5 Ways Home Care Can Help Seniors to Eat Better
October is Eat Better, Eat Together month.
While the month is mainly aimed at getting families with children to eat more meals together, it’s also a good time to think about how your aging relative might eat better. Unfortunately, statistics show that around half of all senior citizens who are treated in emergency rooms are malnourished.
There are many reasons an older adult may fail to eat well.
They may lack the ability to prepare healthy meals, have cognitive problems that cause them to forget to eat or make poor food choices, or they may not enjoy eating alone. Whatever the case may be, home care can help you’re aging relative to meet their nutritional needs.
Elder Care in Culpeper County VA: Help Seniors to Eat
Here are 5 ways home care can help your loved one to eat better this October and all throughout the year.
#1: Offering Companionship
Many older adults don’t care for eating alone. They may have grown up eating dinners at a crowded family table with laughter and talk about the day’s events. Now, with their children grown and living alone, sitting at a table with no one around can be lonely. Having a home care provider to share a meal with or even just to chat with while they eat can make mealtimes much more pleasant.
#2: Cooking Together
Maybe your aging relative enjoyed cooking once but has trouble doing it on their own now. A home care provider can cook with them, doing the tasks that are too difficult for the senior. Home care providers can read the small print on recipes, chop vegetables, and carry heavy pots and pans.
#3: Solo Cooking
Some seniors never learned to cook or simply don’t enjoy it. If that’s the case, a home care provider can handle the cooking on their own. They can even cook meals ahead of time that can be frozen and reheated later.
#4: Grocery Shopping
Getting to the grocery store can be difficult if your aging relative does not drive. It can also be hard to carry those heavy grocery bags or wheel a cart laden with food through the aisles. A home care provider can drive them to the grocery store and shop with them. The home care provider can also carry the heavy bags into the house and help put the groceries away.
#5: Kitchen Clean Up
Cooking meals mean having dishes to do and a kitchen to clean up. That may deter some older adults from taking the time to prepare a balanced meal. Instead, they might just grab whatever is easiest. Home care providers can take care of the dishes and cleaning the kitchen after preparing meals. As an added bonus, having a cleaner kitchen can prevent infections and food-related illnesses.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Elder Care Services in Culpeper County, VA, please contact the caring staff at LivinRite Home Care. Call Us Today at (703) 634-9991.
Sources
- Sustainable Family Caregiving with the Help of Senior Home Care - November 12, 2024
- How Skilled Nursing Helps Improve Communication - October 25, 2024
- Digestive Issues in Seniors and How to Minimize Their Effects - October 10, 2024