Home Care Meal Preparation for Seniors
Nutrition Concerns for Seniors
As your loved one gets older, they may start to lose interest in eating. It’s not uncommon that some older people may have a reduced sense of taste or smell, which may make food seem less appealing.
Medications can also affect what your senior wants to eat, as well as have an impact on their appetite, or lack thereof.
Many seniors have dietary restrictions, which makes them unable to eat a multitude of items or food groups.
Seniors with diabetes need to have low-sodium or low-sugar intake, which can make it difficult to prepare meals.
Even if seniors do eat well, they may not fully take in all nutrients they need.
Additional Concerns for Seniors
- Depression, stress, anxiety, and dementia can contribute to the loss of the want to eat and sometimes even weight loss.
- Your loved one may simply resent preparing meals, so they may abandon trying to cook and choose unhealthy eating habits instead.
- For aging individuals with physical or mental impairments, difficulties with grocery shopping may be an obstacle.
- If your loved one lives alone, mealtimes may be a lonely time for them, and they may choose to forgo eating all together.
How Does Home Care Help?
- Caregivers can provide personable care to help encourage your senior to eat, as well as prepare premade meals that are easy for seniors. These meals will, of course, depend on the diet and restrictions according to their medical care. During meal preparation, the following will happen:
- Grocery shopping for ingredients, if needed
- Actual food preparation (cutting up meat, slicing vegetables, etc.)
- Cooking the meal
- Assisting with mealtime, monitoring the seniors eating and friendly conversation
- Putting away leftovers
- Doing the dishes, putting the dishes in the dishwasher
- Clean and disinfect the kitchen and food preparation areas
Other Home Care Meal Preparation Items to Consider
Caregivers can take these all of the factors above into consideration and try to make everyday meals enjoyable, companionable, and overall great experiences for your loved one. They have the skills to ensure that your senior has proper nutrition intake and takes the burden off mealtime.
Additionally, caregivers can make the food more flavorful without compromising its nutritive value. As a result, your loved one will regain their appetite and want to eat, and more importantly, regain strength and vitality.
Nutrition aside, having your loved one in the kitchen can potentially be dangerous. There are many different elements that can be a factor to an injury: heavy objects, hot surfaces, and hard-to-reach places.
Having a Home Care caregiver in your loved one’s home is essential healthcare that will not only help your senior stay safer at home but stay well-nourished and enriched by socialization.
Visiting Angels provides this Home Care assistance for the care that your loved one deserves. For more information on Visiting Angels Home Care call us today at 402-917-8225.
Helping Seniors with Home Care in Omaha
Getting started is easy. Simply get in touch with one of our local Home Care offices. We can match your loved one with a caregiver who can provide the assistance they need. Respite care is offered on an hourly basis so you can establish the frequency and scope of care that best meets your needs. Because our Home Care services are flexible, should your loved one require more engaged care in the future, we can expand our role to include:
At Visiting Angels, we’re here to be your caregiving partner. Find out more about Home Care services by connecting with a local office today.