If your elderly family member isn’t getting the nutrients that she needs, her health suffers. That directly affects her quality of life and her ability to live her life on her own terms.
Talk with Her Doctor
Any time that you’re concerned about your senior’s health, it’s important to talk with her doctor. You’re going to want to check into things like when she last had a physical and what her doctor knows about her nutrition at this point. It might be necessary for her doctor to run some tests and get updated information for you and your senior.
Determine How Medication Affects Nutrients
Some of the medications your senior is taking can affect how her body absorbs nutrients. They can also affect your senior’s desire to eat and can cause issues that affect her quality of life, such as nausea or other side effects that are unpleasant. It might be necessary to talk to her doctor about changes that your senior can make to her dosages or to the medications themselves to improve those issues.
Consider How Exercise Might Help
Assuming that your senior’s physical goes well and that her doctor agrees, starting an exercise plan may be extremely helpful. Your elderly family member’s appetite and ability to take in the right nutrients can be affected by her overall activity level. If she’s been largely sedentary for a long time, getting even a little more active can spark her appetite and her desire to eat healthier.
Overcome Barriers to Eating
As you start to become more familiar with what your senior is eating and how often she’s doing so, you can start to see patterns. She might be choosing convenience foods, for instance, or her appetite just isn’t there. Overcoming those obstacles is crucial. You might consider offering her smaller, more nutrient-dense meals, for instance. Also, consider hiring home care assistance to take over meal preparation so that your senior doesn’t have to worry about anything but eating.
Revisit the Plan Periodically to Ensure it’s Working
Like so many of the things you’re helping your senior to manage, this isn’t something that you adjust one time and it’s perfect forever. You’re going to want to keep revisiting the plan every once in a while and make sure that what started working well for her is still working. It’s possible that you’ll need to make small adjustments here and there to help her to stay on track nutritionally.
Proper nutrition can help your elderly family member to manage so many health issues. It can also help her to meet her goals as she ages, which can be vital for her self-esteem. Home care assistance can offer your senior parent the help they need to ensure they are eating nutritious meals on a daily basis. Consider home care assistance if your parent is struggling to prepare their own healthy meals, as well as for companionship,
If you are considering home care assistance in Laurel, MD, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Care at Home of Rockville. Call today: (301) 215-3366.
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