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Dot’s Thot: Eating is fundamental to health and seniors need to pay special attention. Caregivers and loved ones need to learn to serve their needs in a most thoughtful way. Here are some suggestions we can all use.

Overcoming Barriers to Eating For Seniors
By Lu Young

As we age, many factors interfere with proper nutrition.

- Can’t chew.
- Upset stomach
- Can’t shop.
- Can’t cook.
- No appetite.
- Short on money.

Eating well is important. You can overcome these barriers.

Problem – Can’t Chew

Trouble with chewing is a common problem of many seniors. Meats may feel tough and difficult to get down.

Solution

Try fruit or vegetable juices, Canned fruits that are soft (peaches, pears, or applesauce), Mashed vegetables (potatoes or carrots are good examples), Creamed vegetables in soups (potato soup, cream of broccoli soup), Ground meats (gravy makes these go down easier), Alternate proteins (eggs, bean soup, milk, cheese), and Creamed fruits (mix softer fruits with yogurt or cottage cheese).

Problem – Upset stomach

Excess gas and a sensitive stomach may keep you away from some foods you identify as problems (and these are often your favorites).

Solution

Try other foods like milk or creamed soups. Also you might wish to try foods that you have never tried before. Be sure to include adequate protein. This is often lacking in people with stomach upset. See your health care provider if your problem continues.

Problem – Can’t Shop

You may be less mobile than you used to be. Perhaps you don’t drive any longer. You may be unable to stand or walk around much.

Solution

Some grocery stores deliver. Call around. Some may do it for free. Ask members of your church to help. Some are just waiting for the opportunity to be helpful and do your grocery shopping for you. Ask your minister or pastor. Sometimes they will know of volunteer groups that may do your shopping. Ask your family or neighbors. Ask your health care provider. You may be eligible for home health services. Many of them can do your shopping.

Problem – Can’t cook

You may have trouble standing at the stove or holding the utensils. Cooking may seem like too much trouble.

Solution

Try using a microwave oven. You can now cook TV dinners, pizza, vegetables and a large variety of foods there. Check the yellow pages for meals on wheels or delivery through a senior center. Ask family members or friends to help you.

Problem – No appetite

Sometimes cooking for one person just makes you lose your appetite. You may feel lonely. Some medicines may make food tasty funny or strange.

Solution

Go to the local senior center to eat. Check with your health care provider. Ask about your medications and food flavor. Spice it up a bit. Add additional spices. Try new spices. Visit friends and family for meals. Shared meals offer companionship and allow you to share gossip as well as food.

Problem – Just Don’t Have The Money

Solution

Look in the ads for foods on sale. Buy staples such as dried beans, rice, and pasta. Use coupons. Or join a coupon exchange to find coupons on foods that you normally eat. Try generic or store brand foods. Eat at the local senior center. See if you are eligible for food stamps.

Eating well at any age is important to your overall health. Try these solutions to correct your problems.

Thank you for reading my article.

Can you please help me? I have written over 50 articles for various online publications. Can you help me make money with this talent?

I have a website – http://www.bostonterrierville.com or you can email me at LuYoungRN@yahoo.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lu_Young
http://EzineArticles.com/?Overcoming-Barriers-to-Eating-For-Seniors&id=2798909

Hope this Article helps some of you out there.  Aloha, Dot

P.S.  I am thinking of writing up some recipes for seniors who still enjoy eating, but may want something softer to chew.

Related Articles and References:

• Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults (Tufts University)
• Here is one of the softest greens for chewing:  Cooking in Hawaii:  Manoa Lettuce, My Favorite Salad Greens
• Fish is another soft option:  Cooking in Hawaii:  Ahi Sashimi with Shiso, Chili Pepper, and Shoyu

DoT’s Thot: Going from a J-O-B to creating a business from scratch, I really appreciated this quotation that I found online:

“For thousands of years, humans paid little attention to measuring or quantifying economic activity. Business was viewed in terms of serving customer needs by employing human talents…

But, increasingly after World War II.. business-people came to discuss their organizations in terms of abstract quantities, not concrete human affairs. They spoke, for example, of providing for customer needs in terms of “revenue” and employing human talents in terms of “cost.”

Profit, the quantitative difference between revenue and cost, was increasingly viewed as the primary goal of business, especially as more widespread share ownership separated the ownership of business from the activities of running business operations. By the 1970s, maximization of shareholder wealth became widely accepted as the one and only goal of business.”

ref.  Johnson, H. Thomas. 2004. Confronting the Tyranny of Management by Numbers. Reflections: The SoL Journal 5 (4): 1-17.

This is a good reminder as we work in real estate investments.  A decent profit earned by delivering value and fixing problems on distressed properties can help in a positive way to work the readjustments in real property, clean up neglected houses, give others an opportunity to buy a decent and clean home that they otherwise might not, increase the quality of neighborhoods and get us back to creating real value, one small business at a time.  It is not just the large companies that make our economy tick.  If you find the right people to work with (and we are networked with people with real integrity) and keep your sense of values, satisfaction for many and community good can be part of the profit of real estate investments — and no matter what the gurus on TV say, it takes good, hard, honest labor and intellect to do this right.

Work diligently long enough in any endeavor, and you will find those honest and hard-working people you can enjoy knowing and collaborate with them.

We and our partner are currently excited about putting a rehabilitated property in Riverside, CA back on the market for a small family — the seller was tired and not up to fixing things and wanted to move away to be closer to his children.  The fixes are nearly done and the house will now fit better into a neighborhood of working families.  As part of the transaction, we allowed the seller to leave everything behind that he did not want and it seems to have been a relief to him to not have to sort through decades of stored items.  For the team, it was just part of the service and process of real estate investment.  We were glad to provide the peace of mind.

Aloha, DoT

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“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.” — Lewis Grizzard (American Comedian and Columnist, 1946-1994)

DotTs Thot: “Sharing makes everything taste better.”

At the end of June, our son was here to get some dental work done.  He had driven down to Orange County and was ready to go back to Berkeley.  I packed a big plastic bin full of fresh tomatoes from the garden for him to take back with him.  Thot to share a picture, because it was a happy occasion to be able to share the garden bounty.

Among the varieties were Marizol Purple, Vintage Wine, Applause, Caramello, Federle, Celebrity, and a mix of cherry and grape tomatoes. Some were fully ripe from the vine and others were picked a little early so that they could be set on a sunny windowsill to ripen further and stretch the enjoyment out for a bit.   He took these back as our present to his special young lady and she told me they were yummy.

It was espeially gratifying to share with them, since in the spring they had both visited and helped in the mass tomato seedling planting effort.  We had anticipated tomatoes together, though 400 miles apart, and now we could share the early harvest.

Aloha, DoT

P.S.  Yes, those were sticky notes to identify the variety and also desribed the tomato.

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• Heirlooms versus Hyrids: A Common-sense Approach
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• Tomato Gardening Journal — Review of May 2009
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