are pretty functional when eating a T-bone, I won't argue with you on the evolutionary possibilities.
Since you seem open to my father continuing to eat his meat, then I think we're much in agreement. He also loves his eggs, be they scrambled, sunny side up, or in soup. He does not like vegetables or beans. Nuts he loves.
The remaining argument I have is that there is no need to "alter" an elderly person's diet in this way when they are old! My father, if a plate of "legumes" was placed in front of him, would - in his old fashioned way - politely decline to eat it, while saying they "taste great." In this way, if only presented with these sorts of options, he would slowly starve himself to death, or seek out candy and nuts.
Why do I assert this? Because it is exactly what happened to my father. He lost over 20 pounds when his wife took away the milk, skin of chicken, eggs, meat, butter, etc., from their diet in an attempt to "eat healthy" and because of her fear of diabetes. When they went to Souplantation, my father had nothing to eat and would woof down bowls of clam chowder, rather than the big plate of greenery. He was literally being starved to death.
When I saw this happening, I "forced" him to return to his old diet, and he was scarfing down steaks, beef bowls, buttered toast!, scrambled eggs. He put back on the weight, to a healthy level (not anywhere near obese) and much of his strength, vitality and yes, cognitive function. It was no easy struggle to counter the wife's "good" intentions as she had a mountain of newletters, recommendations, etc., though mostly geared toward middle-aged obese persons: which my father was not.
In my original comment, I was not so much against the "healthy" recommendations you suggested, it's great for me (middle-aged) to consider and likely adjustments and such are a beneifit.
But for an elderly person, and the super-elderly (80+) it can be a prescription for rapid decline and sarcopenia. Do you have some agreement with me on this aspect?