Golden Heart Senior Care hopes you enjoy this day of love! Whether you are celebrating couples dinner with family we do it all with love and affection. Keep your hearts golden!
If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Walnut Creek, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Walnut Creek. (925) 203-3039.
Did you know that 2/3 of those ages 65+ that return home from the hospital after a fall, fall again? Our caregivers are here to lower that risk by recognizing tripping hazards, assisting with showering access, proper transferring and more. Call us today to set up a free assessment. (925) 203-3039 or visit goldenheartwalnutcreek.com to see our list of services.
Where would we be without our friends? This month we celebrate the bond and joy of friendship. With video chats and phones nobody is too far to reach. Celebrate this international holiday with us this month and connect with a friend.
If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Walnut Creek, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Walnut Creek. (925) 203-3039.
Your mom and dad eat a lot of frozen pizza. It’s their frozen food, but you know it’s not healthy. National Pizza Week falls during the second week of January. It’s time to learn how to turn your parents’ favorite meal into a healthier one.
Don’t have the pizza on a white crust. Instead, switch to a whole-grain or whole-wheat crust for added fiber. Make a crust using whole-wheat flour, yeast, honey, and water.
Swap out the bread crust for one made of cauliflower. Use a grater to grate a head of cauliflower. Mix that with eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some nutritional yeast. Form that dough into a crust to support your tomato sauce and toppings.
Skip the processed meats when choosing toppings. Instead, focus on plenty of vegetables. Slice and grill Portobello mushrooms to use instead of beef. You could make a Mexican pizza with salsa, cheddar, peppers, onions, and black olives.
Make your own tomato sauce, too. Puree ripe plum tomatoes in a food processor and cook that with sliced fresh basil, garlic, salt, and pepper. When it’s thick, put it into jars to store in the refrigerator.
Instead of aiming for high-fat cheeses, look for those that are lower in fat. Cheeses made with skim milk may be a better option for your parents. Fresh mozzarella in moderation with some fresh basil leaves and Pomodoro sauce makes for a healthier pizza.
Portion control is essential when it comes to meals. Your parents may be tempted to eat an entire pizza on their own, but a serving size is usually one slice. If they still feel hungry, pair the soup with a low-calorie soup made from vegetable stock, barley, and chopped vegetables.
If they don’t want soup, pair the pizza with a large salad. Toss the greens and other vegetables with fresh citrus juice instead of an oily dressing.
Have you looked at meal preparation assistance from an in-home care aide? It’s time to address your parents’ need for help around the home. While it can be hard to admit your parents are struggling, it’s also important.
Talk to an in-home care specialist about care services like meal preparation. Instead of your parents focusing on frozen or canned foods that are easy to make, your parents enjoy hearty, healthy meals prepared by their caregivers. Call an in-home care agency to learn more.
Seniors should be getting adequate sleep throughout the night, but this can be hard, especially when a senior struggles with insomnia. There may not be a way for them to wind down like they used to. As a senior gets older, they often stop moving as much as they used to, which means they burn off less energy. Sometimes, other things contribute to their lack of sleep, leaving a senior frustrated. Even with in-home care providers helping a senior out, they still may not feel relaxed or stress-free enough to get a full night of sleep.
Sleeping medications can be very dangerous for seniors because they may be more sensitive to them than younger adults. They can also be deadly for older adults who take too many. It can be better for seniors to try more natural ways to cure insomnia. In-home care providers can help a senior implement lifestyle changes to stay healthy. A senior may want to try yoga classes and learn routines before bed that help them sleep better.
Yoga can be a good way to burn off extra energy, stay healthy, stay limber, and even sleep better. Different poses will affect different things in our bodies without most of us even realizing it. If your loved one has not started doing yoga, now is the best time to start. It can help them relieve stress, aid in digestion, and improve sleeping habits. There may even be senior classes in the nearby community center.
If you want to calm your nerves it may not be the best idea to do a rigorous workout. Fast-paced workouts can leave a seniors body sore and ramped up too much to sleep. The goal of doing yoga is to find calming poses that are restorative. Seniors can start with these simple poses if they feel comfortable doing so.
Standing with feet close together a senior can bend over. They don’t touch the ground but they can also use blocks to stay stable during this fold. This pose helps a senior calm down and ease tension inside their bodies to help them sleep at night.
One of the best ways to wind down for the night is to lay in bed or on the ground and put their legs up the wall. It is another inversion pose like the last one. It helps prepare the body for sleep and allows a senior to reflect on the day they had. Having this small amount of time to lay and think things over may help them sort through thoughts which allows them to sleep.
