Catherine Ko, MS, RD, CDE There are people who actually struggle to gain weight. I know it’s hard to imagine, but let me give you some examples:
- Cancer patients actively going through their chemo/radiotherapy treatments
- Failure-to-thrive children
- People that suffer from eating disorders
- People with Gastrointestinal (GI) or chewing/swallowing difficulties and are experiencing weight loss, as a result
- People who are naturally skinny
More often than not, the population that needs to gain weight, also needs to increase their protein intake. When people think of high energy/high protein foods, they envision a well-marbled slab of steak with butter. This isn’t feasible because red meat consumption is well linked to several health hazards, let along the ones that involve high-fat.
My intention is not to tell you that any particular diet is a “solve-all” solution for a litany of medical conditions. However, I truly believe that a plant-based diet is a reasonable answer for many, many health concerns. This approach is also applicable for populations that have a nutritional need to increase their protein and energy intake.
By frying a block of tofu, not only energy content is significantly increased from this wonderful plant-based protein; it also offers many other functions. For the most part, it’s soft, so most seniors can still chew it. The best part of this dish is that it is GI friendly (low FODMAP, if using gluten-free flours), vegetarian friendly and very low in carbohydrates.
What makes this recipe even more special is that:
- For people who have diabetes (Type 1, 2, or gestational) and need to gain weight, this is something they can safely chow down without any worries. This will be especially pleasing to all of the moms that are buried with anxiety after receiving a diagnosis of gestational diabetes.
- For those people who have developed Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) from long-term diabetes, the quantity and quality of protein becomes crucial. Plant-based protein is associated with many benefits in people with CKD. It is not uncommon to see people on a renal diet (CKD – Stage 4) lose weight gradually because their diet is quite limited. This recipe is one of many that can resolve this issue.
Medical conditions aside, this is simply one of my favorite dishes on the planet. Who doesn’t like fried food? Better yet, we’re talking about THREE ingredients: Tofu, Salt and Flour. If you are looking for something simple and hearty, check this out:
