My mom chooses to eliminate a lot of foods from her diet, including meat, wheat, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers.... for a while she eliminated dairy too, but now eats a bit of cottage cheese.

She used to spend hours a day chopping raw veggies for herself, a huge plate of which she would top with precisely a third cup of beans and a quarter cup of rice. But now she's into smoothies. A fruit smoothie for breakfast, a green smoothie for lunch.

She is very thin, but quite healthy at 81. I wish she wouldn't deprive herself and I wish she had a tiny bit more meat on her bones. But I never say anything.

Oh my goodness. This thread has exploded, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your replies. Thanks for indulging me. What our parents eat runs the gamut. WOW.

I vote that eat whatever makes them happy and keeps their tummies comfortable - especially after the age on 80. My word, they have earned it.

Adela, my mom is the same but her doc recently told her that at her age an extra 5 pounds can make the difference in surviving a flu or pneumonia, so she started indulging a bit and not worrying about it. It's a cheap life insurance policy!

Una, omg! Great doctor!

The older I get, the more I eat like my late dad. He used to eat two pieces of fruit every day to top off his lunch. I used to laugh at TWO. But now I do the same because I really, really want to eat two servings. He used to eat precisely at noon, and I get hungry at exactly 1:30. And he used to eat old fashioned oatmeal at least five days per week. I eat steel cut oats often 5/7 days, but it's close enough, right?

When my mom was flat on her back for six months when she was pregnant with my brother, cooking duties fell to my dad. He planned out the month's dinners in advance, even reserving a day or two for leftovers --and had the menus posted on a calendar, just like school cafeteria lunches! He was a PhD chemist, so approached the whole task pretty scientifically. I'm sure he used recipes and measured everything precisely. He, uh, didn't wait for the muse to hit or add a little of this and a little of that.

My parents in their 80's both had problems with swallowing ( very common according to the doctor). They liked pudding and jello and foods that had small pieces of meat like Chinese food. They also loved ice cream but that from the store was not as good as the home made they remembered. My mother was especially fond of scallops and Dad loved sweets. He craved choke cherry jelly which I was never able to find for him. Both ate very small portions.

I grew up on a lifestyle block and I was born when my dad was 50 so he was an older dad. He grew most of the vegetables. So we ate traditional meals but lots of vegetables and fruit. My dad passed away 20 years ago but my mum still cooks well because my brother lives with her. She makes the best gluten free muffins and when I visited her today she made a yummy chicken stirfry. She was always quite adventurous and I grew up eating foods from different cultures.

My parent's never cooked much at all while we were growing up, partly through lack of time. Although my mom was into 70's health food (tofu, nutritional yeast, bran) a whole lot and didn't let us eat sweets or processed foods except at holidays.

For the last several decades my dad has mostly eaten a vegetarian chili that he makes with brown rice/quinoa or Ezekial bread. Also he loves Thomas sauce. It seems to keep him going, although it took awhile to convince him that canned veggies were not the way to go and he switched to fresh/frozen. My mom has a lot of health problems and has trouble eating most things, although she likes food, and even more trouble assembling any food to eat, even the most simple. She eats very, very slowly which has the end result of her managing to finish only tiny portions during a day. She is very underweight and it's worrying and various solutions of having someone bring over meals part time have helped. Now they have moved and I need to check on if she's been able to eat more or needs that system again. I think my sister feeds them dinner when she can.

Sally, what is a lifestyle block?

Hi Una - like a mini farm for people who are not real farmers....they just choose to live in the country and keep animals as a lifestyle but usually have jobs in the city. Its probably a nz expression.

