Advice for my elderly father

[CarolineCalcote]

My father is 78 and has chronic knee and hip pain, and lately has even been having pain in his chest/ribs. All of these are areas where he has had surgery in the past (knee replacement, pins in hip from a break related to a motorcycle accident, and bypass surgery). His pain is so bad that he has practically become a hermit because walking and standing are so painful and he refuses to give in to a wheelchair.

 

So anyway, I sent my parents a copy of It Starts with Food a few weeks ago and they are both very interested in it. I am kind of shocked since my mother is a retired Registered Dietician and my father is a retired General Surgeon. But I am glad! I have done the Whole30 twice and had significant improvement with chronic IT Band tendonitis causing severe pain in my hip.

 

So he is willing to try it because he is basically desperate to improve his quality of life. He has been on a very low fat diet for 30 years so this will be a drastic change for him. He basically lives on rice and beans and statin drugs. But in the last year or so he has had trouble keeping weight on and is currently underweight and needs to gain. To that end he has been having a big milkshake every day. He is very concerned about the many references to weight loss in ISWF. He can not afford to lose any weight.

 

So, I am going to e-mail my Mom (Dad doesn't do e-mail or the internet, haha) with my suggestions on how he can make sure he does not have a calorie deficit, but I was hoping some of you may have suggestions. Any experience with elderly people trying the whole30? I know that his pain is caused by chronic inflammation and I really hope he will get some relief. He takes anti-inflammatory medication all the time and he believes without it he would just be bedridden.

 

I hate this for him and I really want to help him. Thanks for any advice!

[Tom Denham]

I ate beans and rice for most meals during my 30s when I was a marathon runner. I was bony back then and weighed in the 160s (I am 6'2"). I thought it was the running that kept me skinny, but now I wonder if it was the beans and rice. 

 

The challenge for your father may be making such a big change from what he has been doing, especially with conventional wisdom saying that beans and rice are healthy. And conventional fears about cholesterol. I wish I had a reassuring story about cholesterol and Whole30 eating. I have heard many reassuring stories, but I am not one of them. I have a gene that means I produce a lot of cholesterol. My triglycerides fell sharply when I started eating Whole30-style and my HDL rose sharply, but my LDL does not get better. The only thing that makes a difference to my LDL is drugs. However, I will no longer take statins. I learned too many negative things about side-effects from statins - including problems with muscle pain. I now take a fenofibrate that reduces my LDL and has a different side-effect profile than statins.

 

I don't have any experience with underweight 78-year old men, but the food available during a Whole30 makes it easy to gain weight if a person will eat proper portion sizes of the right foods. If I was cooking for someone that I was trying to bulk up, I would not change anything from what I normally eat personally.

 

For example, I start every morning with 3 or 4 whole eggs cooked with a tablespoon of coconut oil. I add hot sauce to the eggs and eat them with a big serving of cold sauerkraut. It may sound strange, but I like the combination a lot and it helps me to get my probiotics from fermented foods by eating sauerkraut first thing in the morning. I eat 3 eggs if I am not hungry and 4 if am. This breakfast holds me 4 hours very easily and I could go 5. 

 

I actually eat rich food much of the time. Right now I have a new dish cooking in my slow cooker - Ground lamb with Broccoli Florets, Diced Tomatoes, and Coconut Milk. Here is how it is made: Add one pound of ground lamb to slow cooker. Dust with salt, garlic powder, and dried thyme. Add one can of spicy diced tomatoes with green chilies and one can of coconut milk. Set on slow cook and let it go for 4-5 hours. Add 4-5 cups of fresh broccoli florets, one big can of diced tomatoes, and dust with more salt, garlic powder, and something spicy liked crushed red pepper flakes. Mix everything together and let it cook another 3-4 hours (total of 8-9). I eat food like this for lunch and supper most days. There is good fat in the lamb and the coconut milk. You could make this dish with two pounds of lamb, ground beef, or pork. 

 

I eat big plates of food three times per day most days. If your father is not comfortable eating a big plateful of food three times per day, he could eat modest portions at 4 or 5 meals per day. I could not eat the volume of food I eat in one meal now comfortably when I started my first Whole30, but over time it got easy for me to eat enough to eat just 3 times per day. 

 

I could say more. If you are interested let me know and I maybe can address specific questions.

[CarolineCalcote]

Thank you Tom! It is going to be very challenging for him and I am still shocked that he even wants to try it. It speaks to his desperation, I guess. He has an aversion to eggs and meat, totally psychological, based on avoiding them due to their being "high fat" for decades. But I think he's willing to try to get past it. I am sending him suggestions (or rather, sending them to my mom) and I hope it will help him to have success. Thanks again!

[Mom2A&M]

I would think trying to eat as much healthy fat as possible. Coconut cream on fruit or sweet potatoes, coconut or almond butter, homemade mayo on everything! They could use almondmeal as a breadding for chicken or fish to add some fat too. And also adding more meals each day. This sound very exciting, I would love to hear how his pain changes with W30, keep us updated!

[CarolineCalcote]

Thank you Mom2A&M! Great suggestions. I will definitely update this IF he actually gives it a go and whether or not he has any success with pain diminishing. I am worried he will try his best and still get no relief. But I told him it was only 30 days and he is miserable so it couldn't hurt to try!

[praxisproject]

If you're trying to gain weight, I'd up the fat and starchier veggies & fruit: plantains, bananas, sweet potato, pumpkin.
If meat seems harder, maybe try seafood in some rich coconut sauces. Coconut custards might help with extra protein and fat.

Parts of the AIP protocol might be worth reviewing later after a Whole30 or Whole90, if he wants to reduce inflammation further.