Providing Proper Nutrition to Seniors in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Nassau County.
Keeping up with daily meals and nutrition can be an arduous task for seniors. If you notice that your parent is losing weight or not preparing healthy meals, it may be time to seek home healthcare. If they seem to have lost their appetite or are eating inconsistently, they may need some help with feeding to keep up their nutrition.
Our Home Health Aides and senior caregivers are trained in meal preparation and senior nutrition at our in-house in-service training. Our home health aides will monitor their diet by preparing healthy meals and go grocery shopping with or for your parent.
Depression, lack of appetite, mobility issues, or frailty may make them less likely to stock and prepare food. Fortunately, our caregivers can assist in shopping and preparing healthy meals in accordance with MyPlate nutrition guidelines. If your older loved one wants to age in place, it could make a huge difference in their ongoing health.
Good nutrition is critically important to older adults because it can prevent or slow many of the chronic conditions that are common as people age. A diet heavy in fruits and vegetables, for example, can help control diabetes. The calcium in dairy products can prevent osteoporosis. However, many senior citizens may not cook healthy meals on their own.
BE AWARE: People over 65 need to take special care to reduce their chances of contracting foodborne illness (i.e. food poisoning). Fortunately, home health aides for senior citizens can help. As people age, their memory may gradually deteriorate and they may lose some of the acuity of smell and taste they once had. Smell and taste are the ways people can easily tell if food is no longer safe to eat. If an elderly parent, relative, or friend is dealing with a diminishment in those senses, an in-home senior care aide can examine fruits, vegetables, and meats to see if they are still fresh. As such, a home health aide who helps prepare food can be a safeguard against food poisoning.
At David York Agency, we offer a number of home healthcare services to help ensure your elderly loved one gets the care and nutrition they need. Whether you just need someone to come over a few days a week to help prepare fresh, healthy meals or you need a full-time home healthcare assistant, we can help.
MENU SUGGESTION: Another great way to prepare a simple and simply wonderful meal is with blended soups. Add a little coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil to a pot, chunks of onion and/or peeled fresh ginger root, saute briefly, and add a variety of single veggies to the pot. Veggies that work well for this are tomatoes, zucchini, beets, or sweet potatoes. Simply wash and chunk all, and peel the beets and sweet potatoes and add water to the pot. The amount of water depends on the water content of the veggies: none for tomatoes, a little for zucchini, more for beets or sweet potatoes. Puree in the blender and return to the pot for seasoning. Salt and pepper are fine, or you can get fancier with chopped fresh basil or other herbs of your choice. Furthermore, leftovers of any of the soups boiled down and thickened work as tasty and nutritious sauces for other parts of a meal.