Importance of Nutrition Labels for Elderly Adults
Many elderly adults will just eat whatever without worrying about the nutrition aspect of it. However, if you are a family caregiver for your elderly loved one, it is important that you pay attention to the nutrition labels of the food that your elderly loved one eats. Eating better begins with understanding the nutrition labels. It might even be beneficial to give your elderly loved one a crash course on the importance of the nutrition label.
Ingredients
Home Care Chester, PA: Nutrition Labels
One of the first things that you should pay attention to on the nutrition label is the ingredients. If the list of ingredients is quite long, this probably means the food isn’t healthy. If the ingredients list many complicated terms, this is another sign that the food may not be healthy. For instance, there are many different terms that are used for sugar including glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, and more. In addition, low-fat or low-calorie foods, still often have many unhealthy ingredients in them. If you or a home care provider is helping your elderly loved one to shop for food, pick out foods with a shorter ingredient list.
Proportion Sizes
Another thing that people should pay attention to is the proportion sizes. The daily value percentages and serving size are the top 2 things that you should look at. If you don’t look at the serving size, you won’t get an accurate picture of how healthy or unhealthy the food is. Once you notice the serving size, you can get a better idea as to whether that food is actually low in calories, salt, or sugar.
Mindfulness
Being mindful is one way to approach buying foods. For instance, when you go to the grocery store with or for your elderly loved one, you may see foods that claim to boost energy or have the word diet on them. This can be confusing. In many instances, these foods or products don’t actually help with a diet or boost energy. However, that isn’t always the case. As you learn to be a better shopper, you can be more mindful of the foods that you are actually purchasing. You will learn what foods are actually good for your elderly loved one and which ones aren’t.
These are some of the things that you should know about the importance of nutrition labels and buying food for your elderly loved one. Whether you, your loved one, or their home care providers are helping with the shopping, the nutrition labels are always important. While it will take some time at first, getting used to reading the nutrition labels, in time it will become easier. In time, you will learn which foods are best for your elderly loved one and which ones are no good for them.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care in Chester, PA please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Sources
https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/how-understand-and-use-nutrition-facts-label
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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