They Eat What They Want
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Barbara Fernandez for The New York Times Larry Garfield, 95, with his wife, Sunny, 87, has not changed his eating habits even though he’s had his gallbladder and prostate removed.

In Wednesday’s Dining section, writer Henry Alford offers an appreciation of the elderly who, in the face of all advice to the contrary, continue to eat the foods they love.

It’s a common belief that life as we know it ends in old age. Gone are the little joys that make existence worthwhile — béarnaise sauce, pancetta, cake batter — all subsumed under a banner reading, “Doctor’s Orders.” For older people, the irony of eating is that your metabolism slows down, so you need less food, but your body needs just as many nutrients, if not more.

Declining health and the voices of authority only dampen the proceedings further. The latest dietary guidelines from the federal government recommend that people older than 51 (along with African-Americans, children and adults with hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease) eat only 1,500 milligrams of salt a day. Everyone else can have 2,300.

Constantly badgered by the medical establishment, family and friends to adopt a healthier approach to food, the older gourmand soldiers on anyway.

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