By Michael Talibard
ARE you eating properly? The various needs of the elderly often go unfulfilled, not through ageism or discrimination, but just because nobody is making sure we’re OK. There are many aspects of this which one might discuss – today I shall focus on food.
As we get older, we eat less, mainly because appetite decreases, and it seems that nobody fully understands why.
Of course, loss of appetite can be a symptom of illness, and in quite a few cases, it amounts to anorexia. So sometimes when old people say they’re “just not hungry”, warning bells should ring, especially if they are getting too thin. But short of that, it is just normal to eat less as we age, because our bodies naturally slow down and our energy needs decrease. I eat far less than I used to, but I still eat well: I’m not getting thin!
As well as eating less, we oldies also eat differently: I have read that we consume less energy-dense sweets and fast foods, and more grains, vegetables, and fruits. I’ll be in trouble for saying this, but that diet doesn’t sound much fun to me. It is important to enjoy one’s food. At home, we certainly enjoy ours, what with two good cooks in the house.
It is sometimes said that old people don’t like spicy food, but, of course, this generalisation doesn’t always hold up. A lot depends on your personal or family history. As well as traditions like horseradish sauce and Colman’s mustard, the British people are notoriously in love with curry. Most of us would need a jolly good reason to give up any of these.
Why not take up cookery when you retire? Or indeed at any time. Men in particular, who may have done little cooking in their lives, can benefit so much from this: it is a great new hobby. And if you have a wife who is bored with all the cooking she has done over the years, she’ll be happy too. Eating a good home-cooked meal is a bulwark against decline.
And do sit properly at the table: you can make a little ceremony of this. Naturally, that is harder to maintain if you are living on your own – hard to see the point. But it’s worth it if you can. Even in large families, eating together around the table is in decline: it has long been under attack from the television, and now from the smartphone. Please let’s resist that dreadful trend.
Data from the UK Food Standards Agency show that eating out in a pub or restaurant (if one ever had that habit) does fall off with age, but there is a much sharper drop in eating food from a takeaway.
The 75+ age group get takeaway food only about one-third as frequently as younger age groups. If this were primarily the result of lower income, then one would expect an at least similar reduction in eating out, which is, after all, more expensive. But no – what declines more sharply with age is specifically the takeaway. This is a mystery.
I would like to think that the explanation is that the elderly are doing more home cooking, but that would be naïve. Sadly, many elderly folk cannot manage to do that. Indeed, many have kitchens that are scarcely ever used as such. So it’s more likely to be a ready meal from the supermarket, eaten off one’s lap… if even that.
One partial answer is Meals on Wheels, which provides an inexpensive two-course hot meal delivered to the client’s door four days a week. The most common users of this service are single, elderly people, but MoW also helps others who struggle to shop or cook for themselves, such as some who have just come out of hospital.
Meals on Wheels is regularly in need of volunteers to dish up or make deliveries. I have been a Meals on Wheels driver for three years now, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Do volunteer. Not only will you be making yourself useful, but it is a very enjoyable thing to do: you always get a smile and a thank you: what’s not to like?
As well as food, the Meals on Wheels delivery in some cases provides the client’s only human contact of that day. But loneliness is a topic worthy of its own separate and difficult discussion. I will try to tackle that next week.
So back to food, and indeed to wine. It seems that those of us oldies who are eating well are washing it down with red wine.
According to marketing consultants Kantar, the demographic profile of red wine drinkers has the over-65s as the largest of all its age groups (35%). I am certainly of that cohort. Cheers!
Michael Talibard, who is now in his 80s, is a retired teacher and former head of English at Victoria College. He founded the Jersey branch of U3A and was its chairman for 20 years.
