In my last column, I suggested that we all avoid food which may have been contaminated by pesticides, herbicides fungicides and antibiotics. It’s very hard to do!
I live beside the Seaforth Golf Course (SGC) with pristine greens, fairways and roughs requiring proper treatment. The day they put down PHFA (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and antibiotics) to kill weeds, it creates quite a pungent odour. To be effective, this cannot be helped.
These chemicals can easily get on my property with the rains we have. So, what is the alternative? It is to purchase food which has no chemical exposure. Difficult? Yes. How do I find these chemical-free foods? I read a lot of labels but, I admit, I do not understand them. If there a lot of very long words printed on the label – ones that I cannot pronounce – I assume these are chemicals and I don’t buy.
I also avoid anything in a can or in other packaging. Basically, I look for fresh or frozen food. What I really look for are the numbers salt, sugar and fats (which one is the good one). I prefer foods that is in displays covered with glass. Meats and deli products seem to be displayed this way. No packaging and a friendly attendant to explain the products.
Years ago. when I was a young lad, our family purchased our food from a local grocer or butcher. These foods were, for the most part, grown locally and were most often, only available in season. These local food sources are far and few between available these days. It’s too bad – they have great taste.
When I was in the hospital late last year, and later at home (total of 10 weeks), I was fed intravenously directly into my stomach. The food was liquid from an IV and carefully prepared to give me maximum nutritional value and full of vitamins, etc. Very healthy. The makeup of the food groups was as follows:
– protein – 18 per cent, used by the body to build and repair muscle;
– carbohydrate – 47 per cent, a source of energy; and
– fat – 35 per cent, to be converted to glucose with extra stored in the body.
General tips for eating, as suggested by London Health Sciences Centre:
– eat every 2-3 hours and include a protein whenever possible;
– keep high calorie ready-to-eat snack foods on hand;
– avoid food labels that say “light,” “calorie reduced,” or “low calorie”;
– avoid “empty calorie” foods such as pop, coffee, broth, candy;
– avoid smoking as it lowers appetite and reduces taste; and
– when you prepare meals, think about ways to add more protein or calories to the food that you are already eating.
I got the ‘perfect’ food from my hospital – London Health Sciences Centre. Now that I am home and trying to find the healthiest food for me, I will copy what the hospital gave me.
I am now eating freely through my mouth. In order to purchase chemical-free food, I intend to start purchasing food from a local health food store. I have checked two stores in my neighbourhood and both seem to understand dementia. Obviously, I want to buy food suited to me as I am diagnosed with dementia. When I was on a direct stomach feed about 40 products were fed into me in prescribed amounts three times per day. I had this for 2.5 months and I was not hungry and I felt healthy. I guess that they knew what to feed me – nothing more and nothing less.
What I intend to do is buy my healthy foods and store them in one spot so whenever I wish to eat (a meal or a snack), I will have a preselected food source. Plus, I intend to eat every 2-3 hours. My wife and I snack through the day and have one meal (dinner) in the evening. My wife is much better at food control than I. I have a lot to learn. Most important is that the desire to eat is psychological.
And “My Voyage with Dementia” continues.
***
Bob Murray is retired from the graphic communication (printing) industry and has been living in Seaforth since 2015. Murray was diagnosed with Dementia in 2013 and works hard to stop the progress of the disease. Follow him on his blog entitled Voyage with Dementia – https://myvoyage553264702.wordpress.com.
