Simply Nutrition: Gaining – not losing – weight can be frustrating

By Celia Topping, MNS, RD, CDE

An 87-year old Perferred Care Gold member from Corfu wrote in looking for ways to
gain weight safely. She has weighed 118 pounds all her life (except during pregnancy), and was recently advised by
her doctor that she was underweight and needed to put on some pounds.

For some people, weight loss can be a problem, especially if they have not been trying to lose. If you’re notphysically active, you tend to lose muscle tissue, not fat. The more you lose, the weaker you become. People who are underweight are at greater risk for falls and bone fractures, and may not recover from sickness or surgery as quickly.

Maintaining a healthy weight is important for everyone. Tips for gaining or maintaining weight include:

• Follow a regular meal schedule so you don’t forget to eat
• Eat more frequently—five to six small meals a day
• Keep healthful snacks on hand— yogurt, milk, fruit, vegetables, whole grain crackers, peanut butter and cereal
• Add dry milk powder to soups and casseroles to boost protein and calories
• Substitute nutritious cocoa, milkshakes, soup or juice for coffee, tea or soda
• Fortify stews and favorite casseroles with cheese, rice or pasta
• Drink fluids 30 minutes before and after meals, not with meals

One-dish make-ahead dinners

Preparing meals is not a chore for a 67-year old Gold member in Wolcott who sent in the following recipe. Using an 18-quart roaster oven, he combines a selection of vegetables and meat, depending on his taste and what’s available at the market. After cooking, he divides up the recipe into 20 meals, each in a pint size freezer container, and freezes them for later use.

Recipe for finger-licking meals

Our Gold member writes:

“Open two cans (14-16 ounces) each of peas, sliced carrots, sliced green beans and whole kernel corn. Drain off the juice from the vegetable cans into the roaster oven, then add 1 1/2 quarts of water. Peel and dice five pounds of potatoes with a ripple cutter and add them to the roaster oven. Add one medium onion (sliced and diced) per can of vegetables. You also can add 1/2 package of celery, diced. Cook the potatoes, onion and celery until about 2/3 done. Then add the canned vegetables and more water, if needed, to submerge them.

For meat, use two pounds of leftover beef, turkey, chicken or venison sliced in 3/8- inch cubes. If you ripple cut the meat it will cook faster. You also may use pre-cooked meat, like Polish kielbasa. First heat the pre-cooked meat in a microwave, then skin and ripple cut into 3/8-inch pieces. (Other options include corned beef, Virginia or honey-baked ham or Spam.) Add spices to taste. (I don’t add salt because I find the canned vegetables to be salty enough.) After cooking and cooling, fill pint freezer containers and freeze them.”

Tips for freezing foods:

• Be sure to label and date each freezer container.
• If you are watching your sodium intake, use fresh or frozen vegetables in place of canned ones. Or, substitute low sodium canned vegetables, vegetable water or low sodium broth for some of the canned liquid.
• Some meats, such as beef, turkey and chicken, will be lower in sodium than corned beef, ham or Spam.
• For best quality, freeze meals for no more than three months.
• Use first the containers that have been in the freezer the longest.
• Thaw individual containers in the refrigerator, NOT on a counter at room temperature.

Posted: December 2005