June is National Fruit and Veggies Month, the ideal opportunity for you as a family caregiver to help your elderly loved one integrate more of these healthy options into their regular diet. For some seniors, eating a wider variety of fruits and vegetables can seem intimidating, especially if they are not accustomed to these foods. Starting small by making easy swaps and tasty supplements can help your parent to enjoy these foods more often without feeling as though they are making too many changes too quickly. For you as their caregiver, making sure that these changes fit into your schedule is important to helping you handle all of your care tasks quickly, efficiently, and with the effectiveness and results that you desire.
Let these ideas inspire you for quick lunchtime options for National Fruit and Veggies Month:
- Veggie pinwheels. Blend cream cheese with a packet of ranch dressing mix and spread this across a tortilla. Top with chopped bell peppers, olives, onions, cucumbers, carrots, and a sprinkle of cheese. Roll the tortilla tightly and cut into pinwheels.
- Veggie spread. Sandwich spreads such as mayonnaise are full of fat, calories, and cholesterol and lack food value. Instead of relying on these, create a nutrition-packed spread that will add flavor and satisfying mouthfeel to your parent’s sandwich while also cutting these potentially troublesome components. Roast eggplants ahead of time and refrigerate. When you are ready, blend these with a drizzle of olive oil, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper to taste. Change up the flavor by adding in roasted red peppers, olives, or other spices.
- Hummus. A traditional middle eastern spread, hummus is tremendously nutritious and versatile. While making it yourself can be a bit time consuming, there are simple kits that allow you to just blend up a bag of pre-mixed ingredients with a can of garbanzo beans. Serve this protein and fiber-packed dip with vegetable sticks or create a delicious sandwich with hummus, onions, peppers, cucumbers, and leafy green vegetables in a whole grain pita.
Starting senior care for your elderly loved one can be one of the best decisions that you can make for them throughout the course of your caregiver journey with them. Having a senior home care services provider in the home with your parent is a fantastic way to help ensure that they are able to achieve and maintain the highest quality of life possible as they age in place. This means not only addressing their individual needs, challenges, and limitations, but also encouraging them to pursue a lifestyle that is as active, engaged, independent, and fulfilling as possible throughout their later years. A senior care provider can accomplish this by designing a highly personalized set of services tailored to your parent’s needs, personality, preferences, and goals so that they are able to stay safe, healthy, comfortable, and happy in this new chapter in their lives. When it comes to helping them to maintain their best health through a balanced diet, this care provider can provide safe and reliable transportation to the grocery store to help them stock their kitchen with the right foods, research recipes with them, and even help them to prepare meals and snacks that will work with their personal preferences as well as give them the nutrition that their body needs to thrive.
If you are considering senior care in Northampton PA, contact the caring staff at Extended Family Care of Allentown. Call today at (610) 200-6097.
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