Essential Nutrients For The Elderly: How Tingkat Meals Delivers
When discussing the health of the elderly, the conversation tends to revolve around managing chronic illnesses and safety issues. The truth is that ageing affects how you eat, so nutrition for older people should also be considered carefully.
In fact, ageing changes a person’s diet as the body takes on fewer tasks that require more energy and calories. This is then paired with possible medication side effects, changing tastebuds, and cooking burnout. Regardless, older people need nutrients to continue their daily lives and maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Ensuring the elderly eat a highly nutritious meal can be challenging but not impossible. At Savoury Catering, our Tingkat meals offer the essential five – grain, poultry, vegetable, fish, and soup – to provide a foundation of good health even for the elderly. You can trust us to deliver nutritious meals that harmonise with the daily lifestyles of older people and improve their quality of life, mind, and health. In this article, we’ll cover how Tingkat meals can help the elderly gain all the nutrition they need to lead a healthy lifestyle.
What Are The Nutritional Needs of the Elderly
As you grow older, your dietary needs change to adapt to your body and lifestyle. Older people might be less active than before, making them more likely to eat less and burn fewer calories. This might put them at risk of experiencing nutritional deficiencies, especially if they eat less nutritious meals for their age.
Maintaining a healthy diet as an elderly can be complex and challenging, but it is vital for their health. To ensure the elderly are keeping a well-balanced meal, below are the nutritional needs that are essential to maintaining a healthy and nutritious lifestyle.
Calcium and Vitamin D
Some of the most vital nutrients in older people are calcium and vitamin D. These nutrients sustain healthy bones and muscles to ensure the elderly can remain active. Vitamin D, alongside calcium, decreases the risk of bone loss and fracture and helps prevent and treat osteoporosis.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 produces red blood cell formations and ensures proper nerve function. It helps sustain overall cognitive function in older people by increasing energy levels. A deficiency in vitamin B12 may lead to declining cognitive function, bone health, and cardiovascular health.
Dietary Fibre
Dietary fibre is crucial to maintaining a healthy bowel as an elderly. It ensures your stools are increased in weight and size for easier passing through to avoid constipation. Besides preventing constipation, dietary fibres also help you with proper digestion and feeling full, decreasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Potassium
Potassium is excellent for older people as it is essential for cell function. It helps sustain bone health, nerve signal transmissions, muscle contractions, and chemical reactions. It is also commonly used to treat high blood pressure and prevent stroke.
Healthy Fats
Fats may have a bad reputation, but there are such things as healthy fats, and they are beneficial to a healthy body. Healthy fats, like omega 3, help reduce inflammation and lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases in the elderly. Other than that, it also helps older people manage their cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
How The Essential Five for Tingkat Delivers These Nutrients
At Savoury Catering, we are committed to providing nutritious and delicious Tingkat meals crafted with the Essential Five in mind. We offer a fulfilling range of meals with various dishes to fill your heart and stomach with joy and nutrition.
Our commitment to delivering nutritious meals is crucial as it provides a foundation for good health. With that in mind, here’s how the Essential Five in Tingkat meals deliver these much-needed nutrients.
Grains and Vegetables
Grains are an excellent source of carbohydrates that provide energy, while vegetables contain dietary fibre that helps with processing and digesting foods for older people. We offer meals abundant with grains and vegetables, like stir-fried lady fingers and beanstalk barley chicken soup, which are rich in fibre and vitamins.
Poultry and Fish
Poultry is packed with protein, providing abundant nutrients for the elderly. Like our Thai basil minced meat dish, poultry is rich in vitamins and minerals, like vitamin B12 and iron.
Besides that, fish is an excellent source of healthy fats as they are rich in omega 3, which is crucial for optimal body and brain function for older people. Dishes like our steamed fish or fish curry are a great way to incorporate healthy fats into their diet.
Soup
Soups are often underrated, but they are versatile and powerful. There are various types to look out for, from cream to clear, packed with ingredients that can boost the immune system. They are also the best choice for the elderly as they can easily digest soups to get their daily nutrition intake. Soups, like tomato and tofu soup as well as peach gum melon soup, help increase nutrition intake while replenishing energy levels.
Simple Tips To Eat Well for the Elderly
Maintaining a healthy and well-balanced diet as an elderly person can be made easy with a few simple tips. Some may refuse to eat at certain times as they require less energy. When this happens, working your way around it is important to ensure they are eating well.
You cannot buy health, but you can earn it through healthy living and eating nutritious meals. If you’re caring for an elderly person, below are some simple tips for you or your elderly to eat well.
Don't Skip Meals
Never skip meals. Skipping meals will cut your daily nutrition intake, which will be detrimental in the long run. To make eating meals easier, implement a manageable schedule for older people where their bodies can adapt to it and know when to eat.
Have Smaller Portion But Frequent Meals
Sometimes, three meals a day is insufficient for the elderly to make up for their daily nutrition intake. It is because, through the years, they tend to eat less food every meal. Instead of sticking to only three meals a day, add in meals during brunch, tea time, and supper to ensure they get enough nutrition for the day, even if it is small in portions.
Try New Foods
Burning out from eating the same food every day is real, so ensure you are always offering the elderly new foods to try. Exploring new foods provides them with an experience while eating, not just for sustenance. Trying new foods also allows excitement towards meals and discovering new favourites.
Savoury Catering’s Commitment to Nutritious Meals
Savoury Catering is dedicated to fulfilling your needs by providing nutritious meals with our Tingkat meals. Trust us to deliver nutritious catering meals for your elderly at home to ensure they maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet. Our commitment to nutritious meals includes taste and convenience to ensure your loved ones enjoy delicious yet nutritious meals.
Experience the joys of Tingkat meals with Savoury Catering when you trust us to provide your loved ones with our healthy and balanced meals crafted with the Essential Five in mind. Order your Tingkat meals today from our two menu options, Everyday Staples or The Healthier Choice, to go on a journey for better health.