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Mr Lim Teck Koon gives good advice to seniors about eating enough protein to avoid muscle mass loss due to ageing ( , Dec 12). However, it can be difficult for seniors who do not cook for themselves and are on a limited budget to get the recommended amount of protein every day. A senior who weighs 60kg needs about 72g of protein a day, or about 24g per meal. Many hawker centre meals consist mostly of carbohydrates accompanied by some protein or gravy containing a few ingredients. For example, roti prata dipped in curry, char siew noodles or mee rebus. Such meals often do not contain enough protein to meet a senior’s needs. Perhaps people’s perceptions of what a meal should be composed of need to change. We should promote the substitution of some of the rice or noodle portions with protein-rich ingredients and vegetables, such as having more fried tofu in mee rebus, or having more egg and bean sprouts in fried Hokkien noodles with fewer noodles. In parallel, we also need to educate elderly consumers that a meal containing a smaller portion of noodles or rice does not mean less value as long as other ingredients are increased. Another approach could be to modify popular hawker dishes to increase their nutritional value, such as rolled oat porridge instead of rice congee. Simply advising seniors on nutrition will not change the situation much, without society taking practical steps to help out.