Thank you for this article. Excellent suggestions. Economical, healthy and tasty foods. I like your.ideas for those days when you are not really interested in eating. 🙃
Thank you. This is clearly explained and feels doable for me. I’m 76 years old and hate to cook meals with many ingredients or even bake, but I can easily switch to many of these. I actually prefer healthy foods like you listed but felt overwhelmed by all the confusing complicated senior diets. I’ll go back to using my crockpot to fix protein /fiber meals.
Thank you! You’re right to ignore the complicated “senior diet” noise. Simple protein + fiber done consistently is what matters, and a crockpot is perfect for that. You’re doing it the smart, sustainable way.
Great article, thank you. I’ve been adding organic basil seeds to my yogurt—they add 15 grams of fiber and 5 of protein. They act like chia seeds and are supposedly a better option (not inflammatory).
One point to add since there's a lot of buzz about protein now due to the GLP-1 trend. The protein you are looking to add is not all the junk ones out there--protein pop tarts, protein Doritos and protein soda are not what will help you preserve muscle healthfully!
Strength training paired with the right protein (and diet overall) will also do wonders!
I guess my lunch would be approved. A cup of Greek yogurt with dried cranberries and walnuts, a large peeled apple and a slice of whole grain toast with butter and a glass of water.
Breakfast is usually the hardest meal to hit 25–30g of protein. It is doable, but it takes being very intentional—eggs + Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or a protein shake—rather than a typical “light” breakfast. Those combinations do exactly this by pairing solid protein with fiber and staying realistic.
Ideally, you’d get ~25–30g at each meal, but that’s a target, not a rule. A good-enough, sustainable goal is to make sure every meal includes protein and fiber, and let the numbers average out over the day.
Here is the paragraph your wrote. “How much do you need? Aim for about 25-30 grams of protein at each main meal. That’s roughly the amount in a palm-sized portion of meat, fish, or chicken, or about a cup of Greek yogurt, or three eggs, or a cup and a half of beans.” Not a big deal but wanted to mention it
You mention eating 3 eggs to obtain your 25 grams of protein but those eggs would only give you 18 grams. Are you assuming we should eat some other food to add to the breakfast?
You’re right — 3 eggs are closer to ~18–20g depending on size. The idea was to use eggs as the base, then top up with something small like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, a bit of cheese, or even leftover meat. You don’t need a huge breakfast — just enough to comfortably reach ~25g.
Could you point me to where this is mentioned in the article so I can correct it? I rechecked and can’t find where I say that 🙈
Thank you for this article. Excellent suggestions. Economical, healthy and tasty foods. I like your.ideas for those days when you are not really interested in eating. 🙃
Make your own yogurt and kefir
Grow or buy organic fruit and vegetables
Eat grassfed meat
20 minutes sun a day
Exercise
And you be going a long way to good health
Solid list 👍
Simple habits done consistently beat complicated plans every time. Sun, real food, movement — that’s the foundation most people overlook.
Thank you. This is clearly explained and feels doable for me. I’m 76 years old and hate to cook meals with many ingredients or even bake, but I can easily switch to many of these. I actually prefer healthy foods like you listed but felt overwhelmed by all the confusing complicated senior diets. I’ll go back to using my crockpot to fix protein /fiber meals.
Thank you! You’re right to ignore the complicated “senior diet” noise. Simple protein + fiber done consistently is what matters, and a crockpot is perfect for that. You’re doing it the smart, sustainable way.
Excellent article! Thank you!😃
Excellent article. Thank you.
Thank you for reading it!
Great article, thank you. I’ve been adding organic basil seeds to my yogurt—they add 15 grams of fiber and 5 of protein. They act like chia seeds and are supposedly a better option (not inflammatory).
Interesting, I didn’t know about these! Thank you for sharing!
Solid primer on healthy eating for older adults.
One point to add since there's a lot of buzz about protein now due to the GLP-1 trend. The protein you are looking to add is not all the junk ones out there--protein pop tarts, protein Doritos and protein soda are not what will help you preserve muscle healthfully!
Strength training paired with the right protein (and diet overall) will also do wonders!
I guess my lunch would be approved. A cup of Greek yogurt with dried cranberries and walnuts, a large peeled apple and a slice of whole grain toast with butter and a glass of water.
That’s a solid lunch, Lizz — you’ve got protein from the Greek yogurt and some fiber from the walnuts + whole grain toast + apple.
Tiny tweaks if you want to really hit the “protein + fiber every meal” goal:
- If you don’t need to peel the apple, keeping the skin bumps the fiber a lot.
- Add a fiber booster to the yogurt (1–2 tbsp chia/flax or a handful of berries).
- If the yogurt is a smaller portion, you could bump protein by going a little bigger on the Greek yogurt (or choosing a higher-protein one).
We needed this info. Thank you!
My pleasure! There’s sooo much info about nutrition—we need a few simple rules to stick to.
Such good reminders! Thank you. I love eating humus with cucumbers or crackers for lunch or snack.
None of the suggested meals adds up to 25 to 30 g of protein. It is hard to get that much protein in each of the three meals a day!!
Breakfast is usually the hardest meal to hit 25–30g of protein. It is doable, but it takes being very intentional—eggs + Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or a protein shake—rather than a typical “light” breakfast. Those combinations do exactly this by pairing solid protein with fiber and staying realistic.
Ideally, you’d get ~25–30g at each meal, but that’s a target, not a rule. A good-enough, sustainable goal is to make sure every meal includes protein and fiber, and let the numbers average out over the day.
I should have said none of the suggested breakfast meals…
Here is the paragraph your wrote. “How much do you need? Aim for about 25-30 grams of protein at each main meal. That’s roughly the amount in a palm-sized portion of meat, fish, or chicken, or about a cup of Greek yogurt, or three eggs, or a cup and a half of beans.” Not a big deal but wanted to mention it
Updated, thank you again for letting me know!
Got it, thanks!
You mention eating 3 eggs to obtain your 25 grams of protein but those eggs would only give you 18 grams. Are you assuming we should eat some other food to add to the breakfast?
You’re right — 3 eggs are closer to ~18–20g depending on size. The idea was to use eggs as the base, then top up with something small like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, a bit of cheese, or even leftover meat. You don’t need a huge breakfast — just enough to comfortably reach ~25g.
Could you point me to where this is mentioned in the article so I can correct it? I rechecked and can’t find where I say that 🙈