Fiber is essential to your health. It helps hold water in the intestines to prevent constipation. It may help lower the risk of certain cancers, particularly colorectal cancer. It also can help reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Most older adults fail to eat the recommended amount of fiber every day. While people should be aiming for 25 to 30 grams, most adults only consume around 15 grams. How well does your mom do?
She should be eating fiber at every meal. One way to do that is by keeping the refrigerator stocked with fiber-rich vegetable burgers that are quickly grilled and perfect for all three meals. Try these out during July's National Grilling Month.
Fiber-Rich Breakfast Burgers
For breakfast, your mom could have an open-face breakfast burger on whole-grain bread with a poached egg on top. Serve this with some fresh fruit.
To make a breakfast burger, mash cooked brown rice, drained low-sodium cannellini beans, lemon zest, chopped fresh sage, chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. The idea is to season the vegetable mix to mimic breakfast sausage.
Taco Burgers at Lunch
Toast a whole-grain burger bun. You're going to top it with shredded lettuce or cabbage, a slice of low-fat cheddar, fresh salsa, and avocado slices. If your mom likes wraps, you could use a low-carb fajita wrap and make mini burgers.
It's just as easy to make these burgers. Mash drained low-sodium black beans, the flesh from half of a baked sweet potato, a half-cup of cooked quinoa, chopped cilantro, chili powder, ground cumin, diced red onion, diced bell pepper, smoked paprika, and some chipotle chili sauce.
Fiber-Boosting Dinner Burgers
For dinner, make your mom a tabbouleh burger. The burger patties are made from cooked bulgur wheat, mashed low-sodium chickpeas, grated red onion, flax seed powder, a crushed garlic clove, fresh parsley, fresh mint, lemon juice, olive oil, and black pepper.
If she likes curry, mash cooked lentils, brown rice or quinoa, grated carrots, grated onions, curry powder, lemon juice, diced red peppers, and chopped spinach. Serve these the same way you would tabbouleh burgers.
Serve the burger patties inside a whole wheat pita pocket. Add lettuce, tomatoes, and tzatziki sauce made from low-fat Greek yogurt, crushed garlic, grated cucumber, lemon juice, and black pepper.
Play around with different vegetable burger options to find your mom's favorites. If she has a hard time cooking meals for herself, talk to her about caregivers. She can have caregivers available to take her grocery shopping, help her plan her weekly meals, and create shopping lists from those meal plans.
Sources:
https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/increasing-fiber-intake