Nothing says love like a home-cooked meal. Households across the world can attest, you can always taste the little extra love when eating something homemade!
Thus, if you find yourself caring for an aging loved one, there is no better form of support than providing meals. The following will provide six tips for cooking for a senior citizen.
1. Place an Emphasis on Soft Foods
As senior citizens age, they are more likely to suffer jaw insensitivity, a weakening of teeth, and other oral issues. Thus, it is helpful to make softer foods. Try and incorporate stews, braises, and soups into your weekly recipe rotation.
2. Meal Prep
Meal prepping isn’t only for trendy millennials! This method entails making weeks worth of food on one designated day.
If you are unable to devote weekly care to your loved one, you can provide them with pre-made dinners. This would require one day of cooking and packaging, and delivering. All your loved one needs to do is heat the meal up, and enjoy!
3. Season with Flavor, Not Just Salt
Remember, salty food might be too intense for your loved one’s taste buds. It can also be detrimental to their health!
Thus, it’s important to remember that you can amplify flavor through aromatics, such as garlic, onion, ginger. This will add the desired ‘punch’ to the recipes without incorporating copious saline.
4. Find the Healthy in the Comfort
It’s only natural that your loved one might want the food from their childhood. This is especially true if they have recently lost an interest in eating. Yet, it can be difficult to cater to comfort while also adhering to a nutritious and healthful meal.
The way to tread this delicate balance is to incorporate healthy practices into classic recipes. Instead of piling on the butter, substitute a healthy fat like coconut oil. If a recipe calls for cream, add a pureed potato instead.
5. Take Care to Include Natural Sugars
If your loved one has an insatiable sweet tooth, it can be tempting to consistently offer sweet treats to appease them. Yet, these treats don’t always have to include processed sugar! Try to incorporate natural sweetness like medjool dates, fruit, agave, or honey.
6. Use a Home Health Aid
If providing a weekly selection of home-cooked meals is too stressful for your schedule, you might want to consider employing a home care nurse in. They can watch over your loved one through providing nutritious, delicious homemade meals.
If you have a concerning health matter that is causing you to explore a more natural path to achieving your goals, seek an integrative wellness professional.