ThirdAge Insider: Beth McLeod |
| |
Signs to Watch For
Signs and symptoms of malnutrition can mislead even the professionals. Weight loss, lightheadedness, disorientation, loss of appetite, and lethargy are often diagnosed as illness when they may actually indicate poor nutrition.
Specific signs of nutritional problems include:
Cutting down on fruits, vegetables, or meats because of difficulties chewing or swallowing.
Recommendations: Your elder should see a dentist for a checkup. Have his or her doctor request an appointment for a swallowing evaluation with a speech therapist. Rather than eating more breads and sweets, he or she can choose softer foods from other food groups, such as bean or lentil soups, eggs, ground meats, and canned fruits or fruit juices. Increased constipation.
Recommendations: Have your elder drink more fluids, aiming for six to eight 8-ounce glasses a day. Caffeine and alcohol don't count as they encourage fluid loss. He or she should also eat more fiber from fruits and vegetables and use whole grains such as whole wheat breads and pasta, oatmeal, bran cereals, and brown rice. Falling into a food rut because shopping, cooking, and eating become more of a chore.
Recommendations: You and your elder can see a registered dietitian for ideas on adding variety. You can locate these professionals through health care facilities, retirement centers, home health and health care agencies, adult day care centers, physicians' offices, and small hospitals (see the resources listed on the next page). Other risk factors for poor nutritional health include eating fewer than two meals a day, eating alone most of the time, economic hardship, and unintended weight loss or gain of 10 pounds or more in six months.
Recommendations: Consider having Meals on Wheels deliver on a regular basis. Plan meals that can be made ahead and frozen. Let someone else such as a home aide do the cooking, or attend senior nutrition sites, which you and your elder can locate via your local Area Agency on Aging. Next: Resources >
 More about Beth Witrogen McLeod
Missed a week? Find past editions here
Back to the Caregiving Center
| 
