It is important for all of us – including vegetarians or vegans – to be given a well balanced diet. Following the advice in this guide will help, and genuine variety should achieve a reasonable balance of protein, carbohydrate, fat and fibre, with good vitamin and mineral content.

It is important that older people eat enough to cover their energy and nutritional requirements. So, in view of reduced appetite, a nutrient-dense diet is the caterer’s challenge. Fortunately this is one which is probably easier to rise to for older vegetarians than for meat-eaters.

It’s a good idea to have a written plan of menus for, say, the week ahead. For really good variety you can work to a four week plan – repeated over three months. (Not longer, as you should make seasonal changes.)

It’s worth remembering that dairy and soya products provide complete protein, whereas nuts, seeds and pulses don’t. These need to be combined with grains to complete the  necessary amino acid profiles. This can be done over a period of 24 hours, however, so porridge or toast in the morning and chickpeas or lentils in the evening count as making up complete protein.

Dairy Over-load
A problem vegetarians often face is the caterers’ tendency to see cheese as the obvious source of protein in a meal with no meat or fish. There are so many alternative sources of
protein – nuts, pulses, tofu etc – that the omnipresent cheese shows a lack of imagination as well as discrimination against vegans!

Dairy produce should not be eaten to excess: whilst they have nutritional value many dairy products have a high degree of saturated fat (although using skimmed or semi-skimmed milk reduces fat intake).