The population of older adults in Colombia has progressively increased, as well as the need to create strategies that promote health care. Food in this stage is key to ensure a healthy aging. Objective: to describe the perception of the alimentary habits and the nutritional status of the older adults belonging to the Hogar Clarita Santos Protection Center Bogota, Colombia. Materials and methods: Mixed cross-sectional study (qualitative-quantitative), with sample for convenience, consisting of 20 women, information was collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews to answer the categories of analysis related to food habits perception, application of the MNA to determine the nutritional status. The data was tabulated and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results: According to the perception of older adults it was evident that the culture determines their diet reflected in their tastes and the preference for foods from their place of origin, in terms of preparations they opt for sweaty foods because they consider them healthier, in turn they reject beef because of the difficulty of chewing it. Most of them perceive a link between their diet and their health. Conclusion: Most of them constantly experience feelings of sadness and loneliness since they receive few visits from relatives or friends, this does not influence their diet since most consider that feeding is important to live, which is reflected in the nutritional status, where 70% are in a normal nutritional state.