Everybody has that time when they just aren’t excited about eating, but what happens when your elderly family member seems to always be in that mode? This can cause some big problems for your senior’s health, so it’s important to figure out how to ensure that she’s getting her nutritional needs met. Senior home care can also play an important role in preparing healthy meals and snacks for your senior. Here are a few ideas to improve nutrition in your senior’s meals:
Track What and When She Eats
When your aging family member doesn’t have a consistent or predictable appetite, getting her to eat at all sometimes feels like the biggest goal. But it’s also important that she’s getting the nutrients that she needs. It can help to start out tracking what your senior is willing to eat, as well as what time she’s eating. Senior home care can help with this sort of tracking so that you get accurate information.
Shrink Meals and Snacks
If you’ve been trying to convince your senior to eat full meals, it might be a better idea to offer smaller meals as well as snacks. This can reduce the intimidation factor, too, if your senior feels overwhelmed or pressured by a full meal. Rethinking what constitutes a meal or even a snack can help you both to explore options you might not have considered before.
Add Nutrients and Calories to What She Will Eat
Sometimes you have to just work with what your senior will actually eat. Foods like mashed potatoes are easy on the stomach and easy to eat but might not have all the nutrients you’d like to see your senior eating. Making a dish that’s half and half potatoes and something else, like cauliflower or other root vegetables can still offer what your senior enjoys, but also some additional nutrients. Swap out white potatoes for sweet potatoes and see if those appeal to her. Also, add calories with dairy products to help her bump up her calorie intake.
Find Fun Foods She Enjoys Eating
What would help your senior to have more fun eating? Sometimes when appetite isn’t there, having fun with meals is the next best thing for motivating your senior. Finger foods can be something she might not have enjoyed in the past but finds entertaining now. Lots of different foods can be modified to be finger foods with a little bit of creativity, so give it a whirl. Senior home care can ensure that your parent stays on schedule, even if she’s not eating as much yet as you’d like.
Talk with Her Doctor
If your senior is having trouble eating as much as she really should, talk with her doctor about what is happening. There might be some other suggestions that her medical team has that can help her to get the nutrition that she needs. Supplements and some specific techniques for increasing nutrition on a daily basis.
How Senior Home Care Can Help
Senior home care can go a long way toward helping your aging family member to get the calories and nutrients that she needs on a daily basis. They’re there to help your senior with all sorts of challenges, too.
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Billings, MT, call the caring staff at SYNERGY Home Care of Billings today. 406-839-2390
