The old adage “you are what you eat” is well known, but have you ever really thought about what it means? We all know a heavy pasta meal might make us tired in a few hours. Sugar gives some a rush, and caffeine may provide a temporary energy boost. But the cliché delves much deeper than that. “You are what you eat…” is one of the best pieces of advice you may find for maintaining good health. As healthy eating continues to push to the forefront of newsworthy topics, more Americans of all ages are learning the value of consuming proper, well-balanced diets.

Healthy eating cultivates good overall health; it potentially helps ward off some medical conditions; and it positively affects other conditions. For instance, those with diabetes are able to maintain better health when they follow the correct diet for that disease. People with high-cholesterol can help improve that condition when following nutritional guidelines that aid in decreasing cholesterol levels.

Healthy eating is beneficial in other ways, both medical and non-medical, including battling fatigue. Knowing this may be of particular interest to the senior population who are prone to experience a lack of energy and increased fatigue due to medical conditions, medications, and the aging process, in general. To make it easy to understand, this analogy may help: your body needs the proper amount of nutrients in order to function best, very much like a car needs gasoline. Without a continual supply of nutrients and sufficient calories needed to perform both physical and mental activities, your body can become sluggish and tired on a daily basis. The subsequent lethargy can leave you feeling much like you have run out of gas.

The good news is – provided your lack of energy is not caused by a medical condition or medication – fatigue can easily be addressed by learning to eat well-balanced meals and snacks that contain enough calories and nutrients to keep your body in optimum health. Even if fatigue is caused by an underlying condition, medication or stress, eating well can help boost energy levels and counteract excessive tiredness.

Simply eating to stave off hunger during the day is not sufficient. Also, keep in mind that if your body out-performs its caloric intake, this can cause increased tiredness. The foods that you choose to eat are essential. However, overeating can also cause fatigue, as it causes the digestive process to work overtime and can contribute to feelings of lethargy. The key to healthy eating is choosing key foods that contain adequate nutrients and consuming these meals or snacks in appropriate portions.

Foods that are nutrient-rich that can help fight fatigue are not hard to find. Opt for plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Vegetables should not be overcooked, as doing so causes a loss of nutrients. Red meat and spinach provide needed iron, while fish such as tuna or salmon contain omega-3 fats – all of which are helpful in fighting fatigue. Proteins can also be obtained by consuming fish, lean meat and beans. Nuts offer a protein boost and are a good snack choice. Choose whole grain pasta, rice, bread and cereal to complete a well-balanced, fatigue-fighting diet.

If you suspect your fatigue is due to poor eating habits, changing your diet may be all you need to feel energized daily. However, there are medical conditions that can cause fatigue. It is important to discuss this with your care provider to determine if your fatigue may be due to an underlying health issue. In the meantime, feel free to pursue healthy eating habits because the end result will be a healthier you!

Comfort Keepers Franchisees Raise Awareness on Senior Malnutrition During Hunger Action Month

Comfort Keepers® franchisees across the nation are educating families to WATCH to detect the signs of malnutrition in the growing population of older Americans. WATCH is a mnemonic that makes it easier to remember the five steps families should remember when observing their loved ones for nutrition problems:

1. Watch for physical problems. Look for bruising, dental difficulties, or sudden or sustained weight gain or weight loss.
2. Ask seniors about their eating habits. How have their tastes or preferences changed?
3. Talk to a doctor. Discuss nutritional needs or problems specific to the loved ones’ unique needs or management of diseases.
4. Check with a pharmacist. They can warn you of the potential for drug-food interactions.
5. Have your visits during mealtime. This is the best time to observe eating habits first-hand.

Comfort Keepers national in-home caregiving network is working to raise awareness for the growing epidemic of senior malnutrition and undernutrition through a new STOP Senior Hunger campaign. In addition to educating about WATCH, Comfort Keepers franchisees are conducting STOP Senior Hunger food drives, participating in health fairs and sponsoring educational programs.

“The implications of an inadequate diet are serious for seniors,” said Jim Booth, CEO of CK Franchising, Inc., the franchisor of Comfort Keepers. “Family and professional caregivers can help seniors stay nourished by being there to socialize during mealtime, providing transportation and assistance in grocery shopping, and helping with meal preparation.”

Booth said Comfort Keepers® – the name he gives to the thousands of in-home caregivers employed by locally owned and operated franchise office locations nationwide – see first-hand how a lack of adequate nutrition can lead to diminished independence in seniors. Proper nutrition, along with physical fitness and maintaining an appropriate weight, can help reduce seniors’ risk for falls and diseases, and can improve energy levels, according to the Mayo Clinic.

