A well-balanced, whole foods diet is essential to good health at all stages of life, and the elderly years are no exception. Many basic food rules apply whether you are a toddler, busy college student, or active senior, such as to limit your intake of refined sugar products, eat a wide variety of foods, and opt for good old fashioned cooking at home. But as you age, your nutritional requirements change somewhat and other factors influence the changing role of food for seniors.

You need fewer calories, for one thing, the older you get, but this also depends on how active you are. But eating more nutrient-rich foods to make up for the caloric decrease becomes especially important.

Elderly people may also exhibit vitamin deficiencies, B6, D, calcium, and zinc to name a few. Chronic disease or dental problems may contribute to malnutrition. And quite simply, food just doesn’t taste as good as it used to. By age 75, people have only half as many taste buds as they did at age 30. Financial restrictions, depression, drug side effects, forgetfulness, lack of transportation, and loneliness can also affect an elderly person’s eating habits.

With all these factors to consider, here are some guidelines for helping special seniors in your life to eat more nutritious and healthy meals and help them avoid diet-related problems.

• Choose organic foods over non-organic. A large percentage of pesticides and herbicides are considered carcinogenic, so why burden a senior’s already more fragile health with potentially poisonous chemicals?
• As a general rule, portion sizes should be smaller for seniors. They don’t need as much food as they did in their 30s.
• Include plenty of foods rich in fiber to help seniors stay regular, as constipation often afflicts the elderly. Leafy green veggies, whole grains, and sprouted grain products are especially good.
• Serve cultured and fermented foods that will aid in digestion and promote a healthy gut. The digestive processes slow with age and a healthy digestive tract is important for optimal assimilation of nutrients. Cultured foods, such as kim chee , raw sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir are some examples of foods that enhance the digestion process.
• Cook dishes full of flavor and aroma. Appealing foods may help stimulate appetite and you can intensify flavors with herbs, marinades, dressings and sauces. Serving a wide variety of foods throughout the week can also keep an elderly person interested in eating. Try combining textures, such as yogurt with granola, to make foods seem more appetizing.
• Be especially careful when handling raw chicken and meat to avoid cross-contamination, as elderly people are more susceptible to food-borne illness. Wear gloves and sanitize cutting boards, knives, and countertops with a mild bleach solution.
• Soaking grains before cooking them is a time-tested way to make them more digestible and the nutrients more readily available. For example, when oatmeal is planned for breakfast, soak the oatmeal in water overnight.
• Encourage healthy snacking by having easy to grab snacks ready in the refrigerator: Pre-cut raw vegetables such as carrot and celery sticks, pea pods, broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper strips, etc. Raw nuts, dried fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, pitted olives, leftover cooked meats, and cheese chunks are good. Some nutritious unrefrigerated snacks include whole grain crackers, bananas, and nut butters.

Following these practical tips for cooking for your elderly loved ones should go a long way toward helping them stay healthy and active in their golden years.

Sandi McArthur, Education Outreach Coordinator

Nine members of the Munson Medical Center Relationship-Based Care (RBC), Caring and Healing Subcommittee visited Oryana Natural Foods Market recently.

Relationship-Based Care (RBC) is an initiative Munson is undertaking to improve care and healing by improving relationships. RBC is a culture of caring and a way of being that focuses on three relationships; with self, with colleagues and with patients and families.

The focus of the meeting was “Care of Self,” which the Subcommittee agrees is essential to taking good care of others. They learned that our strict purchasing standards and educational outreach are just two ways that Oryana helps individuals build a strong foundation of knowledge about food and its connection to good health. As Northern Michigan’s only certified organic retailer with shelves full of carefully labeled products for people with food allergies or special dietary needs, the committee concluded that Oryana is an important resource in our community.

Sandi McArthur, Education and Outreach Coordinator at Oryana and an RN by training, gave the Subcommittee a brief history of Oryana and explained the cooperative purchasing model that makes members owners of the store. Our member-owners have shaped Oryana’s purpose over the years, guided by the philosophy that the store exists to improve the health of the community.

The group was surprised and pleased to learn about all of the tools available here at the store, like recipes and cooking classes, note cards with tips for boosting nutrition or buying organics on a budget, that help make the shopping experience and learning how to buy and prepare whole foods less mysterious and more user-friendly.

We always welcome and encourage groups or businesses with an interest in health-supportive diets to arrange for a tour of the store and informational presentation.

A recent article on CNN explained that children exposed to a type of pesticide found in trace amounts on commercially grown fruits and vegetables are more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than children with less exposure.

The pesticides, also known as organophosphates, are “designed” to have toxic effects on the nervous system, says the lead author of the study, Maryse Bouchard, Ph.D., a researcher in the department of environmental and occupational health at the University of Montreal. “That’s how they kill pests.”

Many commercially grown fruits and veggies sold in the U.S. have detectable levels of pesticides, according to a 2008 study by the US Dept of Ag.

