So What is the Latest Information About Nutrition - How Well Do You Like Fruits and Vegetables?

In March 2007, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a public health initiative to make us aware of the need for fruits and vegetables in our diet. The program was called "5 a Day "to encourage adults to eat five or more servings a day of fruits and vegetables or two to six and a half cups per day. This change also acknowledges that many people struggle with understanding the size of a serving, and so the new requirements are stated in cups. Below are some examples of how these new requirements can be simply met in our daily diets.
 
Morning:  
1 small apple (1 cup)  
 












1 small banana on cereal (½ cup)

Mid-Day:
1 cup of lettuce and ½ cup of other vegetables  

6 baby carrots (½ cup)

 









Evening: 
½ sweet potato and ½ cup of green beans (1 cup)

 






16 grapes (½ cup) 

"E"lder years above age 80

As age increases, the risks of frailty and health problems also increase. Checking your nutritional health regularly at age 80 and older is just good sense to continue a productive life.

"N"eed Assistance

Most older people are able to eat, but one of every five have trouble walking, shopping, buying or cooking food. If someone you know has trouble walking or standing for a long time, you know that they likely have problems shopping or cooking. If shopping is the problem, more and more stores now offer delivery of groceries to the home for a minimal charge. Shopping assistance-even transportation to and from the store may be available from a local senior center or home care agency that offers homemaker services in which these workers not only shop but can help with cooking.
 
If cooking is the problem, consider what meals you can microwave - including dinners already made that you can buy at the local store. Consider having meals brought to your home, there are a variety of services including Meals on Wheels which also offer special diets.

"I"nvoluntary Weight Loss/Gain

Losing or gaining a lot of weight – 10 pounds or more in the last six months – when you are not trying to, is a warning sign that you cannot ignore. See your doctor and understand why, before this condition slowly deteriorates your health.

"M"ultiple Medicines can be Trouble for your Appetite

Most adults over age 60 take some type of medicine for a health problem. Almost half of older Americans take multiple medicines – more than four per day. As we grow older our body changes in how it responds to drugs. The more medicine that we take, the greater the chance of side effects such as increased or decreased appetite, change in taste, constipation, weakness, drowsiness, diarrhea, nausea, and other symptoms. Our doctors should know every drug we take, including vitamins and minerals, as drug-food interactions are real as well as drug-drug side effects that can make eating an experience we want to avoid.

If you take four or more medications per day and you have little appetite, ask your doctor if the  medicines may be affecting your appetite or even causing taste problems (things just don’t taste they way they used to). Changing  medications can make a real difference, but you need to tell your doctor that there is a problem.

"R"educed Social Contact: How it Impacts Nutrition

One third of all older people in the US live alone. Older people who find themselves single after many years of living with another person may find it difficult to be alone, especially at mealtimes. It is not uncommon among the single or widowed population to lose interest in preparing or eating regular meals, or eat only sparingly. In a study published in the Journal of Gerontology, researchers found that newly widowed people, most of whom were women, were less likely to enjoy mealtimes, less likely to say that they had a good appetite and less likely to report good eating behaviors. Nearly 85% of those widowed reported a weight change during the two years following a spouse’s death; the average weight loss was 7.6 pounds. Most of the women
enjoyed eating and cooking before they lost their spouse, but as widows, cooking was now a ‘chore”. For many widowed men who left cooking to their wives, the problem was often worse. They often did not know how to prepare meals and instead snacked too often or ate out a lot, both of which lead to eating too much fat, sodium and cholesterol and not enough food with the vitamins and minerals needed.

The importance of this research only reinforced the earlier findings that eating alone often can put your nutrition at risk. For those widowed or who are long term caregivers of a sick spouse who can no longer share meals as in the past, an important intervention is eating with friends or family or participating in group meals at a senior center or church at least every few weeks. Being with people daily has a positive effect on morale, well-being and eating!

"E" Economic Hardship

As many as 40% of older Americans have incomes of less than $6000 per year. Having less and choosing to spend less as you see the prices rise in the grocery store, makes it very hard to spend $25-$30/week on food that will keep you healthy.

One program that targets the nutrition of low-income elderly is the Administration on Aging (AOA) Elderly Nutrition Program which offers a variety of nutrition services to the elderly throughout the nation. These programs provide for congregate and home-delivered meals, and each meal must provide at least 1/3 of the recommended dietary allowances established by government. Although there is no means test to be eligible, the over 4,000 such nutrition programs across the US primarily serve low-income elderly among those 3 million plus individuals who depend on the meals provided daily.

The Elder Nutrition Program is not just about getting nutritious food to the table, it is also about helping seniors access a range of services such as nutrition screening, assessment, and education to help an individual meet needs that may be threatening their independence. Volunteers and paid staff who work in the program have an important role in reporting any health or other problem that they learn of when delivering the meals or interacting at the congregate meal sites so that other community-based services such as homemakers, home health aide services, transportation or physical activity programs can be accessed and help to keep a senior at home and independent longer.

