Easy Ways To Improve Your Senior’s Nutrition
November is Good Nutrition Month and now is a great time to pay more attention to your senior loved one’s nutrition. Seniors often struggle to eat enough food and to eat nutritious foods. Sometimes seniors skip adding fresh vegetables to meals because they have a hard time shopping. Other times they may find it difficult to prepare fresh vegetables which need to be chopped or cut and cooked. And often seniors don’t get enough protein because they don’t want to make a large meal just for themselves. If your senior loved one isn’t getting the right nutrients here are some easy ways you can get your senior parent to eat better:
Meal Preparation
The easiest way to encourage your senior loved one to eat more nutritious foods is to prepare them ahead of time for your senior loved one. Either you or a senior home care provider can take fresh vegetables and wash, cut, chop, peel, and prepare them. Then portion them into single servings and put those containers into the fridge clearly labeled. Do the same for proteins by preparing chicken breasts, steaks, burgers, or any other type of protein your loved one enjoys. Cook them, portion them into individual servings, label them, then put them in the fridge. Your senior loved one can choose a protein and whatever they vegetables they want for each meal and easily heat them up in the microwave.
Sharing Meals
Sharing meals with your senior loved one is another way you can encourage them to eat better quality foods. Or have a senior home care provider share meals with them during the week if you’re busy at work and can’t make it to your senior parent’s house for a meal. Being able to share a meal with someone else is often enough to get seniors to make better choices about what they are eating.
Supplements and Drinks
Nutritional supplements and drinks don’t replace the vitamins and minerals that seniors can get from fresh vegetables and fruit. They also don’t replace animal protein like chicken breasts. But supplements and protein drinks can be an excellent way to supplement a senior’s diet to make sure that they are getting the extra nutrients they need and getting them in the right amount. Before you start giving your senior loved one any supplements or nutritional drinks you should ask their doctor if there are any foods that your senior should stay away from because of the medication that they are on.
Subscription Boxes and Food Delivery
If the reason why your senior loved one isn’t getting the right nutrition is that they don’t like to shop or find it difficult you can sign them up for a food delivery service or a CSA farm share box that will deliver a box of fresh locally grown vegetables and fruits directly to your senior loved one’s door on a regular schedule. That way your senior parent can enjoy fresh food without the hassles of shopping every few days to get it.