My mum has never enjoyed cooking. When we were little, she regarded it as one more chore to do, and we often had convenience foods because of it. Now that my mum is older (my dad passed away almost 30 years ago), she still eats far too many convenience foods. While I never criticize how she eats, I know she doesn't enjoy cooking and rarely cooks for herself, so I often just drop off things I have that are "extra" (in fact, I make them just for her). I give her things I know she likes (soups, lasagna, grilled chicken, etc.), and she often comments on how nice it is that I overcook. I tell her that with three teenagers, I never know when they will eat enough to feed an army and when they won't feel so hungry, so I often have leftovers. I know that is the only way she will eat less packaged food and more homemade foods, and I will not lecture her about her diet! I also introduced her to the precut, prepared fruit trays available at her local grocer, and she regularly buys those now. They are very overpriced, but the fresh fruit is good for her and is probably the only fresh food she consumes.

While I agree with Gaylene about never lecturing someone about their diet, a lot of people worry about their parents or older adults because many of them are like my mum. They don't see the purpose in cooking for themselves or just for two, so they choose take-out or processed foods instead. I figure that if I can help her eat a little bit healthier in a way she enjoys and appreciates, I will do that.

Interesting thread!!

My parents eat simply but healthily in the most part..but a lot of wheat and a lot of tea and a lot of carbs

Cereals for breakfast with cups of tea
home baking or supermarket baking
lunch might be soup or sandwiches and more tea
dinner always meat and vegetables and potatoes

If they dine out they eat rice, pasta etc but at home it is "meat and three vegetables". My Mum cannot drink alcohol at home, my Dad drinks red wine and beer socially.

My Dad works full time as a farmer at age 76 and is fit but stockier than he used to be
My Mum has rheumatoid arthritis and many complications and cannot walk much and is underweight.

I like the sound of your parents diet Una!!

My Mum is a moderate eater (much less given to overeating than me) with pretty healthy habits. She's also a good cook, who particularly enjoys Asian (Chinese and Thai) , Indian and Middle Eastern styles.

For breakfast she eats a little weetbix with milk, muesli, yogurt, fresh fruit, and a few prumes. She used to also have wholewheat toast but I don't know if she still does.

Lunch is often toast with salad and cheese.

While on her own tea (ie dinner/ supper) will often be leftovers or steamed vegies with a tin of tuna or an egg, but she cooks beautifully for visitors and family.

She likes to snack on fruit, nuts and dried fruit and is good at giving herself small (eaking out) amounts of treats (often gifts) like dark chocolate, crystallized ginger and halva.

She is economical and sometimes I give her free reign to use things up when she is at my house and is cooking, and she'll cook up the damaged applies, curry oldish vegies, cook pikelets from sour milk, make bread and butter pudding out of state bread etc.

Angie - yes, fish! I forgot to mention that - he does eat more fish. I wouldn't say he eats a lot of fish but that's because my mom hates fish. I never ate fish as a child except fish sticks from a box. I try to cook with fish on a regular basis now - I like it, my DH loves it, it's good for you, and I want my kids to be exposed to a wide variety of foods.

My very elderly father was brought up to eat whatever was put in front of him - as was I - and, as such, is a very unfussy eater. He will try anything, but prefers the simple food he grew up with: roasts, stews, liver and bacon, meat pies, herring, kippers and, of course, fish and chips - plus plenty of vegetables.
He also has a very sweet tooth, and loves his desserts and chocolate, but, amazingly, he still has all his own teeth!

I haven't read this entire thread but enough to know that I want to follow Una's mom's diet! It sounds delicious and I already eat that way a lot except we eat plenty of meat and I don't know how to use Indian spices but I'd like to learn.
My mom hates to shop which includes grocery shopping. For some reason she likes to shop Costco. So even though she lives alone she shops in bulk which means she eats the same thing for a week and then tries to send some of it home with any of her kids that visit. It cracks me up. She'll buy a huge bag of spinach and eat it every night and then a half gallon of half and half and make multiple quiche's to use up her supplies. While we were growing up she was a stickler about eating healthy. I didn't even know there was such a thing as processed foods and we never had pop in the house. Now she often gets a McD's hamburger on her way home and cracks open a can of Pepsi.