Nutrition Tips For Seniors
As seniors and elderly progress towards the later decades of their lives, they face a number of challenges. At this stage, they go through a number of mental changes that affect their health. This is the time when they need special attention. At least, we need to ensure that they are eating healthy food packed with the right nutrients to nourish their mind and body.
Keeping this thought in mind, many aged care software vendors have come up with the latest technologies that help to keep the track of the nutrition being delivered to the elderly. This article explains how to determine the kind of food / nutritional meals served to the elderly.
What your loved ones eat affect their quality of life
The right nutrition does much more than just increasing the lifespan of the elderly. Proper nutrition helps to improve the quality of one’s life. This is true for everyone and not only the elders.
For instance, we know that green leafy vegetables are packed with proteins and iron. Eating green vegetables regularly, will build up residents stamina and they will remain mentally stable as they are consuming the right food.
Another good example of nutritious food is a green tea that is packed with polyphenols, which contain neuroprotective properties. These properties help in keeping the toxic chemicals away from the brain. Further, green tea contains flavonoids that prevent the formation of plaque in the brain and it is proved to break down the already existing plaque as well.
There are many other examples that we have discussed in our previous articles that can help provide right nutritions to the residents.
Changing nutritional needs
While formulating the diet plan for elders, keep in mind that the elderly need fewer calories than a young person to maintain his/her body weight. Moreover, if a young person is deprived of some nutrients, his/her body can recuperate or compensate but when an elderly is deprived of the same quantity of nutrients, it will affect his/her health.
Some Key Factors of a healthy diet
Ensure that the elderly people are eating the good quantity of fruits and vegetable instead of fruit and vegetable juices. it is important that they eat fruits to meet their nutritional requirement. Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins and fiber that is lost when they are converted into juices. By eating the fruit, the person will feel full and he/she will be less likely to divert towards unhealthy snacks.
Make sure that resident is consuming the right quantity of calcium to strengthen the bones. especially, the elderly women should be given calcium as the women are more prone to osteoporosis. Apart from the dairy foods, broccoli and almonds are good sources of calcium.
Introduce a protein-rich diet regularly by including lean meats and fish in his/her diet at regular intervals.
It is important to keep the track of the nutritional diet of your elderly and as mentioned earlier, many aged care software vendors can help you with the systems to keep track of the same. A simple software will help you create a comprehensive diet plan for your elders thus ensuring that the right nutrients are given proportionately.
