In my last post, I talked about how caregivers can help with running errands. This week, I want to talk about another aspect of care that gets often overlooked: nutrition. Now, our caregivers are not registered dieticians or physicians, so you should not use them as your source for nutrition advice. However, like many aspects of care, our caregivers can help you apply advice from those trusted sources to your life in a few ways.
Meal Preparation
Caregivers can cook meals while they are on duty, and they can make anything to your dietary restrictions, since they are using your ingredients to cook with. This can be very helpful as certain conditions common in older adults can come with dietary restrictions. They can also make sure that their clients are getting adequate meals, and aren’t skipping any because cooking is too fatiguing for them.
Meal Planning
As we discussed last time, caregivers can provide grocery shopping assistance. They also can help make shopping lists with you, in addition to or separate from accompanying you on your errands. This is a good way to get help with the mental load of meal preparation.
Dietary Needs
If your caregiver comes with you to your doctor’s appointments, as is the case with some of our clients, they can relay any questions or concerns that you have to your doctor, if you want them to do that. Caregivers also take detailed notes (often including what kinds of meals they provided to their clients). This is important record-keeping. For a higher-needs client, their whole caregiving team and the client’s loved ones will be up-to-date on the client’s eating habits.
What other topics would you like to see me cover? I’ll see you next time!
Written by Brigid Stakelum
