Good meals, nutrition and regular exercise add up to a healthy and happy life. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates said, “All disease begins by way of the stomach.” What you eat has a lot to do with how healthy you will be, especially in your later years. As time goes on, your body weakens and you need to make a special effort to eat right and stay healthy. Eat healthy? Yes, you can do it! Here at Destiny Senior Care we hope to pass along the basics of good eating so your loved one can enjoy good health as they grow older. Below is a summary of the excellent video shown above, “My Plate” developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Our nutritional needs change as we age. We become less active, our metabolism slows down, and we cannot absorb some nutrients as easily. You want the foods that you eat to be rich in vitamins and minerals. The daily plate is divided into five sections: Half of the plate is fruits and vegetables. It’s important to eat different colored vegetables each day. They provide different nutrients and fiber: fresh, frozen, pre-peeled fresh, dried, and low sodium and low-sugar canned are all great options for nutritious fruits and vegetables. A quarter of the plate should be whole grains, such as whole wheat pasta or whole wheat bread. Whole-grains and cereals are great ways to great vitamins and fiber. Your plate should include several servings of dairy products, such as fat-free dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurts that give us protein, calcium and other nutrients. Protein-rich foods like nuts, fish, beans, eggs, meats and poultry are great for providing nutrients. Prepare these foods with only a little salt and butter. Use liquid oils such as soy, corn, canola, and olive when preparing for cooking. They can be used for salad dressings, too. Drink fluids, especially in warmer weather. Fluids can be water, tea or coffee, as well as from foods such as soups, fruits and vegetables. As we get older our bodies demand less fluid but we will need liquids to regulate body temperature, transport nutrients and lubricate joints. Instead of using a lot of salt, use herbs and spices to enhance the flavor of foods, and to add variety to your diet. Eating meals of a variety of foods will aid your health, but what is also needed is to keep active, such as walking, biking, gardening and swimming. These all help reduce your chances of disease and disability and help you stay independent. Making small changes and being consistent is the best way to making improvements to eating and staying fit. If you are making major changes, check with your doctor. It’s never too late to improve your eating and exercise habits.My Plate Summary
The Spirit is Willing, But…
We all know that healthy eating is important, so why do we break the rules so often? We binge on potato chips, snarf down that big chocolate cake for dessert, and we love to consume one or two glazed donuts with our morning coffee.
There is a phrase from the Bible, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
– François de la Rochefoucauld
A Caregiver Can Help Your Habits
Athletes hire coaches, and business people hire their own success coaches. Tutors provide the same service. Why do so many people seek out this kind of help? There are mainly two reasons for this: First, coaches know more than we do about a given subject. They’ve been there, done that. Like Yoda guiding Hans Solo in the Star Wars series, we need an expert to guide us along the way.
The second reason is that it’s always better to have someone else helping and encouraging you. When you accept that this person is really going to help you and becoming willing to follow their advice, you’ve started on the road to good habits. You follow their words of acknowledgment as well as their admonitions.
The caregivers at Destiny Senior Care are trained to encourage your senior in just these ways. They make wholesome meals and follow the dietary guidelines of your doctor or nutritionist. They will work with your senior or loved one in forming good habits – that means helping them eat healthy food and staying away from junk food, or at least limit it to a reasonable amount.
How Coaching Helped Laurie
Laurie Pooch, at age 56, found herself overweight and unhealthy. But with the help of a nutrition and life coach, she improved her eating and lifestyle habits and lost 51 pounds, going from 174 to 123 lbs.
She faced many obstacles – her age, thyroid cancer, moving, eating many restaurant meals, and the loss of her sister to ovarian cancer. She joined a coaching program that helped her develop the mental and physical habits that eventually led to better health.
“It was hard to start slowly,” Laurie says. “I had to make myself a beginner again.”
Thus, a professional caregiver can not only help your senior with keeping the house clean, help them get out of bed and ready for the day, but can offer encouragement and help in maintaining good eating and fitness habits. Destiny Senior Care can go a long way in doing this for your senior.
To find out if Destiny Senior Care can meet your needs, call us at the number at the top of this page, or fill out the form on our contact page, or click here to set up a phone appointment.