September is National Fruit and Veggies Month which might cause you to ask yourself if your senior is eating enough produce on a daily basis. Several options can make that easier for your senior, including enlisting help from senior home care services.
Make Fruits and Veggies Easy to Access and Eat with Senior Home Care Assistance
When vegetables and fruits are difficult to eat or are complicated in any way, that’s likely going to keep your senior reaching for something that is a lot easier to grab. Talk to your senior about what makes some fruits and vegetables difficult. Are they too hard to eat comfortably? Consider using those fruits and vegetables in smoothies or cook them to an edible texture. Pre-chopping produce and making sure it’s clean and ready to eat makes this so much easier.
Add Veggies and Fruits to Other Foods
Another way to increase your senior’s intake of fruits and veggies is to add them into other foods. That could be putting them in smoothies, soups, and even in other types of foods, like sandwiches or breads. Vegetables in particular are easy to add into other recipes when they’re grated and included in those other foods.
Make Eating More Produce a Game for Your Senior
It can also help if you make eating fruits and vegetables fun for your senior. If she enjoys lighthearted competition, you can make it a game to see which of you are able to hit your fruit and veggie target every day for a set amount of time. Pick a reward that your senior is motivated by and see if you can both get your produce intake up.
Replace Less Healthy Side Dishes with Fruit or a Salad
Side dishes are where your senior might most benefit from veggies or fruit. A side of French fries can be tasty once in a while but swapping that out for fruit or for a small side salad ups your senior’s produce intake and helps her to eat just a little bit healthier. This doesn’t have to happen in every single meal, but even a few times a week can make a difference in the nutrition your senior is getting.
Senior home care providers can make meal preparation so much easier for your elderly family member. Senior home care providers can do a lot of the prep work, like making sure fruits and veggies are ready to eat, and that reduces so much of the effort.