It's also rich in antioxidants and has a very long storage life. Even though it can be used in cooking, it's the healthiest when uncooked, such as with a salad or dipping sauce. When you use it with cooking, you should heat it on low to medium temperatures, making sure to avoid high heat. 3. Butter Butter is one food that has been around for many, many years. - When you order grilled fish or vegetables, you should ask that the food be grilled without butter or oil, or prepared with very little or either or. - Anytime you order pasta dishes, be on the lookout for tomato based sauces instead of the cream based sauces. Tomato based sauces are much lower in fat and calories, and tomato sauce can even be counted as a vegetable! Meat, poultry, and fish should be a part of your diet to help you meet the requirements for zinc. Calcium Calcium is one ingredient that most elderly folks simply aren't getting enough of. Most believe that milk upsets their stomach, and therefore they will avoid it. They should be getting around 1,500 mg of calcium a day, and nonfat powdered milk can be used in recipes as a substitute for milk. If you eat more than 50 grams of fiber in a day, you can get diarrhea and bloating, which can interfere with your body's absorption of other key minerals. 9. Getting the right amount of fiber in your diet doesn't have to be hard. Even though you may think so, getting the amount of fiber you need isn't very hard to do. Therefore, you should try to add these foods and any foods that happen to contain them. To help keep your saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium low, you can check the nutrition facts label. This label can be found on the food package and will tell you all the information you need to know about the food item. Even if you only do this a few times a week, you'll see a much better improvement over eating out. Stock your home As important as it is to get the bad food out of your house, it's even more important to get the good food in! The best way to do this is to plan a menu of healthy meals at snacks at the beginning of the week, list the ingedients you need, then go shop for it.