When your senior is malnourished, her body doesn’t get the building blocks that it needs in order to keep her as safe and as healthy as possible. She may start to lose weight or become ill more often. It’s not always that easy to spot malnourishment, though, especially if you and your senior aren’t able to spend time together in person.
Trouble Accessing Healthy Foods
There might be more than one reason that it’s difficult for your elderly family member to access healthy foods. Her budget might be limited or she may be physically unable to get groceries easily anymore. If she no longer drives, that’s an obstacle, too. Hiring elder care providers can solve many of these issues for your senior, especially if they help to prepare meals for her, too.
Mental Health Changes
How your senior is feeling, and how her mental health is faring, makes a big difference in whether she’s eating or not. This is a problem even if your elderly family member has full and ready access to food. Depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns can make it difficult if not impossible for your elderly family member to eat consistently.
Cognitive Health Issues
As your senior’s cognition changes, she may find that it’s difficult for her to remember when she last ate or how to cook her favorite meals. There are usually other signs of cognitive changes, so it’s important to talk to your aging family member’s doctor about what else might be affected. Having elder care providers around regularly can help your senior to eat when she should.
Challenges Related to Physical Health
So many physical health conditions can make malnourishment much more likely for your senior. How well she’s able to chew and swallow her food, whether her appetite has faded, and whether she’s dealing with an illness that affects how she appreciates food. There are a huge array of other physical issues that can be affecting your senior, so it may take some time and some patience to sort out possible solutions.
Work with your senior’s doctor if you suspect that she’s malnourished. It’s possible that supplements might help in the meantime, but it’s always better for her to be eating a healthy and balanced diet if she is able to do so. Having help from elder care providers can often be a huge help in battling this problem for your senior.