If a senior has good knees this will be a great pose for them. If they have bad knees the senior should have small pillows to kneel on. Once they find a comfortable position on their knees they will bend forward, forehead on the ground and arms stretched ahead. This will be a great pose to relieve stress and tension for bedtime.
No matter what age someone is when they develop arthritis, it can be extremely painful and debilitating. If your elderly loved one has this condition, you may want to consider asking them if they need 24-hour home care assistance. They may benefit from this type of care as the providers can help with various household chores, personal tasks, and much more.
In the meantime, it may be a good idea for you as a family caregiver, to learn more about arthritis.
If your elderly loved one has arthritis, it is likely they are going to experience at least one or more of the symptoms noted here today. Some of these symptoms include:
If your elderly loved one is dealing with any of these symptoms, it would be beneficial to have them see a doctor. They may need treatments to help manage this condition. If you can’t drive your elderly loved one to their doctor, an elderly care provider can do it.
As a family caregiver for an elderly loved one, it would also be a good idea to learn about the different types of arthritis. Knowing more about these types of arthritis can help you to determine what might be going on for your elderly loved one. No matter what, though, you shouldn’t try to self-diagnose. You or a 24-hour home care provider should take your elderly loved one to their doctor for a proper assessment.
The different types of arthritis include:
There are some other types of arthritis, as well. If your elderly loved one does receive an arthritis diagnosis, they may benefit from receiving regular support and care.
If your elderly loved one does have arthritis, there may be various treatments or recommendations they get from their doctor. Some of these might include:
Once your elderly loved one’s doctor gives them a treatment plan, you or the 24-hour home care providers can encourage them to follow that plan.
These are some of the things that you may need to know about arthritis in the elderly. Now that you are equipped with this information, you can better get an idea of what is happening with your elderly loved one and what to do if they do receive an arthritis diagnosis.
Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/arthritis.htm
December 2nd, we toast to the mixed breeds of the world, so raise your water bowls high … because this one’s for the mutts! December 2 is a nationally celebrated day that recognizes our furry family members. Celebrate this day by posting a picture of you and your mixed bred dog.
Merry Christmas from the Golden Heart family to yours. Wishing you a delightful Christmas. “Christmas gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us.” – David Cameron
This month we want to shout out our awesome team members who have birthdays this month!
Happy Birthday to Michael our owner and Lupe one of our caregivers! You both lead with excellence and are such a joy to be around! We wish you a great birthday this month.
November is Adopt A Senior Pet Month and senior pets are the perfect companions for your elderly loved one. But just like your senior loved one senior pets could use a little extra comfort most of the time. It’s essential that your senior loved one’s senior pet have food that is appropriate for their age and get the medical care they need to stay healthy as they get older. But they could also use some extras like these to keep them cozy and comfortable too:
Even though they have fur during the cold winter months senior pets always appreciate a heated bed to keep them extra cozy, especially if your senior loved one’s home tends to be a little drafty. There are heated pet beds that are battery operated and have a heating element inside the bed. There are also self-heating pet beds that contain a liner that holds onto your pet’s body heat and traps it to heat the bed. With self-heating pet beds there’s no danger that the bed will become too warm for the pet so those are the most popular choice of heated pet bed. If your senior loved one does choose a heated bed that contains a heating element make sure that their senior home care provider checks the bed regularly to make sure it’s not getting too warm.
Senior dogs who have to go outside in all types of weather can benefit from having booties or shoes on their paws when they go out. In addition to protecting your senior loved one’s floors by preventing those paws from getting muddy and tracking mud into the house these boots also protect the dog’s paws from cold, snow melting crystals, hard concrete, and from very hot pavement in the summer. There are many different styles of boots and shoes for dogs available in all sizes, even for large dogs. A senior home care provider can help your senior loved one put on the dog’s boots or shoes before going out for a walk.
Canned pet food is something that many senior pets appreciate. The soft texture is just right for senior pets who may have missing or damaged teeth. Soft food can also be easier on sensitive stomachs. And canned food contains extra water which is something that many pets need because they tend to not drink enough water throughout the day. If an all canned food diet isn’t something that your senior loved one can do it’s nice to give their senior pet an occasional can of food, especially if the pet isn’t feeling well.
As pets gets older their joints can get stiff and ache just like people’s joints do. Pets will appreciate a good set of pet steps that will allow them to climb onto the couch or the bed easily and to get down easily without having to jump down and put a lot of stress on already stiff and sore joints.
