Simple things like candles, music, a place setting, a flower from the garden, anything that says … “this is special” becomes an obvious cue that a meal is prepared and ready to be enjoyed. But what if the meal couldn’t actually be accessed because the table was too tall, the lighting was too dull, the flower was dead, the music was too faint, the chair too far away, the cutlery was missing? Would it be as special, would you enjoy that meal, would you be able to eat and enjoy that meal? What would this do to foster the relationship with your food?
Often our older loved ones are living with conditions that are invisible, and helpful aids to address those conditions can unfortunately be overlooked because their condition isn’t obvious. This is very common with our older loved ones when it comes to preparing and eating meals and snacks. Think about it, we can’t see things like allergies, or dysphagia, or arthritis, so how do we know that someone needs help to make sure they can create, eat, enjoy and be nourished by food? What then happens to their relationship with food?
There are really serious outcomes of not being able to independently prepare and eat a meal or a snack the way you always have. It means less food is eaten, it means food is not enjoyed, it means eating can become unsafe, it means meal times might actually be missed altogether, it means weight will be lost, falls become more common and visits to the hospital increase.
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