This article further suggests that children eat LOCAL and ORGANIC fruits and veggies, something that we certainly agree with and have been promoting all along. It was found that even non-organic local veggies had fewer pesticides on them, but why not take the extra measure of buying organic to be sure that the food we give our children is free from damaging pesticides?

This report also coincides with the results of another study that showed that cord blood of infants contained up to 232 different toxic substances, demonstrating prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants. How incredibly sad to think that our children are contaminated and possibly weakened even BEFORE they are born by toxins that can and should be banned.

One can only hope that reports like this will somehow touch off major change at the government and corporate level. Or perhaps a report like this will tilt the balance of consumers switching to more organic products, hence forcing a change in the marketplace. However it happens, it can’t happen too soon. In the meantime, our store offers the greatest selection of LOCAL and ORGANIC produce in northern Michigan. We also have weekly produce specials, great deals on fruits and veggies that you’ll want to take advantage of.

Also, we now have ORGANIC TRANSPLANTS so you can start your own little or big organic garden. The transplants come from the organic farm of Jim Moses and Linda Grigg of Leelanau County.

I was visiting a friend the other day and as we were walking through her yard I spied some tall, proud-looking stalks of asparagus poking out of the grass. I promptly picked several stalks and marveled at how this wonderful, tasty stalk was just there for the picking and rejoiced in being able to (finally) harvest a fresh, local food.

What a happy time of year it is when we can start eating local green delectables again. The store is full of local greens now, collards, kale, and lettuce, and boy are they good! The California and foreign imports are great to have during the winter but you can really taste the difference between something locally grown and something that’s traveled a long distance, even organically grown foods.

We now have organic transplants from Linda Griggs and Jim Moses so you can start your own garden of delights at home. What they brought so far: kale, cabbage, chard, collard greens, broccoli, and herbs. Tomatoes and peppers coming soon…Even if you don’t have a huge, sunny plot of land you can most likely start a container garden in any sunny spot. It is a profoundly satisfying experience to pick something that you yourself planted several weeks or months earlier, to watch a seed or seedling grow from tiny sprout to a luscious, juicy tomato or crisp, shiny green pepper. I feel in touch with Mother Earth when I pick a tomato I planted and also feel a deep sense of self-reliance. Not to mention how much fun it is to cook your home-grown, just picked dinner!

Here are a few recipes utilizing our local spring bounty. Happy cooking and eating!

Grilled Asparagus

1 pound fresh asparagus, tough ends snapped off
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat grill for high heat.
2. Lightly coat the asparagus spears with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Grill over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or to desired tenderness.

Simple Asparagus Soup

2 pounds green asparagus, cut into half inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil
5 to 6 cups chicken or veggie broth
1/2 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
chopped fresh chives for garnish

Cook onion in butter in a large soup pot over low heat, stirring, until softened. Add asparagus and salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add 5 cups broth and simmer, covered, until asparagus is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Purée soup in the pot using a hand blender until smooth. Stir in crème fraîche and lemon juice, then add more broth to thin soup to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Heat through but do not boil. Serve sprinkled with chives.

Sauteed Collard Greens

2 1/2 pounds collard greens, stems removed, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot of boiling water cook collards 15 minutes and drain in a colander, pressing out excess liquid with back of a wooden spoon. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and stir in garlic. Cook for about 5 seconds. Add collards, and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté the mixture, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Drizzle collards with vinegar and toss well. Serve hot.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) under prodding from large dairy corporations and the FDA are attempting to restrict the delivery of raw milk to thousands of consumers throughout Massachusetts. Earlier this year, the MDAR issued a cease and desist order to raw milk buying clubs who were delivering the milk to customers across the state. If passed, the Massachusetts law could set a dangerous national precedent.

The Massachusetts law is just the latest in a calculated assault against small farmers and unprocessed raw foods in America. Over three million Americans now prefer organic raw milk and dairy products over conventional pasteurized milk because of its superior nutrition and disease fighting capabilities, and because it comes from small, local producers who pasture their dairy cows, rather than feeding them GMO grains on huge, disease-ridden intensive-confinement factory farms.

Sales of raw milk are legal in 28 states so small dairy farmers in states like Massachusetts (and Michigan) must utilize cow share programs to be able to distribute their raw milk products. What’s happening in Mass. is alarming and if they succeed the affect could soon negatively impact other states.

Raw milk sales in Michigan is illegal but there are many farmers who have cow share programs throughout the state, including right here in northern Michigan. Eddie Keim of Grazing Acres recently started his cow share program and is looking for more customers. (With a cow share program, you purchase part of a cow and the farmer simply takes care of the cow and just delivers the milk.) Raw milk is a superb, whole and highly nutritious food. My hope is that someday we will be able to sell raw milk at Oryana. Meanwhile, we carry Shetler’s milk products, the next best thing to raw.

For more info on raw milk click on the link below. If you live in the T.C area and are interested in purchasing a cow share, you can contact Grazing Acres Farm, info below.

List of Michigan farmers with cow share programs

Grazing Acres Farm
18540 50th Ave
Marion, MI 49665
231-743-6819