Eating Habits in Later Years

Ken Anderson

Greeter
Staff member
We have other threads here about diets, what we're having for breakfast and supper, and so on, but this one is more specific to how our eating habits might have changed as we've grown older.

Due to work and sleep schedules, discussed in another thread here, I haven't always eaten regular meals, such as breakfast, dinner, and supper, although I tried a lot harder to do that while raising my son, because growing up adopted by a single parent is odd enough that I wanted to keep to as many norms as I could.

However, in part because of my abdominal issues, I have to maintain a low-residue diet, which, in part, means low-fiber, while fiber is good for most people, including my wife, we can't eat regular meals that one of us cooks and we both eat, because we generally eat different things, and although she is willing to do this, I don't want my wife to have cook two separate meals, one for me and one for her. I can eat most regular breakfast foods, so that one is a problem only because of my sleep habits.

Rather than eating dinner or supper, I will often graze throughout the day, which some people claim to be a healthy way to eat, except that I don't necessarily keep track of whether I'm eating the right balance of various foods; rather, I just eat whatever sounds like a good idea at the time.

Another thing I'm finding is that food doesn't seem to be as important to me as it once was. Although you wouldn't know that from looking at me, I don't eat a lot. Sometimes, I'll eat more of something than I should; at other times, I'll realize that I had gone through the day without eating hardly anything at all. My wife drives for a non-profit, so she is sometimes away from early in the morning to later at night, and she might mention that she hadn't eaten much all day, and I'll realize that, while I have been at home, I haven't eaten anything either, other than maybe a yogurt or a banana.

I don't know how much of this has to do with my being a total flake, low-fiber requirements, or age, though. Are you experiencing changes in your eating habits that may be attributable to age, as opposed to imposed diet plans?
 
Well, Ken, we aren't nearly the "red meat" eaters we use to be. For awhile, for whatever reason, I couldn't eat link sausage anymore for breakfast or have diced ham in an omelet, but that has changed somewhat now. I can still eat Mexican food, IOW, a taco or enchilada made with ground beef. Very little, if any, steak and Prime Rib was my favorite. As for hotdogs, NOPE, not anymore!
 
We don't have any dietary restrictions, so we pretty much eat whatever we want. We have never been 'three meals a day' people, but have one primary meal mid-afternoon (3 or 4 pm). Other than that we have snack foods, nuts, fruit, etc. or an occasional sandwich. Seldom have breakfast. We typically have some kind of sweet or dessert with coffee around 7 p.m. or so.

I have noticed that we eat out a lot more than we used to. I seem to run out of ideas (and enthusiasm) about meal prep, though I have always loved to cook. It just seems like drudgery to me more often than not, so my husband is happy to go pick something up. Luckily we live in an area where there are plenty of restaurants and fast food joints to choose from.
 
No restrictions or medical conditions benefiting from specific foods. Big breakfast, small lunch, nibble plate with happy hour and dinner generally around 7:30. I am not a big meat eater while SO is a carnivore but we mange:)
 
I don’t have any food restrictions at my age. My husband is supposed to watch his salt intake a little bit, but other than that, we are good, I think. We don’t eat as much food, as we use too, but I think we still eat pretty healthy. Sometimes we fall off the healthy wagon though.:D

We eat a small breakfast every day because we are up very early. Sometimes we have a small snack mid-morning. Our main meal is around mid-to-late afternoon. Our last bit of food in the evenings is around 5 or 6 PM, which is usually some fruit. Nothing is written in stone though.
 
Having developed a considerable dairy intolerance late in life definitely put a crimp in my eating habits.

I was a great lover of cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, butter and, yes, ICE CREAM.

I absolutely hate the substitutes. I'll eat almond milk on my cereal but that's about it. Forget vegan cheese...yuk.
 
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