helping a senior couple eat for health and mental clarity

Has anyone tried the plant-based butters?

I looked at the ingredients on one that are:

Organic Coconut oil, Organic Cultured Cashew Milk (Filtered Water, Organic Cashews, Cultures), Filtered Water, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt

This brand:

https://miyokos.com/products/vegan-butter

I wish I still had the bottle, I got them at a natural food store. it was like 14-15 years ago, I was going though a serious funk, I took one pill  in late afternoon and the next morning I was like a different person. I kept to one a day till they were gone. at the time I was a patient of the local hospice, true story,  and I had a great relationship with the director who was my doctor , we would sit and talk for hours, and she recommended it.
so since once in my life I was under the medical care of a hospice I'm living on borrowed time I guess.

here is one that kind of looks like bottle

https://www.professionalsupplementcenter.com/Chelated-Multi-Mineral-by-Healthy-Origins.htm?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=generic&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqKuKBhCxARIsACf4XuFVB4PGao4re3YGc7-FRgpjlGUj2I7dmPN3vxAa6XR19hGXifv110caAgRiEALw_wcB

In many situations I use my homemade mayo to replace butter. I make it right in the jar it will live in with my stick blender and if I drizzle the oil in very slowly, it turns out acceptably thick. I can post the exact recipe if people are interested, but basically, a little apple cider vinegar, home squeezed lemon juice, one whole homegrown egg, spices, and a quality olive oil. At least I know what I'm eating!

I've tried a number of them when I get up north, and they all seem to be passable EXCEPT for the ones that include flaxseed oil (I had one when I was up there in July that was just terrible, don't remember what brand it was); while I love the nutritional benefits of flax, I'd rather eat it separately-- the taste to me is just so overwhelming that I can't eat or cook with these products.

I did not read this entire thread. The posts I did read did not mention the most basic step, talk with the people you are shopping for.  If they are not good communicators, try to talk with people who know them better than you do.

It is much too common for a helper to buy what the helper likes and not what the people being shopped for likes.

Anne Miller wrote:Has anyone tried the plant-based butters?

I looked at the ingredients on one that are:

Organic Coconut oil, Organic Cultured Cashew Milk (Filtered Water, Organic Cashews, Cultures), Filtered Water, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt

This brand:

https://miyokos.com/products/vegan-butter

My sister who can't tolerate dairy loves the Miyokos brand vegan butter. It is a creamier texture than butter flavored coconut oil. In my understanding, however, the cashew milk (higher carb) and the sunflower oil, both make this slightly more inflammatory than other fat choices. Though I would use this one over something with canola or soy oil in a heart beat!

One example I've learned from vegan friends is to simply drizzle olive oil and some salt on a plain baked potato. It's quite nice if you ask me!

Jay Angler wrote:In many situations I use my homemade mayo to replace butter. I make it right in the jar it will live in with my stick blender and if I drizzle the oil in very slowly, it turns out acceptably thick. I can post the exact recipe if people are interested, but basically, a little apple cider vinegar, home squeezed lemon juice, one whole homegrown egg, spices, and a quality olive oil. At least I know what I'm eating!

Yes! I'm glad you like it made with olive oil. I tried several times, and I don't know whether it was the olive oil I used, or just my own picky taste buds, but I could not make a 100% olive oil mayo that I liked.

Also, that method sounds similar to NW Edible Life - Erica Strauss' "Magic Mayo" method that I think is posted on here somewhere and/or you can find on YouTube. I used to make all our own mayo with organic ingredients, because, like you, I wanted only food I felt good about going in our bodies.

Currently, Primal Kitchens makes an avocado oil mayo with mostly organic ingredients (or Chosen Foods, does, too) that I love and which saves me a lot of time in the kitchen.

Tereza Okava wrote:I've tried a number of them when I get up north, and they all seem to be passable EXCEPT for the ones that include flaxseed oil (I had one when I was up there in July that was just terrible, don't remember what brand it was); while I love the nutritional benefits of flax, I'd rather eat it separately-- the taste to me is just so overwhelming that I can't eat or cook with these products.

Yeah, some times flax seeds or oil tastes incredibly FISHY.  I would have a hard time with that, too.

