4 Reasons Why Seniors Skip Meals
It’s essential for seniors to enjoy a healthy diet, as good nutrition is essential for managing many age-related conditions and long-term health issues, like osteoporosis and diabetes. Family caregivers should look at the four main reasons why aging adults skip meals, then see how hiring a home care provider can help them to solve each problem and ensure their loved ones have a chance to eat good food and proper meals every day.
- Limited Access to Fresh Food.
Caregiver in Great Falls VA: Reasons Why Seniors Skip Meals
So many seniors struggle with mobility issues as they deal with age-related illnesses, diseases, and more. Poor vision and hearing, weakened muscles, poor balance, and diminished stamina can stop seniors from getting to the grocery store regularly. Many lose the ability to drive and cannot manage public transportation. They rely on others to do their shopping, and if those connections fall through, they are out of luck. Family caregivers can hire home care providers to do the shopping and delivery so that seniors always have access to fresh food for preparing meals.
- Lack of Desire, Motivation and Energy.
Chronic pain, medication side effects, and general fatigue can sap an elderly person’s strength and stamina. If they are weakened by illness, surgery, or age-related conditions, it can almost be too much effort to stand in the kitchen and prepare healthy meals. It’s much easier to reach for unhealthy processed food and snacks. A home care provider can spare seniors the stress and strain of meal preparation by serving up home-cooked healthy fare, so they can rest and heal.
- Poor Appetite.
Seniors lose their ability to detect hunger and thirst as they age, meaning that they often neglect what their body needs. If the elderly adult participates in activities and lifestyle changes with the help of a home care provider, they can boost their appetite and eat more nutrient-dense foods. Home care providers can help seniors get more activity during the day, cut down on snacking and sodas, get the proper amount of sleep, and eliminate smoking and drinking, which diminish the appetite.
- Isolation and Loneliness.
Eating alone is no fun, and when seniors are dealing with chronic loneliness, isolation, and depression, they often lose their desire to eat at all. With a home care provider, seniors have a companion that makes meals more social. They are more likely to eat nutritious food when it is made and served by someone in their own home. Meals can be a social time when they converse with their home care provider about current events, hobbies, shows, and more. Food is often at the center of socializing, and elderly adults are more likely to eat more when their meals and their guests are fun and engaging.