How can I manage my loved ones’ nutritional needs?

By Amy Goyer

An important part of caregiving is ensuring our loved ones eat appropriately and adequately. Their nutrition is key to their health, and for some, such as people who are diabetic, it is absolutely crucial. Yet, we are not dieticians, nutritionists, or chefs! Thankfully, there are resources and professionals to help you manage your loved ones’ nutritional needs.

Grocery Shopping, Meal Preparation and Delivery Services

Delivery services can do every meal preparation task, saving time and, in some cases, helping with adherence to special diets.

  • Grocery shopping and delivery services, such as Instacart and Amazon, save time. And many grocery stores offer delivery or curbside pickup, including Giant, Safeway, and Walmart.
  • Meal kit services deliver all the raw ingredients for a meal, cleaned, chopped, measured, and ready to cook. Some to consider include HelloFresh, Green Chef, Blue Apron, and Dinnerly.
  • Cooked meal delivery services bring a ready-to-eat meal to your door. In some cases, you’ll need to heat the meal. Some to consider include SilverCuisine™ by bistroMD, Factor75, and Mighty Meals. Also, be sure to check for local companies that may have meal preparation and delivery services.
  • Meals specifically for older adults include “congregate” meals provided free or at low cost for seniors, usually at a senior or community center. Home-delivered hot meals are provided for seniors, primarily from Meals-on-Wheels (which may be free or low-cost, as they are subsidized by the Older Americans Act – contact your area agency on aging to ask about this service). Other senior meal delivery services include Mom’s Meals, and Chefs for Seniors

Pureed and Thickened Foods

If your loved ones have swallowing disorders, it may be necessary to puree foods and thicken liquids.

  • A speech therapist can evaluate your loved ones’ swallowing skills if you find they are choking easily. The speech therapist will also recommend thickening agents and may have helpful tips for pureeing foods.
  • A dietician or nutritionist can also help you create recipes and menus that meet special diets and are easy to swallow.
  • Puree cookbooks help make familiar foods taste delicious when pureed. According to Diane Wolff, author of Essential Puree – The A to Z Guidebook: 67 Delicious Recipes for the Dysphagia Diet & Soft Food Diet (Essential Puree Library), pureeing foods isn’t as simple as cooking food and pureeing it in the blender; the right amount and type of liquids need to be included, and seasoning is adjusted as well. I had experience pureeing foods for my dad, and the amount and type of liquid used is indeed critical.

Special Diets

Your loved ones may need low-sodium, gluten-free, non-dairy, low-carb, low-sugar, vegetarian, high-calorie, or low-calorie meals.

  • Learn about special diets from your loved ones’ doctors, dieticians, and nutritionists. There may be specific foods to avoid, and others to eat more of. You may need to track their intake, as well as blood sugar levels and other health metrics. Dietitians can help you create meal plans and supply recipes; ask the doctor about creating orders for a dietician and find out if insurance will cover the services. Learn more about working with a registered dietitian in our Real World Health Care blog article, Registered Dietitians Help Patients Improve Their Relationship Between Diet and Health.
  • The meal delivery services listed above can be helpful because most of them can adapt to special diets, saving you the responsibility for ensuring adherence.
  • Cookbooks for various special diets are readily available.
  • Apps and websites offer recipes, tracking tools, and connections with others who are managing similar diets. Some are covered by insurance. Noom, Nourish, and MyDiabetes are some to try.

Is your loved one at risk for food insecurity? Learn more about how lack of access to affordable food can impact health and wellbeing in our Real World Health Care blog series on Food & Transportation Insecurity.

Resources

  • Area agencies on aging have information about congregate and home-delivered meals in your local area. Use the Eldercare Locator to find your local area agency on aging and inquire about caregiver support or call 1-800-677-1116.
  • ASHA ProFind (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) provides a search tool to find a speech-language pathologist near you who can evaluate swallowing disorders (with a doctor’s orders this may be covered by insurance).
  • Eating Guide for Pureed Foods and Mechanical Soft Food Diets (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
  • Find Meals (Meals on Wheels America) includes a search tool to find a Meals on Wheels program in your area.
  • Find a Nutrition Expert (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) offers a search tool to find a dietician in your area (including insurance information).
  • Food Delivery Services (AARP) provides a video and information about food delivery services when caregiving.
  • Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs (Administration for Community Living, Administration on Aging) provide information about free or low-cost nutrition services for older adults.
  • Special Diets Resource Guides and Videos (AARP/Home Alone Alliance) provide seven videos about various aspects of special diets, as well as print resource guides.

Amy Goyer is a nationally known caregiving expert and author of Juggling Life, Work, and Caregiving. A passionate champion for caregivers, she has also been one her entire adult life, caring for her grandparents, parents, sister, and others. Connect with Amy on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.