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Angela is one of our awesome caregivers here at Golden Heart Walnut Creek. When you meet her ask her what her most recent craft project is. She loves creating gifts for the staff and clients.
The loss of the sense of smell is known as anosmia. A minimal sense of smell is known as hyposmia, and it also impacts how foods taste. It’s estimated that 3 percent of the U.S. population have anosmia, and the risk increases as you age. Around 4 out of 10 adults over the age of 80 have it.
If your mom’s been diagnosed with anosmia, you might find it is affecting her appetite. If she can’t smell the foods you make her, they won’t taste as she’d expect them to taste. Here are some tips for making foods more appealing when she’s lost her sense of smell.
Rely on Trial and Error
You may need to try different foods and ask her to rate them. When you find foods she likes, keep a list of the foods she liked. Focus meals around those.
Choose Bold Flavors
Salt may not appeal to your mom. Instead, sprinkle fresh lemon juice over her vegetables. Sour tastes may be easier for her taste buds to pick up as being different. Pineapple served on kebabs with chicken may also help her find meals more appealing.
You could do chicken that’s marinated in pineapple juice, soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil. Put it onto skewers with red pepper chunks, pineapple cubes, and leeks. Grill those and serve them with pineapple fried rice. See if she likes that type of meal.
Improve the Texture
When smell impacts how foods taste, you have to start moving towards the other senses. Texture can help your mom find her appetite. Choose foods that have a mix of textures. Sushi with the crisp cucumbers, soft rice, and chewy nori appeals to some people with anosmia.
A Bolognese sauce with chunks of carrots and celery, soft onions, and meats like sausage, pork, and beef will be more appealing than a creamy alfredo. Serve that sauce with chewier gnocchi over slippery spaghetti noodles.
Aim for Colorful Presentations
Your mom can’t smell, but she can still see. Focus on presentation when plating meals and snacks. Bright colors will be more appealing than a plate filled with the same color. A stew of chicken breast, red peppers, eggplant, milk, kale, and green lentils will be more appealing than a grilled chicken breast with rice and steamed cauliflower.
Does your mom need help to prepare nutritious meals that taste appealing? As you work through the foods she does enjoy, jot them down. When you call a senior care agency to help her with meal preparation, you’ll have foods caregivers can focus on. Schedule senior care services to ensure your mom eats well and develops an appetite again.
Sources:
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-taste-smell#
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior care in Clayton, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Walnut Creek. (925) 203-3039.
Does your elderly loved one often get stressed about not being able to control things in their life? Maybe they often worry about their health and things that happen outside their control. If this is the case, there are some things that your elderly loved one should know. First of all, there are some things they can control about their health.
Exercising
One of the main things that your elderly loved one can control is how much or how little exercise. Daily exercise is extremely important. It can help your elderly loved one improve their energy, lose weight, reduce health symptoms, and much more. This is a lot that your elderly loved one has control over when you think about it. You should spend some time talking to your elderly loved one about their exercise plans. Maybe they aren’t currently exercising regularly because they don’t know what to do. If this is the case, you or caregivers can help them out make a plan to exercise from this point forward.
Portion Control
Your elderly loved one also has control over how much or how little they are eating. If they are currently eating large portions for any meal, they can make a plan to change this. It can start by measuring out their food at dinner. This is often a good meal to start with. If they can stick with that portion control plan for about 21 days, then they can add in portion control on another meal of the day. They can also practice portion control with their snacks, as well.
Getting Immunizations
Your elderly loved one can control whether they get immunizations. There are many immunizations that are often recommended for the elderly. For instance, your elderly loved one could choose to get the flu shot every year. They can also talk to their doctor about other immunizations that are recommended. If there are any of these immunizations your elderly loved one has more questions about, they can ask their doctor about the appointments they have.
Conclusion
These are just some of the ways that your elderly loved one can control their health. If they can start by making even one of these choices, they can feel more in control of their overall health. If needed, your elderly loved one can even let their caregivers know what type of help they need with their help. For instance, they might need help managing medications. This is something caregivers can assist with.
Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/active-healthy-from-home/index.html
If you or an aging loved one is considering caregivers in Pleasant Hill, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Walnut Creek. (925) 203-3039.
