Contrary to popular weight-loss diets, the diets for matured adults focus on gaining more nutrients. This is because mature adults tend to have a slower metabolism rate, have a weaker immune system, and a higher likelihood of developing chronic health issues. Fortunately, you can help your loved ones make smart and healthy eating choices, improve their nutritional health and well-being over time.
Make Mealtimes Enjoyable
The very first step to ensuring your loved ones have sufficient nutrients is to make them enjoy their meals. After all, if they look forward to mealtimes, they will be more willing to finish their nutrient-packed food, and hence improving their nutritional health. So, how can you make their mealtimes enjoyable? You can join your loved ones for mealtimes or invite their friends to join them in their meals. Additionally, you can suggest your loved ones join community meals, which allows them to enjoy social networking over their food.
Apart from making their meals a socially enjoyable one, you can also make them visually pleasing. By incorporating more colors, it appeals to them more and hence encourages them to eat their meals! For instance, you can use pasta with a vibrant red sauce instead of plain buttered noodles for a more colorful and nutritious boost.
Plan Their Meals
Preplanning their meals is another great way to get them to make healthier eating options. By planning the meals together with your loved ones, they will anticipate the nutritiously delicious food instead of seeking unhealthy food options. Here’s another tip! Prepack a week’s worth of lunches and snacks at one time. You can keep them frozen and heat them for your loved ones when needed. The added convenience of getting the planned meal also means that your loved ones are more likely to continue with their healthy habits.
Use the Right Seasonings
Did you know that mature adults tend to have a decreased sense of taste and smell? Thus, it is crucial to make their food as flavourful as possible while ensuring that they are still healthy and nutritious. One great way is to use fresh herbs and spices! For instance, try using onion, garlic powder, and salt-free seasoning blends. Fresh herbs and spices like basil, sage, rosemary, and turmeric are also fresh herbs and spices that are both healthy and full of flavor. However, you must minimize your loved ones’ table salt and sugar intake. In particular, the overconsumption of salt can lead to high blood pressure and eventually cause heart diseases, stroke, and kidney diseases. Refined sugars, on the other hand, offer no nutritional value. These health issues can be avoided by simply using healthy and flavourful seasonings. As such, make sure that they consume less than 2,300 milligrams of salt, also known as sodium, daily.
Make Meals and Snacks Nutrient-Rich
Given that mature adults tend to have smaller appetites, it is important to space out the meals into more frequent but smaller and manageable ones. Thus, you need to ensure that every ingredient in their meal is beneficial and focus on making the food nutrient-dense. One other way to add calories while keeping the meal size small is to add sauces or grated cheese to their side dishes. For breakfast items like cereals, you can also add a dash of honey or maple syrup.
