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That’s genius! My family tends to be less keen on regular swimming. Our sunlight is powerful at our latitude, a light based maceration of skin, more-so if you don’t eat or are unprotected and it’s later in the day. I love your idea of feeding people. It’s one of the advantages of industrial food that is sterile and processed and sealed in polluting packaging, you have less ‘food poisoning’ risks or ‘this might make me ill’ concerns from the people you offer it to. Freshly prepared food is so often rejected as suspiciously risky. You setup a smorgasbord of fresh foods that are home cooked, rarely do people accept the food from strangers if the preparation isn’t transparent. There’s a vast gulf of mistrust. I wonder how to overcome that when not using industrial processed foods but instead fresh foods that are powerhouses of nutrition and also still living?

Ahh. Got it. Some ideas for you. Do with them as you will.

Bifold approach, maybe trifold.

Nutrition/Education

10. You prep fresh food. Something with living cells. Plants, no meats. Processed only just enough to make it tasty and easy to chew or swallow at speed.

11. Have someone (A companion) eat it, happily slowly snacking to show it’s there for eating and will be eaten :)

12. Offer it. Also offer the recipe. Have a label recipe card template you keep. As in, a summary recipe that you handwrite out onto thinner papers that can be folded to a pocket if someone wants the recipe. Maybe a5. You use a special pen and paper so you’re not contributing to paper waste.

13. You package it on the spot. Packaging is ‘zero carbon, pre-offset’. As in, it’s carbon offset already. Labelling as such. Big words so it’s an educational packaging material itself. Logo and text indicates ‘aid us by avoiding landfill to reduce consuming the offset’. This way the packaging is a zero waste stress. Other words might say ‘food is the greatest carbon cost. Make your life more than only consumption. Seek guidance on ecology and sustainability’ or something similar.

14. The packaging is engineered to avoid people getting embarrassed if they make a mess when eating. Eating without being a filthy slobbering crumb dropping messy animal isn’t easy when you’re worn down and struggling, or your teeth are a kissing crime. But avoiding the perception of being a filthy slobbering crumb dropping animal is even harder, because people fear judgement or mocking or laughing even when it’s less than likely. No one wants to eat and be criticised making a mess. So they sometimes avoid eating. The cleaner the environment the more likely this occurs unless they are brutally uncaring of others thoughts! Erm, so yes. Packaging has to make it easier to eat and reduce mess. I’m a fan of burgers and modern plant burgers are unbelievable in potential and taste better than ground dead animals. The old corner burger shop, non-chain store, has an art sometimes in wrapping a burger in paper, so it not only doesn’t dribble beetroot juice in your lap, but also doesn’t fall apart. It’s sad they don’t often use plant based meat-like materials in those burgers as they are a worship, worth the price for excellence in wrap alone.

15. You package the food so eating is graceful even for the easily embarrassed, but you then have to address the cleanup. Mouth and teeth. Also breath. People reject eating when they are ashamed of dirty teeth. They also stop smiling as they don’t want to have food residue and are over-programmed by all the idiotic media that’s sickly perfect in image and appearance. Some don’t care but most people who are weaker in spirit and self confidence and assurance reject smiling when their teeth may have food on them. And it’s not fun being accused of bad breath so you then avoid getting physically close enough or talking directly to people to avoid them shying away from what is a rapidly disintegrating breath. What helps here is gargling and swishing.

16. Toilets. Eating leads to urinating and defecation. Many people are afraid of going to the toilet as they inevitably smell like one when they return. They loose the ability to hold it in, gas or even what is sometimes called a ‘number 2’. The number 1, how often do old people stink of pee? They spend a lot of time in their life telling others to be clean and smell good, so when they might dribble some urine or smell like an unflushed loo, they avoid eating or drinking as they don’t want to themselves be ‘the one who smells bad or looks like they pissed themselves’. So easy attitudes and a practical approach that is humorous and tolerant is valuable. That actually reminds me, I rarely see slogans on shorts. I should get a pair of shorts that says ‘this is where I usually piss myself’ pointing to the crotch area. I’m nearing 50 myself and often shake and don’t wipe, paper is precious, as it’s from trees, and we likely don’t have enough of those to sustain our soils or maintain water cycles.

Edit: so what helps here are small portions.

Simple pre-packaged foods that have additives and are fortified go a long way towards addressing all the above issues. So I think that’s a great way to keep the old farts kicking and hopefully pulling their weight. :)

Edit: I nearly forgot to fully articulate in textual way, the third component after nutrition/education. It’s the direction. Old people forget the daily activity needs to be purposeful. The most amazing people often slump inside until they become careless and dismissive of environmental efforts and dismissive of people in general. This slumping is from their inability to directly effect change. When the world is physically suffering, with soil depletion, water scarcity and pollution, and air nearly everywhere becomes sickening over a lifetime when breathing it without a filter, the only thing that addresses the issue is a sound direction.

Nutrition/Education/Direction.

The direction should be toward effort not entertainment. Old people have a really great advantage here. They can slow the rushed, and apply consistence, and create respect for their generation. Anyone rational who would see the way a retired person declines while consuming the planet and resources desperately and urgently needing an adjustment to equitable sharing, would be incensed and full of spite and anger and dismay. When an older person directly and with a glint is able to put the goal of ‘now to consume until I die’ behind, and steadfastly with a care for all, push past age ideals and support themselves and others even when people might write them off as worthless, they bridge the difficulties of respect that comes from differences in assets and power.