Malnutrition is a huge issue for older adults. Your senior can very easily become malnourished, even if she seems to be eating on a regular basis. These ideas can help her to up the nutritional value of the foods she’s eating. Always make sure to rule out medical causes with her doctor, too, to be on the safe side.
Help Her Assess What She’s Eating
One of the first things to do is to get a better idea of what your elderly family member is really eating on a daily basis. Tracking her food, without making changes just yet, can help you both to really pay attention to what’s happening. You’re going to start to notice patterns, like foods your senior eats consistently that aren’t nutritionally satisfying. This can help you to put a better eating plan in place.
Find Ways to Sneak Nutritious Foods in Each Day
Snacks are the easiest way to get a little more nutrition into your elderly family member on a daily basis. Snacks are less intimidating than a meal and they can be much smaller. Offering apple slices with a bit of cheese or peanut butter is tasty and might be different from what your senior eats usually, but they also offer a nutritional punch. Adding vegetables to smoothies can also help.
Talk to Her Doctor about Supplements
Your senior’s doctor might have some ideas about ways to supplement your senior’s nutrition, too. Talk to your senior’s doctor about what she’s eating and what she should be eating. It’s possible that she’s unable to get as much of the nutrients as she truly needs from food alone. Adding vitamins and minerals might be the option that works to help her.
Look at Ways to Stimulate Her Appetite
If your elderly family member’s appetite is a big problem, there might be some things that you can do to help her to feel hungry again. Light exercise that fits her doctor’s recommendations can be a fantastic way to get her appetite going again. Also, don’t overlook the fact that your senior may be a social eater. This might mean that bringing in elderly care providers for company, while she eats helps her to eat more often and bigger meals.
Finding the right solution for increasing the nutrients your elderly family member gets might involve trying a variety of different options until you land on the right combination.
