5 Healthy Winter Eating Tips for Seniors

Senior health care is always a challenge due to aging. As an individual crawl towards old age, he/she should take care of the dietary intake, round-the-year. But winter season calls for an extra caution. The dipping temperature and lack of adequate sunlight for days can bring dangers of high-fever, cold, flu and other disorders, any one of which can be fatal during the old age.

If you are accustomed to elderly care, you must know that why winters are the harshest times of the year. Senior citizens must have a proper, balanced dietary schedule to prepare their immune system for the challenges due to change in season. In the winter season, elders tend to lose their appetite, don’t feel like moving around and are reluctant to have anything. In such a situation, keep the following tips in mind to make sure that they stay healthy and you succeed in your winter care efforts:

Add lots of green vegetables to the routine diet

Green vegetables are beneficial for a human of any age, especially during the winters. As leafy greens are loaded with antioxidants, fibers and other essential nutrients, it protects one from cold and cough and maintains the health. If possible, try to give the elders soups made from fresh leafy vegetables.

Don’t ditch the grains during the winters

Many people forget that grains are an important part of a balanced diet. As seniors do not wish to eat anything during the winters, families tend to forget including bread made from wheat and other grains in the diet and believe that just fruits and vegetables are enough for proper winter care. However, food made from grains provides many essential nutrients and also keeps their appetite satiated for longer hours. So, it’s better to include whole wheat foods in daily diet.

Find out dietary sources of Vitamin D & include them in diet

As someone involved in senior health care, you must know that sunlight is essential for a senior citizen because it is the main source of Vitamin D. During the winters, when sun doesn’t exhibit its glory, it is important for seniors to get Vitamin D through other sources. A number of grains, milk products, eggs and fish are sources of vitamin D and one should keep them in daily diet to wade off the chances of vitamin D deficiency.

Make Lunch the Most Important Meal of the Day

Many seniors who live alone do not feel the need to have a full meal during the lunchtime. Also, they do not have the energy to go for grocery shopping during the winter season. Hence, they start skipping lunch and in turn, fall weak, easily. In such a condition, their health suffers enormously leading to fatal conditions.

It is important for seniors to eat a healthy and fulfilling meal during the lunchtime. Hence, one should always be present with the senior to help them with daily chores like buying groceries and preparing meals. If your beloved lives alone, having a professional for home care or an assisted living facility can ensure that the senior is eating properly, saving him/her from fatal health perils.

Increase the intake of Omega 3 fatty acids

Omega 3 fatty acids can protect a senior from many dangerous health problems like heart diseases. In the winters, thus, it is important to give them foods rich in Omega 3. Nuts, dry fruits, flax seeds are some of the omega 3 rich vegetarian options that one can include in the diet to protect seniors from fatal health conditions.

Senior health care is a huge responsibility and if you are not committed full time to them during the winters, their health can suffer, immensely. You must think of getting professional personal care services in this regard for proper elderly care. If you want your beloved to have a comfortable winter season, you can even think of shifting them to an assisted living facility. These facilities are operated by expert and trained professionals that can handle dietary, health and general needs of seniors, efficiently. If you are thinking of the same, you must consider Papaya Care. Being one of the most reputed assisted living facilities in Gujarat, you can be sure about the quality of care, your beloved senior will receive while at Papaya Care.