Heart Healthy & Tasty: Chef at NPV Shares Tips for Better Eating

Diet has a profound effect on heart health, yet changing our habits, especially when they are long-standing ones, can seem daunting. When it comes to better nutrition, chef Lacey Rainey offers some simple, achievable tips for seniors to help stay on track with sustainable changes for better heart health.

The key to success is to make small, manageable, changes that can last. “Diets in general are the worst for you. Diets are temporary. If you limit yourself, you can have a smaller portion of potato chips, every day. If you’re on a diet, you can’t eat those potato chips at all, but you’re thinking about them,” she says.

As the food and beverage director of New Pond Village, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Walpole, Mass, Lacey is always conscientious of making meals healthier for older adults. “And health is so important, especially as you’re enjoying the later years of life.”

In the community, she puts an emphasis on fresh ingredients. “A lot of institutional cooking is premade items—prebreaded veal, prebreaded chicken or you’re getting frozen vegetables.” Limiting frozen items, automatically reduces the sodium and other additives that comes from preservatives. This is one simple change people can adopt at home, too, to instantly make their meals healthier.

“If you get a frozen piece of cod, the sodium level has already been upped on that fresh piece of cod because of the way they freeze it. If you get a fresh piece of cod that’s never been frozen, that comes straight from a purveyor, you’re instantly a blank slate. There’s not that sodium from the preservatives.”

Sodium intake is a primary concern for heart health, especially among seniors. Fresh ingredients not only contain less salt, they also require less salt for flavor. Fresh herbs can also dramatically enhance flavor without the added sodium. Basil, rosemary, cilantro and other leafy herbs are all great for flavor and adding vibrant color to the plate. Lacey also recommends finding opportunities to reduce added sugar, opting for items that have less.

Lacey says better eating is smarter eating. It still requires a commitment to make changes, but those changes should, ultimately, lead to meals that are satisfying. “It’s about modifying your life instead of suffering and dreaming about potato chips. Everything in moderation but cut out the premade frozen stuff we’re all used to putting in the microwave.”