For more information on senior nutrition, tips for healthy shopping and eating, or for how to find a STOP Senior Hunger event in your community, go to www.stopseniorhunger.com.

As we age, our bodies and nutritional requirements change. Seniors need to increase or reduce their intake of certain vitamins and minerals depending on gender, metabolism  and disease management. Caloric intake changes, so to stay healthy, older adults need to make changes to ensure they meet their dietary needs. Senior home care services like Comfort Keepers can help you, your caregivers or your family learn about great senior nutrition and diet.

Aging is associated with distinct changes in a senior’s body composition; most notably, decreases in fluids and lean body mass and an increase in fat storage. Changes in the body predispose older adults to dehydration, reduced metabolism, falls and injury and central weight gain.

The senior food guide pyramid is geared toward those 70 and older and is a guide to help older adults make good nutrition choices. Seniors who do not eat the recommended portions of food each day may put themselves at risk for malnutrition.

Older people are at risk of malnutrition in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and in the general community. Using the Senior Food Guide Pyramid may help reduce that risk. As part of Comfort Keepers’ STOP Senior Hunger initiative, we want to help teach about this important guide to senior nutrition.

How to Use the Senior Food Guide Pyramid

• Assess the senior’s needs first. Some seniors have certain diseases, like diabetes, or conditions such as high blood pressure, that require them to follow a special diet. If a senior has diabetes, they must monitor their blood sugar closely, and some of the recommendations on the pyramid might not apply to them. It is very important to remember that the pyramid is merely a guide. Before making any changes to a diet, it must first be discussed with a health care provider.

• Understand the Senior Food Guide Pyramid is different than the traditional United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food guide. The Senior Food Guide Pyramid is arranged differently than the USDA food pyramid. The senior pyramid provides recommendations based on vertical sections and works from the bottom up. Seniors should primarily focus on the pyramids bottom portion and use the vertical sections as guides to the amount of food they should eat.

• Make the pyramid work for you – do not let it work you. The pyramid is a visual reminder of what you should be consuming each day. It will help you plan accordingly, but allows room for flexibility.

• Make eating easier. Learning to prepare and cook nutritious meals does not have to be a chore. The pyramid can serve as a reference tool in helping you plan your meals. If you plan on dining out one day, adjust the rest of your meals to ensure you get the right balance of food by using the food pyramid. Use the pyramid to help you develop your shopping list, too. Stop by the local farmer’s market and pick up fresh produce. Add variety to your diet by trying a new fruit or vegetable. The pyramid can help you determine the amount of food you should be consuming.

• Understand that different bodies require different amounts of food. The pyramid recommends eating a number of different servings of food each day, but your body might require a different amount. If you are trying to lose or gain weight, the amount you might need may be different from others. Pay attention to suggested serving sizes.

Note: Seniors, their family members and other caregivers should speak with their doctors about managing their nutrition.

Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition, not necessarily a lack of food. Even seniors who eat enough may be eating the wrong foods to keep themselves healthy. Not all seniors with nutrition problems are thin — in some cases, malnutrition occurs in seniors who are overweight.

As many as 50 percent of seniors in the care of others may be under- or mal-nourished. Sometimes the signs are apparent, but in other cases, detecting malnutrition in older adults may be difficult. Comfort Keepers® can help other caregivers and family members be aware of malnutrition’s signs.

As part of the Comfort Keepers’ STOP Senior Hunger initiative in the month of September, here are some ways you can  monitor the nutrition of seniors in your care:

• Watch for physical problems such as easy bruising and dental difficulties. Keep track of weight loss. This may require purchasing a home scale or transporting to the doctor’s office for weight checks when the individual is unable to stand without assistance.

• Pay close attention to seniors’ eating habits and ask them what and when they eat, but don’t rely on self-reports alone. Becuase Comfort Keepers® often spend mealtimes with seniors at home, they may have a better idea of normal eating habits.

• Suggest family members visit during mealtimes, which can improve a senior’s consumption. If seniors live alone, make sure you know who is buying their food.

• Know what medications an older loved one takes, and how they can affect appetite and digestion. Watch for changes in appetite and eating habits if medications change. Many commonly-prescribed medications can reduce hunger and prevent nutrient absorption. Use the resources available to you through your doctor or local retail pharmacist to check for drug nutrient interactions or possible side effects of prescribed medications.

