Food for Seniors – How to Promote Healthy Eating

Eating well is critical at any age. The right food promotes a healthy weight, can decrease disease risk and even improve enjoyment of life. As many caregivers know, finding the right food for seniors isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Making sure they eat it is more complicated still. There are just so many different factors. Help is at hand.

In this post, we’re taking a detailed look at ways to make food easier for seniors. Some of the approaches address specific challenges, like difficulty in chewing, while others provide broader solutions.

We’d also love to hear your own personal approaches. Please leave a comment about how you’ve approached food for seniors. Have you used any techniques that we’ve missed in this list?

Ways to Make Food for Seniors Easier

1. Focus on Soft Foods

Many seniors struggle with eating and swallowing. Soft foods make this process much easier. They can also make eating more enjoyable. The trick is to find soft foods that are appealing. No one is going to want flavorless mush on a regular basis.

Thankfully, there are some amazing soft food recipes out there. You can check out our recipe roundup for some fantastic examples, including soups, pasta, high protein mashed potatoes and much more.

There are also many types of soft food to choose from. These can be used to create your own recipes.

2. Make Meals Look Good

We often focus on taste, texture and nutrition with food. After all, the appearance doesn’t really impact the health benefits that food offers.

When you’re feeding someone who is resistant to eating, the way that meals look is important. Focusing on different colors can have a large impact. Even just jazzing up the presentation a little may increase food consumption.

3. Increase Nutrients, Not Portion Size

Large portions can seem overwhelming, especially for seniors who struggle with appetite anyway. A simple alternative is to increase the nutrients in the current serving. Adding in nuts or using cream instead of milk are both effective examples.

4. Use Spices

The ability to taste often decreases with age. Spices can make food more interesting and enjoyable.

Take the time to talk with the senior and find combinations that they enjoy. You might be surprised – as their sense of taste could be very different than yours.

5. Pay Attention to Nutritional Needs

There are many myths surrounding aging and nutrition. For that matter – nutrition itself can be confusing. The media’s view on what is healthy seems to shift constantly.

Still, food doesn’t need to be complicated. Seniors have the same general nutrition requirements that adults do. Focus on whole foods, leafy greens, and lean cuts of meat. Keep sugar intake low and ensure that there is enough protein.

You should also talk to their doctor about specific nutritional needs. Some medications and medical conditions will influence the ideal food for seniors. A doctor will also be able to test for nutrient deficiencies and may make recommendations.

If you’re concerned about nutrition, a dietitian can offer further insight.

Calories are a related consideration. Some seniors may need to decrease calorie intake to prevent weight gain. Others may need extra calories, as they’re not currently getting enough.

6. Meal Replacement Shakes

Shakes like these are an interesting choice. They can be a powerful way to provide more nutrients. They’re also easy to drink and can be appealing when other food options aren’t. Still, they have distinct advantages and disadvantages.

• Key advantages: Easy of preparation, portability, plenty of options, can be high in nutrients, often taste good, are easy to consume, no cooking required, some don’t even need to be refrigerated.
• Key disadvantages: They’re often high in sugar and additives, are typically processed, liquid calories are easily over-consumed, ‘real’ meals tend to be healthier.

Protein shakes do have a place. They’re powerful when seniors are stubborn and when you simply need time. You can increase the potential benefits by choosing the right brand or by making the shakes yourself.

Even so, regular food is a more ideal approach, especially for long-term health.

7. Make Food for Seniors Social

Eating alone can be very depressing. It’s enough to make anyone less interested in their food.

If your family member is living on their own, consider alternatives that can make eating social. Examples include having a family member visit regularly and looking at what the local senior center offers.

8. Consider Meal Delivery Programs

Meal delivery services are a powerful solution. They do exactly what the name suggests – delivery meals to the door.

Some of them provide frozen or chilled meals that just needed to be heated and then consumed. Others serve meals that are warm and ready to eat. There are even meal kit programs. These provide the ingredients needed to make a healthy meal.

Meal delivery services often provide you with significant control over the meals that are sent out each week. The style is ideal for cases where seniors are fussy about what they eat.

The catch is that programs like this are often expensive, especially if you’re hoping to order meals for every day of the week.

You may also have access to other programs, like Meals on Wheels or independent services run by local senior centers. This type of service doesn’t normally provide as much control over the meals received, but will often be less expensive.

If nothing else, it’s worth looking around to see what can be found in your local area.

9. Make Cooking Easier

Many seniors can still cook for themselves, but may find the process challenging or confusing. Even if they’re competent, any approach that makes cooking easier can help to ensure they prepare healthy food.

There are many approaches that can help in this area. As always, the answer is going to depend on the situation at hand.

• Cooking classes. This type of class can help seniors learn more about preparing good food. Cooking classes aren’t just for beginners either. There are plenty that help people to refine their skills or teach seniors how to cook a new type of cuisine.
• Meal kits. Meal kit services send out boxes that contain recipes and ingredients to make amazing meals. The recipe still needs to be prepared, but the process can be easier than having to meal plan, shop and then cook. Some meal kit services also focus on fast and easy meals. Gobble is one example.
• Arrange grocery delivery. For seniors with mobility challenges, grocery shopping is often more difficult than cooking. Arranging for grocery delivery can help in this area. The senior could also order the groceries themselves. Doing so would help promote a sense of independence.
• Help them plan meals. Good meal planning can make cooking much easier. Caregivers can also help by directing seniors to meals that are relatively easy to prepare.

10. Make Eating Easier

One final approach is to make eating itself easier. Some seniors will struggle in this area, rather than in food preparation. For example, arthritic joints can make it difficult to hold a knife and fork effectively. Other conditions may lead to shakiness, which also makes eating difficult.

Thankfully, there are many adaptive products that can help with eating. A common theme is the use of large handles with grips of some type. These help to make the cutlery easier to hold. Some are weighted too.

Another style is a stabilizing spoon. This type of product is more expensive, but is also powerful. The design helps to keep the spoon stable, even as the user’s hand is shaking. The product featured below is designed for people with Parkinson’s disease, although it’s equally valuable if your hand shakes for another reason.

You can also follow other approaches to make eating easier. For example:

• Focus on softer foods.
• Avoid meals that require significant precision when eating (such as long strands of pasta).
• Focus on dishes that can be eaten with hands, rather than utensils.
• Cut food into small pieces that can easily be picked up with utensils or hands.