"T": Tooth Loss or Mouth Pain

A healthy mouth, teeth and gums are needed to eat many of the foods required for a nutritious diet. Missing, loose or rotten teeth and dentures that don’t fit well or which cause mouth sores make it hard to eat food such as meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, all of which have the nutrients you need each day

What to Do -Try Other Foods To Ensure Nutrition:

Instead of:Fresh fruit 
 

Try: fruit juices and soft canned fruit like peaches, pears or applesauce

 
Instead of: Raw vegetables 

Try: vegetable juices and creamed and mashed cooked vegetables 

Instead of: Meat 

Try: Ground meat, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, and foods made with milk such as pudding and creamed soups

Instead of: Sliced bread

Try: Cooked cereals, rice, bread pudding and soft cookies

Eating Poorly

The "E" in DETERMINE represents eating poorly. Eating too little and eating too much both lead to poor health.Our food and drink habits can put our nutrition at risk. Eating the same foods day after day, not eating fruit, vegetables and dairy products daily, skipping meals because you just don’t feel like it or you are too busy leads to poor nutrition. 

In addition to eating poorly, alcohol is another contributor to poor nutrition. One in four adults drink too much alcohol, which causes many health problems to become worse if the individual drinks more than one or two alcoholic beverages a day.

Disease the "D" in Determine

Disease - any disease, illness or chronic condition which causes you to change the way you eat or makes it hard for you to eat, puts your nutritional health at risk. Four out of five adults in this country have a chronic disease by age 55 that is affected by their diet. But it is not only diabetes and high cholesterol that affects what you eat and how often you eat; it is also confusion or memory loss that take their toll on our diet as we age. One out of five adults experiences memory loss or increasing confusion as they age, and they can actually forget to eat or cannot remember if they did. To ask a friend or family member whose memory loss or confusion seems to be increasing if they ate today and what they ate is a reasonable and important question. Finally, even mental conditions impact nutrition. Feeling sad or depressed happens to about one out of eight older adults, and these feelings can cause big changes in appetite, digestion, energy level, weight and well-being.

Using DETERMINE to Understand Nutritional Health

So what is nutritional health? The American Academy of Physicians, the American Dietetic Association and the National Council on the Aging have joined forces to provide a simple way to screen your nutritional health, using the word DETERMINE.

Disease

Eating Poorly

Tooth Loss or Mouth Pain

Economic Hardship

Reduced social contact

Multiple Medicines

Involuntary Weight Loss/Gain

Need Assistance

Elder years above age 80

Communicating with your Healthcare Providers

Communication between your healthcare provider is the first step in keeping you and your loved ones safe. The best way to do that is to ask questions until you fully understand the answers your healthcare provider is giving you.
 

Communication between your provider

• Ask your healthcare provider about your and other patients safety, and how communication between you two can be improved.

How to be more involved in your care

• Tell your healthcare provider you want yo be more involved in your care and ask them how you can help contribute.
• Find out the process for reporting errors within your healthcare provider.

Patient Safety Awareness Week

March 6th-12th is Patient Safety Awareness Week and during this week health care companies will be promoting the importance of analyzing, reporting and preventing errors with their patients medical care, as well as showing how important it is for their patients to revive the right care at the right time. Patients and families need to be aware of their health care needs and the best way to do that is to maintain your health and communicate with your different health care providers to make sure everyone is on the same page.

So Why Should You Care About Nutrition As You Age?

People are right when they think that the chronic diseases that they have now or the ones that develop as they age are influenced by poor eating habits when they were younger. For example if you have osteoporosis now, it was influenced by eating habits – especially calcium intake – and insufficient exercise during early adolescence and early adulthood. However, we also now know that nutrition in the later years can help lessen the effects of diseases common among older Americans such as osteoporosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and gastrointestinal problems.

Studies demonstrate that a good diet in our later years helps to both reduce the risk of chronic diseases and to manage the diseases’ signs and symptoms. On the other hand, poor nutrition as you age can prolong recovery from illness and worsen the signs and symptoms of chronic disease.

Introduction to Nutrition and Aging

March is National Nutrition Month, and to help answerer people's questions about nutrition we will be posting information on the importance of nutrition and aging.

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You are not alone if you have questions about nutrition. The news each day seems to confuse us more than answer our questions. What is a healthy diet? If I already have high blood pressure, is what I eat going to make a difference? What really is the right size portion – we typically don’t carry scales with us. The good news is that once the hype is separated from the fact, there is strong, solid evidence about nutrition and how it impacts our life at 50, 80 and beyond.


Throughout the month of March we will answer these questions and more , so keep checking in to find out more about the importance of nutrition as you age.