It can be frighteningly easy for seniors to begin to experience malnutrition. Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition, which is usually a result of either not eating enough food at all or simply not eating enough of the foods that offer nutritional value. Understanding what contributes to malnutrition in aging adults is a big piece of making sure it doesn’t happen. Home care assistance can offer tools that help seniors get the right nutrients to support their best health.
Health Issues
Health conditions can play a big role in senior malnutrition. Conditions that affect digestion, like irritable bowel syndrome or chronic heartburn, may make seniors feel less happy about eating. Health issues like diabetes can affect how the body uses the food seniors eat, making it tougher to get the right nutrients.
Restrictive Diets
A side effect of health issues is often changing diets to help seniors feel better and get those health conditions under control. These might feel like restrictive changes, especially if seniors have to drastically reduce things like salt intake or sugar in their diets. These types of changes can make seniors less excited about eating, which can quickly lead to malnutrition. Elder care providers can help seniors find foods they like that still fit into their diets.
Lack of Energy
When seniors don’t have a lot of extra energy, they might avoid cooking healthy meals. That can leave them eating convenience foods or simply skipping meals. If cooking and preparing even easy meals is too much effort, home care assistance can be the perfect solution. Professional caregivers can take care of those tasks, letting seniors save their energy for other activities and tasks.
Loneliness
Some seniors are “social eaters,” which means that they have a really tough time eating alone. But when they eat around other people, they’re more likely to eat healthier meals and the right quantity of food. Home care assistance can help with this issue, too. Professional caregivers are there, offering emotional and social support to seniors. They can also keep them company while they eat, making meals social again.
Physical Issues
Trouble swallowing, chewing, or with any other physical issues that affect eating can also lead to malnutrition. Seniors might find that addressing some of these issues, like talking to their dentists about what they’re experiencing with dental issues, can help them to turn the situation around. If they’re unable to eat safely on their own, elder care providers can assist with eating so that seniors get the nutrients they need.
Trouble Shopping and Planning
Planning meals is difficult enough, especially when seniors have dietary restrictions and other issues affecting their diets. But add in trouble with getting to the grocery store and actually shopping for food and seniors can easily find themselves dealing with malnutrition. Home care assistance can make short work of these tasks, helping seniors get to the grocery store and plan meals they enjoy that offer them the nutrition they need.
There are so many different factors that affect malnutrition, so it’s important for seniors to talk with their medical providers to get a full picture. Home care assistance can help with the practical aspects of putting a plan to work for seniors as they age in place.