Dare to be Dairy-Free

Our Alzheimer's day care gets food delivered from a special nutrition program. We are not licensed to do any cooking and everyone receives the same food. Normally there is milk, a hot protein, some kind of starch, and either a salad or soup.

We appreciate the thought that goes into preparing the food, however, in certain cases, there are clients who does not eat something from the set menu. They can have a preference or may be allergic to the item (knowingly and unknowingly). One of our clients does not eat fish, another does not like chicken, and many are lactose-intolerant.

My concerns about the menu that it is often over-loaded with too much of one food group. We had an incident with one client this past week when the menu was cheese ravioli and caesar salad. You can probably guess that she cannot have dairy.

According to the Whole Foods website "Some people who avoid dairy are allergic to the dairy proteins themselves and must avoid all dairy products, including milk, cheese, butter, cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, ice cream, whey, or casein. Others avoid dairy because they lack the enzyme lactase, which digests milk sugar, lactose."

Lucky for us, we knew about her condition beforehand by asking family members and the doctor about her allergies. While we have soy milk to substitute, our client was upset because we gave her spaghetti and other clients had ravioli. She was also upset because we could not give her the salad because the cheese was already mixed into the greens.

This is not a single incident. The menu rarely provides a vegetarian option. It is perhaps twice a month that we get something that is not meat or fish.

Here are the options I suggest if the food program does not provide a few alternative meals:

-Keep meat around to make a sandwich
-Have canned tuna or ravioli (vegetarian)
-Soy milk, juice and other alternatives to regular milk
-Have cookies to keep the clients happy

It is difficult to please every palate, especially sensitive tastes such as our clientele. Although giving them options is more work to the staff, giving them choices empower them and encourages them to eat. You have to like what you eat.


http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/nutrition/dairy-free.php