Helping Seniors Improve Eating and Hydration Habits

As we get older, eating a proper diet and staying hydrated become more important; and often, more difficult. Many seniors experience less of an appetite, side effects from medications, memory issues, or other problems that impact their food and water intake. 

Luckily, there are many creative and senior-friendly ways that caregivers, senior living communities, and family members can implement to encourage seniors to eat healthier and drink more fluids.

Why Seniors Struggle With Water And Food Intake

To better understand how to help seniors improve their nutrition, it is important to also understand reasons of why many have poor eating habits to begin with. 

Common reasons seniors eat and drink less:

– Reduced or changed sense of taste/smell

– Difficulty chewing/swallowing

– Depression

– Reduced appetite from medication side effects

– Lack of resources/money for food

– Memory issues

– Limited mobility

– Issues with incontinence leading to avoidance of fluids

Signs of Dehydration in Seniors:

Creative Hydration Ideas for Seniors

1. Offer more “exciting” options to choose from besides water.

Even young adults can struggle with proper hydration because water is “boring.” Consider other options or additives to encourage drinking. Flavored sparkling water, flavored electrolyte drinks, smoothies, or fruit-infused water are all options for adding flavor to encourage seniors to drink more.

2. Offer Hydrating Foods

Maybe a senior isn’t interested so much in liquids, but you can offer them foods that have high water content instead. Some options are fruits (watermelon, grapes, oranges, etc), soup, popsicles, yogurt, and jello. There are even gummies made for seniors that were specifically created to hydrate seniors.

3. Reminder Systems

Some seniors don’t mind drinking water, they just forget to! One way to combat this is setting alarms. Another option is getting a large water cup that has markings along the side of how much water needs to be consumed by a certain time of the day.

Now that you have a better idea of how to get your favorite senior to get enough fluids throughout the day, let’s focus on how you can help them to get proper nutrition!

Creative Nutrition Ideas for Seniors

1. Add Flavor

As we age, our taste buds experience a reduction in sensitivity, causing foods to seem bland. Usually this causes people to add more salt. Since salt isn’t really the healthiest option, other flavors like spices, garlic, citrus, or vinegars can be added to make food less bland.

2. Smaller Meals More Frequently

Large meals can be overwhelming, especially for the elderly when they have a smaller appetite. Try serving smaller meals more frequently instead. It is also a good idea to have several snack options. Consider a snack tray, or purchase plastic snack boxes and load them up with favorite snacks so it is easy to grab and munch on. Some easy and yummy snacks are fruit cups, peanut butter crackers, cheese cubes, yogurt, or cottage cheese with fruit.

3. Social Gatherings

Loneliness and depression are also a major factor of seniors not eating enough. Consider having family dinners, or other food-centered social activities to encourage seniors to eat. Whether it’s a nice family meal or a potluck for book club, social interaction often improves appetite naturally.

4. Pre-Made Meal Plans

In this day and age, we have the luxury of things being delivered same-day at our doorsteps. This is a great thing to take advantage of!  There are several companies that deliver days or even week’s worth of ready-made meals to your doorstep – all they need is a microwave to warm it up. Meals can also be ordered from their favorite restaurant and be delivered. If your senior enjoys cooking, grocery stores and companies have easy meal kits with step-by-step directions to make them (these can also be delivered right to their front door!). 

If none of these ideas work, it may also be a good idea to make an appointment with a primary care doctor. If it becomes more serious, they may be able to prescribe a medication that helps to increase appetite.

Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is important for everyone, especially the elderly! Proper nutrition helps seniors maintain muscle strength and mobility, manage chronic health conditions, and support heart and brain health. Family members and caregivers should keep an eye out for weight loss, fatigue, confusion, loss of appetite, and frequent illness and urinary tract infections, as all of these are signs of poor nutrition.

Healthy eating habits help seniors maintain their strength, well-being, and perhaps one of the most important things to them: their independence.