John F Dean wrote:I did not read this entire thread. The posts I did read did not mention the most basic step, talk with the people you are shopping for.  If they are not good communicators, try to talk with people who know them better than you do.

It is much too common for a helper to buy what the helper likes and not what the people being shopped for likes.

As the OP, the point is that if the people (senior citizens) are left to buy what they like, the concern (or history) is that they will buy inflammatory, unhealthy foods.

Finding tasty alternatives, is half the battle. Talking about how to incorporate them, or simply cooking the alternatives for them, is the next step. But it's rather complicated.

I described Ritz crackers in meatloaf and Monique suggested substituting oatmeal here. Perfect! But, since the crackers are so salty and fatty, I'd probably up the salt and the good fats in the meatloaf to compensate and make a meatloaf for them. I wouldn't necessarily expect them to make that switch unless they asked or wanted to.

About salt:  unlike some, I learned that if you have adequate potassium consumption (erm, vegetables!), then sodium consumption is not as much of an issue for most people. So I would be fine with upping the salt in a meatloaf for seniors.

My mom used to rave about how good my food was. Actually, It think it was mostly that I used high quality, organic ingredients which have been shown in studies to taste better. Some of that example started to rub off in that I was finding more organic ingredients in her pantry, etc. before she passed away.

But when seniors are sick, or just tired and low energy due to age, those comfort and convenience foods--plus cheap foods for their fixed incomes!--start to take over. I wouldn't want to suggest to a sick person or a person with memory issues that they do more with their food. So the conversation and talking to someone isn't necessarily the best tactic. Then, if others who are gifting foods compound their poor food choices by gifting even more unhealthy food...well, that upward battle becomes even more daunting!

In the end, it's setting an example, doing a lot of cooking for them, perhaps having conversations with other family members or friends who are providing food, continuing to educate the public at large about what IS healthy food, finding or asking services (nursing homes or other support services) to provide anti-inflammatory food...

In most cases, I don't think it's a straightforward conversation.

Bruce, thank you for sharing.  I am glad that most of the ingredients are things I am familiar with.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:One example I've learned from vegan friends is to simply drizzle olive oil and some salt on a plain baked potato. It's quite nice if you ask me!

I learned years ago that putting olive oil on something is just as good as using butter.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

One example I've learned from vegan friends is to simply drizzle olive oil and some salt on a plain baked potato. It's quite nice if you ask me!

I really like that too.  When I’m trying to avoid dairy, I have used nutritional yeast with the olive oil.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

"This couple eats very typical, somewhat cheap American food, nothing "ethnic." Sandwiches, bacon and eggs, toast, meatloaf and potatoes (with salad on the side), ham and split pea soup, that kind of thing. "

just wondering
is split pea soup something that is not good for me?  its cooled off a bit and I've got a bowl full in front of me and remembered this thread and it got me thinking
is this stuff bad for me?

bruce Fine wrote:"This couple eats very typical, somewhat cheap American food, nothing "ethnic." Sandwiches, bacon and eggs, toast, meatloaf and potatoes (with salad on the side), ham and split pea soup, that kind of thing. "

just wondering
is split pea soup something that is not good for me?  its cooled off a bit and I've got a bowl full in front of me and remembered this thread and it got me thinking
is this stuff bad for me?

Split pea soup is one of those things where my best answer is, "it depends". If one of your health issues is a problem with inflammation, then yes, it *can* be, because peas are legumes, of which one of the nutritional componants are leptins, which can cause/ aggravate that situation. If there is meat in it, that brings more possible caveats; what the meat is, its source, and if/how the meat is cured, because of the whole nitrates/nitrites issue. Other factors to throw even more "maybes" might include portion size, frequency, how much of a questionable meat is in it, was it purchased in a can (high Sodium, sugars, colors, preservatives, 'flavors', etc) or homemade, and what else is in it.  So, if it's homemade, with no meat, or has poultry, or uncured ham or bacon, reliably sourced seasonings, etc, and you don't have problems with inflammation, holy heck, yeah, it's healthy! Have AT it! But, if your favorite one is out of a cheap can, from the store, you might want to partake on a very infrequent, 'guilty pleasure' kind of basis. And there's a rather broad spectrum of other possible things that can influence all of that, too.

In my honest opinion, what's perfectly 'healthy' for one person can often be deadly, for another.