How Can You Make Healthy Eating Tasty and Simple?
August 26, 2019
When your senior is finally on board with the idea of eating healthier, finding the right foods and options can seem impossible. These tips can help.
Make a Menu and Keep Your Senior Involved
Having a menu planned out is going to go a long way toward making each meal easier to get on the table. If your senior hasn’t been eating meals that are all that healthy up until now, you want to gradually start to introduce healthier options. Shopping from the sales will help with that, because what tends to be on sale, especially in the produce section, are the fruits and vegetables that are in season. This is going to get easier the more you do it.
Try Different Ways of Cooking Foods
There are so many different ways to cook foods and some of them are healthier choices than others. Frying foods is rarely a good idea, mostly because of the oil and fat involved. Making a switch to using an air fryer instead of pan frying or deep frying is a great way to get the same flavor for your senior but through a healthier method. The air fryer crisps the food using so much less oil, meaning your senior ingests less oil.
Stock up on Herbs and Seasonings
Another hurdle you might encounter is the sodium problem. Your senior most likely needs to cut back on her salt intake and if she’s seasoned food with mostly salt over the years, she might not be excited about switching. Using a variety of different herbs and seasonings can help her to experiment with different flavors, though. Gradually she might find that she really likes branching out.
Be Careful When Eating Out
Eating foods from restaurants, either at the restaurant or as takeout, can be convenient, but there might be some dietary dangers lurking for your senior. She might find that serving sizes are larger than she needs or that the food doesn’t use the healthier choices you’ve been trying to aim for in her new eating plan. Pay close attention to menus when eating out and ask about how the food is prepared.
Consider Getting Some Help
This is a big change for your senior and probably for you. It helps if you have someone who can take over some of the cooking duties or at least be there for meals with your senior when you can’t be. Elder care providers can do all of that for you and you’ll feel better knowing your senior is eating healthier options as much as possible.
Eating healthier foods doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or energy. You and your senior can do this together.
Excerpt: Healthier eating doesn’t have to be complicated or bland for your senior.
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