Have you recently noticed that your elderly loved one doesn’t eat well? You may have visited their house last weekend and realized they don’t have much food in their fridge. When asking them about it, they may just say they don’t need to eat much. There are far too many elderly people who aren’t eating well or eating enough. The good thing is that there are some diet improvement tips that might be able to help your elderly loved one.
Weekly Meal Plans Aren’t Just a Fad
When thinking about weekly meal plans, your elderly loved one may just think that is something younger adults do when they want fancy meals. However, making weekly meals plans can be great for anyone. In addition, if you or an elder care provider help your elderly loved one to make these meal plans, it can ensure they eat better than they are eating now. For example, maybe your elderly loved one currently doesn’t eat breakfast. However, when having a weekly meal plan, you can add breakfast recipes to their meal plans.
Alternate Ingredients
Maybe, your elderly loved one doesn’t make new recipes because they don’t like a lot of foods. If this is the case, it shouldn’t deter them from eating healthy foods. There are most likely foods they can replace with the ingredients they don’t like. For example, if a recipe calls for them to put green peppers in it, maybe they could replace that with carrots. You or a home care provider can look up ingredient replacements for a specific food that your elderly loved one doesn’t like. Hopefully, by doing this, your elderly loved one will start eating better.
Reducing Sugar and Salt Intake
It is also important for everyone to limit their sugar and salt intake, especially elderly people. The risk of diabetes and heart disease can be extremely high when someone eats a lot of sugar and salt. The good news is there are plenty of tasty recipes that are low in sugar and salt. If needed, you or an elder care provider can help your elderly loved one find these recipes. Even if they don’t think they will like certain ones, it might be worth a try. There are also many snacks that are delicious, but still low in sugar and salt.
Conclusion
Does your elderly loved one need some help with improving their diet? If so, there are numerous tips that can help them to do this. Don’t forget that if your elderly loved one isn’t sure where to start or what to do, you or a home care provider can help with making their meal plans and finding recipes.
Sources
https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/eat-healthy/how-to-eat-healthy/index.html
