Elderly Nutrition

I decided to write my paper on elderly nutrition. I

have chosen this topic because I believe nutrition is

important at all ages now, especially in those of the

elderly. Fattening foods are around more now than ever, so

the problem of obesity is getting out of control. Obesity

as we all know causes heart attacks and other such medical

problems.

People are not noticing the problem anymore until the

worst happens. "Everyone thinks that heart disease always

happens to someone else, until it happens to them," says

Christopher Cates, M.D., director of a Heart Center in

Atlanta. Sixty-two-year-old Jack Andre says having a heart

attack in March 2003 was like getting hit in the head with a

baseball bat. "It brought a lot of things to my attention

that I never thought about before," he says. He was

overweight, didn't exercise, and often ate high-fat foods.

But he never connected his lifestyle to his heart.

Statistics show that every year more than 1 million people

have heart attacks, about 13 million Americans have coronary

heart disease, and about half a million people die from it

each year. The one dying are the elderly whose bodies are

not as strong as those who are younger. Heart disease is

mostly known as a "man's disease" these days. Patrice

Nickens, M.d., leader in a cardiovascular medicine

department says, "We want women to know that heart disease

is not a man's disease. Rather, heart disease is the

leasing cause of death for women, and heart disease is

preventable and treatable." I am throwing in these

statistics because nutrition is the cause of these diseases

and once it again it is important to take care of ourselves

and more importantly the elderly.

The Department of Health and Human Services offers some

suggestion for the elderly as far as what they can eat.

Many times they have trouble chewing foods like meat, fresh

fruits and vegetables. So the department suggests that the

elderly try fruit juices, vegetable juices, ground meat,

eggs, and cooked cereals instead. Another issue for the

elderly a lot of times is having stomach problems, like too

much gas, this causes them to stay away from foods they

think causes the problem. This means that they are missing

out on important nutrients, like vitamins and calcium. I

often has residents complaining of this problem when I

worked at a nursing home. So, I found some foods to try

instead are; creamed soups, pudding, yogurt and cheeses

instead of milk. Then once again vegetable and fruits

juices instead of raw or cooked vegetables, etc.

Another problem that stops the elderly from eating

right is the fact that they can not always go out and shop

like the could have at a younger age. Some ways I found to

help those in need out are by; Asking a church for volunteer

help, asking a family member or neighbor to shop for you,

hire home health workers, or there are services such as

Meals on Wheels that can provide such help.

I looked up some information on Meals on Wheels because

I was interested in seeing the eligibility's and services

available. While there is no means test for participation

in the Elderly Nutrition Program, services are targeted to

elderly people (i.e., people age 60 or older) with the

greatest economic or social need, with special attention

given to low-income minorities. As far as cost goes,

generally, there is no mandatory cost for meals delivered.

The meals are provided on a suggested contribution basis,

which means that no one is denied service because of

inability to pay. The main reason for researching this

program is because I wanted to see whether the food is

nutritious or not. I found that the programs offer a

regular hot, regular diet meal. Some programs, however,

offer special diets such as low sodium, low fat, lactose

free, religious/ethnic meals, pureed, and additional

supplements.

Another program offered to the elderly is one called

the Elderly Nutrition Program (ENP). This program provides

grants to support nutrition services to older people

throughout the country. I have never heard of this program

before, but when researching it, I found it to be the most

concerned