Getting seniors to eat healthy meals can be a real challenge. If your senior parent needs to lose weight or just needs to eat better in general and they don’t like eating healthy meals switching to a seasonal eating lifestyle may help them get interested in eating better. Seasonal eating embraces the flow of the seasons and celebrates the produce that grows in your local area throughout the year. Your senior parent can learn to make dishes using seasonal food that they grow themselves or buy locally so the food is always fresh, delicious, and healthy. And growing produce at home or buying it locally can also save your senior parent some money. In-home care service for seniors is a great way to give seniors the extra support they need to live well at home as they get older.
Some things that can help seniors get started eating seasonally are:
In-Home Care
In addition to helping with household chores, shopping, and errands an in-home care provider can help seniors with meals and cooking. Seniors are much more likely to eat healthy meals when they have someone to share them with. And having someone who can help them with cooking tasks like chopping, cleaning vegetables, and lifting heavy pots means that they are more likely to eat a healthy meal instead of ordering out.
Local Gardening Groups
Getting in touch with local gardening groups and clubs can help seniors learn more about the plants and flowers that are native to the area and what types of produce would grow well where they live. Seniors may even find that they like gardening and want to try creating their own small gardens to grow local plants and flowers. Getting interested in what grows in their area throughout the year can make seniors more interested in seasonal eating plans.
Cooking Classes
Seniors may enjoy taking cooking classes to learn more about how to cook seasonal foods. Your senior parent can also get a lot of benefits from taking classes like socialization and making friends while they learn about cooking the delicious native vegetables and plants that grow in the area. Many senior centers offer basic cooking classes that seniors can attend. And there may also be local restaurants that offer instruction in cooking some types of seasonal meals. There are always online classes and videos that seniors can watch too.
Visiting The Botanical Garden
If your senior parent does develop a real interest in seasonal planting and seasonal cooking they may want to visit the botanical garden to find out more about what plants grow best in the local climate. The botanical garden should have several gardens that your senior parent can tour. They also should have plenty of information on the local growing cycle, what produce and plants grow best there and when to plant certain kinds of vegetables, and all sorts of other useful information. Your senior parent will love touring the grounds and finding out about the local seasonal food that they can grow and cook.