{"id":52784,"date":"2023-07-10T12:56:42","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T16:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/?p=52784"},"modified":"2023-07-10T12:57:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T16:57:19","slug":"elder-care-4-things-seniors-can-do-to-switch-to-a-healthier-diet-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/blog\/2023\/07\/10\/elder-care-4-things-seniors-can-do-to-switch-to-a-healthier-diet-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Things Seniors Can Do To Switch To A Healthier Diet Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_52792\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52792\" style=\"width: 343px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-52792\" src=\"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bigstock-Caring-Daughter-Or-Caretaker-A-395598290-1.jpg\" alt=\"Elder Care in Gray GA\" width=\"343\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bigstock-Caring-Daughter-Or-Caretaker-A-395598290-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bigstock-Caring-Daughter-Or-Caretaker-A-395598290-1-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bigstock-Caring-Daughter-Or-Caretaker-A-395598290-1-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bigstock-Caring-Daughter-Or-Caretaker-A-395598290-1-768x614.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 343px) 100vw, 343px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52792\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elder Care in Gray GA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Malnutrition is a lot more common among seniors than many people know. Malnutrition doesn\u2019t just mean not eating. It can also mean not eating nutritious foods and not getting the right vitamins and minerals. Seniors that are malnourished can struggle with things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An increased risk of death<\/li>\n<li>An increased risk of hospitalization<\/li>\n<li>A weakened immune system, which can increase the risk of infections<\/li>\n<li>Decreased bone mass and muscle weakness, which can lead to falls and fractures<\/li>\n<li>Wounds not healing well<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s important for seniors to eat enough food to get the calories they need and to eat the right foods that will give them the nutrition they need to be healthy and strong.<\/p>\n<p>Seniors can become malnourished for a variety of reasons. Some seniors find it difficult to shop so they don\u2019t keep enough food in the house. Others may have difficulties cooking so they eat canned food or take out instead. And some seniors lose their appetite because of health conditions or as a side effect of medication.<\/p>\n<p>But no matter what the cause of a senior\u2019s poor diet is there are things that seniors can do starting today to improve the quality of their diet and improve their health. Four of those things are:<\/p>\n<h3>Try Grazing<\/h3>\n<p>Seniors that don\u2019t have a lot of appetite may not do well on a typical three meal per day way of eating. Instead of trying to force themselves to eat three big meals per day seniors can try grazing. Grazing means eating small amounts every couple of hours throughout the day. Eating healthy foods like yogurt, fruit, cheese and crackers, and soup throughout the day can improve a senior\u2019s diet significantly.<\/p>\n<h3>Eat More Superfoods<\/h3>\n<p>Superfoods are foods that are low in calories but nutrient rich. Eating superfoods can give seniors the vitamins and minerals they need without requiring them to eat a lot of food. Nuts, beans, dairy foods like yogurt and kefir, and avocados are all examples of superfoods that seniors should be eating every day.<\/p>\n<h3>Drink Nutrients If Eating Is Too Difficult<\/h3>\n<p>Seniors who find it very difficult to eat because of their health conditions should try getting the nutrients they need from smoothies and protein drinks. Protein drinks can have up to 30 grams of protein in a shake but only have around 180 calories. Fresh smoothies full of fruits and vegetables are a delicious and refreshing way for seniors to load up on vitamins and minerals.<\/p>\n<h3>Rely on Elder Care<\/h3>\n<p>Another way seniors can improve their diets is to get elder care. When seniors have <a href=\"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/services\/\">elder care<\/a> to help with cooking meals, shopping, and planning they are much more likely to eat regular healthy meals. When seniors have elder care they will also have someone to share meals with. Seniors are much more likely to eat regular meals if they\u2019re not eating alone. And a care provider can help with the meal cleanup too.<\/p>\n<p>Sources:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(22)02612-5\/fulltext\">https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(22)02612-5\/fulltext<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmd.com\/healthy-aging\/what-to-know-about-malnutrition-in-older-adults\">https:\/\/www.webmd.com\/healthy-aging\/what-to-know-about-malnutrition-in-older-adults<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/familydoctor.org\/nutrition-how-to-make-healthier-food-choices\/\">https:\/\/familydoctor.org\/nutrition-how-to-make-healthier-food-choices\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/healthyweight\/losing_weight\/eating_habits.html\">https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/healthyweight\/losing_weight\/eating_habits.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/home-care-gray\/\">Home Care Matters<\/a> Provides Award-Winning, Trusted Home Care in Bibb, Butts, Crawford, Henry, Houston, Jones, Lamar, Monroe, Spalding, and Upson Counties. Call today: <a href=\"tel:4789949535\">(478)-994-9535<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We serve the towns of Forsyth, Macon, McDonough, Griffin, Jonesboro, Roberta, Barnesville, Gray, Thomaston, and Jackson.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Malnutrition is a lot more common among seniors than many people know. Malnutrition doesn\u2019t just mean not eating. It can also mean not eating nutritious foods and not getting the right vitamins and minerals. Seniors that are malnourished can struggle with things like: An increased risk of death An increased risk of hospitalization A weakened [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":52792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[518,1188],"tags":[1233,544,1190],"class_list":["post-52784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-habits","category-nutrition","tag-elder-care-in-gray-ga","tag-healthy-habits","tag-nutrition"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homecarematters.com\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}