The "Huangdi Neijing" puts forward the sixteen-character principle of "five grains for nourishment, five fruits for help, five livestock for benefit, and five vegetables for supplement". The elderly not only need reasonable nutrition, but more importantly, scientific dietary rules, which are crucial to the health and longevity of the elderly. As people age, their spleen and stomach functions gradually decline, and their resistance to harmful external factors is relatively poor. Therefore, special attention should be paid to diet, the diet should be regular, and there should be certain taboos. Mr. Li Furen suggested that the elderly should follow the following ten dietary guidelines:

1. Yiguang. The elderly should have a broad diet, not be partial to food or be addicted to meat, but should have a mix of meat and vegetables, as well as refined and coarse grains, to maintain nutritional balance.

2. It should be warm. Food should not be too hot, otherwise it will burn the esophagus and stomach, which can easily induce esophageal and gastric cancer. However, food that is too cold can easily damage the spleen and stomach, affecting digestion and absorption.

3. It should be soft and rotten. The elderly have poor digestive function and their teeth will gradually fall out. At this time, whether it is staple food, meat, or other porridge, it must be cooked soft and mashed so that the elderly can digest it.

4. It should be light. The elderly should eat less salt and more light food, especially those with high blood pressure, and should eat less salt and less or no fried food to avoid affecting digestion.

5. Should be fresh and clean. It is best for the elderly not to eat food that has been left overnight or that has been stored in the refrigerator for too long. Especially in summer, avoid eating unclean food to avoid digestive tract diseases.

6. It is advisable to eat small meals frequently. As people age, their digestive function weakens, and overeating is most detrimental to the spleen and stomach. Therefore, you should eat in moderation and eat smaller meals more frequently. A small amount of nourishing food can be added between three meals, such as white fungus soup, egg white soup, lotus seed soup, etc.

7. Chew carefully and slowly. Chewing slowly can increase saliva secretion, help digestion, reduce the burden on gastrointestinal function, and can also kill bacteria.

8． It's better to go early. The elderly should have three meals early. Especially for dinner, don't eat too much. Instead, eat something easy to digest, such as porridge, soup, etc. It is best for the elderly to go to bed 2 hours after dinner.

9. Yijing. The elderly should have a quiet dining environment and avoid adverse stimulation during and after meals to affect gastrointestinal motility and digestion.

10． Something should be avoided. Mainly taboos on diet and diseases of the elderly. For example, patients with stomach heat and sores and boils should not eat spicy food, such as raw onions, raw garlic, peppers, etc.; patients with hyperlipidemia should not eat animal offal, animal fat, and eat less fatty meat; patients with stomach cold should not eat cold, greasy foods; kidney disease It is advisable to limit protein intake; diabetics should avoid sugar and eat less sweets.

Healthy Echo Wall

Because people’s internal organs change with the seasons, the elderly should pay attention to seasonal changes in their diet. Generally speaking, the diet of the elderly should focus on the following aspects in the four seasons:

1. Spring: The diet of the elderly should be cooler and sour. They can eat more millet, barley, herring, day lily, celery, Radish and honey etc.

2． Summer: The diet of the elderly should focus on strengthening the stomach, relieving heat, and reducing dampness. At this time, the elderly should eat foods such as mung beans, tofu, crucian carp, lotus root, watermelon, and bitter melon, and eat less sweet and oily foods.

3. Autumn: The climate turns cooler and drier. The elderly should eat a diet that is dry and sour. They can eat more japonica rice, barley, lentils, eggs, lilies, soft-shell turtles, jellyfish, honey, etc. and avoid spicy foods. 4. Winter: Elderly people often suffer from loss of yin essence, insufficient yin energy, and lukewarm limbs. At this time, the elderly should choose foods that replenish heart qi and strengthen kidney essence, such as glutinous rice, soybeans, mutton, sheep kidney, dog meat, herring, longan meat, and leeks. , black sesame, etc.

Water, the elixir of longevity for the elderly

Master's Notes

The elderly often suffer from insufficient body fluids, such as constipation, decreased urination, dry skin, insomnia, upset, Dry mouth and tongue, or red tongue with little fluid, etc. It is often because the elderly do not like to drink water, or forget to drink water due to poor memory in old age, or suffering from encephalopathy, etc. Therefore, the elderly should maintain the habit of drinking less frequently every day. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, said: "Water is the source of all transformations. If water is gone, the energy will be exhausted. Water is the origin of life. A person can live without food for a year, but cannot live without water for three days." A famous medical scientist in the Eastern Han Dynasty Zhang Zhongjing also said: "Water is the lifeblood." Water is an important component of the human body, its content accounts for about 70% of the total weight of the human body, and it is an essential substance for human physiological metabolism.

"A person is a walking water bag." The digestion, absorption, blood circulation and waste excretion of food in the human body are all inseparable from water.

Therefore, Mr. Li Furen also suggested that the elderly should drink more water, which will facilitate the digestion and absorption of food, reduce the occurrence of constipation, dry skin, itching, neurasthenia, dry mouth and other symptoms, and make urine smooth and metabolism normal. At the same time, water can also prevent some common diseases in the elderly, such as stroke caused by ischemic cerebral infarction, which accounts for more than half of acute cerebrovascular diseases, especially among the elderly, and often occurs at night. Due to atherosclerosis, lumen stenosis, vagus nerve hyperfunction at night, blood flow slows down, and blood thickens, ischemic cerebral infarction is very likely to occur. If the elderly who do not drink water regularly and have increased nocturia can drink a cup of boiled water before going to bed and in the middle of the night, they can reduce blood viscosity and prevent or reduce ischemic stroke to a large extent.

In addition, water can also prevent cancer. Foreign experts believe that drinking 2.5 liters of water per day can reduce the amount and time of contact between carcinogens and the inner wall of the bladder, thereby reducing the incidence of bladder cancer. In addition, drinking a cup of boiled water every morning can clean the gastrointestinal tract, remove chyme remaining between the mucosal folds of the digestive tract, promote intestinal peristalsis, soften feces, accelerate excretion, and reduce the impact of harmful substances and carcinogens in chyme and feces on the stomach. Stimulation of the intestinal mucosa can not only relieve constipation, prevent and treat habitual constipation, but also prevent cancer in the digestive tract. Mr. Li suggested that the elderly drink water slowly to avoid choking and coughing. Especially the elderly suffering from edema, heart disease, kidney disease, and hypertension must drink less frequently.

Healthy Echo Wall

Drinking water is the simplest way to maintain your health, but drinking poor water will not only fail to achieve the effect of health care, but will also cause harm to the body. Therefore, we must understand which water is good for the body and which water is harmful to the body.

1． The best water temperature is below 30℃

Warm water below 30℃ is more in line with the physiological functions of the gastrointestinal tract and will not overly stimulate the gastrointestinal tract, cause vasoconstriction or stimulate peristalsis.

2． Salt water is good in the morning, honey water is good in the evening

There is an old saying that "salt water is better in the morning and honey is better in the evening". According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, salty water belongs to the kidney meridian. If you drink a cup of light salt water in the morning, you can maintain your energy for the day. In the evening, drink a cup of honey with warm water (not exceeding 60°C), which can nourish the spleen and stomach and promote health.