• If there are medical questions regarding nutrition, medication and health, Comfort Keepers® suggests seniors, their family members and other caregivers speak with doctors about tests to identify chronic malnutrition or other nutrition-related problems.

Note: Seniors, their family members and other caregivers should speak with their doctors about managing their nutrition.

Comfort Keepers® franchises across the nation are taking action during September – Hunger Action Month – to raise awareness of issues around senior nutrition through Comfort Keepers® STOP Senior Hunger food drives and educational events.

“Seniors go hungry every day in our country, and our caregivers see first-hand how inadequate nutrition can diminish independence in seniors,” said Jim Booth, CEO of CK Franchising, Inc., the franchisor of Comfort Keepers in-home caregiving services, which is known for its unique Interactive Caregiving™ philosophy.

“We want to take this opportunity to help raise awareness of seniors at risk for hunger and malnutrition in the communities we serve.”

STOP Senior Hunger addresses a growing problem for older Americans. Today, millions of seniors experience some form of hunger, according to the Meals on Wheels Association of America. The organization also projects that by 2025, an estimated 9.5 million senior Americans will experience some form of hunger – about 75 percent higher than the number in 2005.

Hunger is a sustained, severe form of malnutrition that for seniors, can lead to the potential for increased hospital stays, health complications, early entry into facilities or premature death. Comfort Keepers helps improve seniors’ access to food with activities, such as taking seniors to grocery stores or farmers’ markets, helping prepare meals according to doctor’s guidelines and providing mealtime socialization.

“If we can raise community awareness of the signs to watch for relating to senior hunger and malnutrition, we can all do our part to help them stay mentally, physically, emotionally and socially engaged so they can enjoy a higher quality of life and live independently longer,” said Booth.

In addition to food drives throughout the country, Comfort Keepers’ independently owned and operated offices are also hosting lunch and learns, participating in health fairs and sponsoring group meals to help raise awareness for issues that affect seniors.

For more information on senior nutrition, tips on how to detect the signs of malnutrition, tips for healthy shopping and eating, or to find a STOP Senior Hunger event in your community, go to www.stopseniorhunger.com.

Comfort Keepers® is a leading franchise network in the in-home care market for senior and other adults needing care. Since its founding in 1998, the company has grown to more than 600 franchised locations around the world by staying true to the founders’ goal of providing in-home care services that allow clients the opportunity to age in place. In August of 2009, the brand was strengthened even further by the purchase of the franchisor, CK Franchising, Inc., by Sodexo, one of the world’s leading food and facilities management services companies and the global leader in the health care and seniors markets.

For more information, visit www.comfortkeepers.com.

Medication works only when it is taken.

Complying with prescriptions becomes increasingly difficult for seniors as the number of medications they must take increases. The problem is magnified for seniors who have memory problems.

A family caregiver or licensed professional can help seniors manage their medications, providing reminders and setting up systems that help seniors stay on track with their pill-taking. Here are some methods we recommend to help you keep your life organized:

• Med boxes or pill organizers, which are available in a variety of configurations at most pharmacies and health care suppliers, are great for organizing pills. The plastic organizers are divided into compartments for each day and each dose. Some are labeled by time of day, others by meals. Family caregivers can help their loved one set up a color-coded labeling system to make it easier to use.

• Medication blister packs, which are offered by many pharmacies, contain a week of medications arranged by day and time of day. Each compartment of the blister pack is filled with the medicine prescribed for that time.

• Medication organization devices, such as Comfort Keepers’ SafetyChoice® Medication System, simplify the process of organizing medications and helping seniors take each dose on time for optimal health. It provides reminders in three ways—an automated voice, a display screen and flashing lights. If a dose is missed, the system sends an alert to the Comfort Keepers Central Monitoring Center, which notifies a caregiver or other individual designated by the senior. The system has a locking storage compartment that limits access to one dose of pills at a time. The compartment can hold three to four weeks of medicine organized by a family caregiver or licensed professional.

The problem of medication interactions does not involve only prescription medications.  About half of harmful interactions involve over-the-counter (OTC), or nonprescription medications.  Herbal medications, supplements and vitamins—and even some foods and beverages—also interact with drugs to alter their performance.

The following are just a few examples of how nonprescription products can interact with prescription drugs for unhealthy results:

• Taken separately, aspirin and warfarin help prevent blood clots from forming. Taken together, they may cause excessive bleeding.
• Decongestants, found in many OTC cold remedies, may increase blood pressure of people taking anti-hypertension medications or MAO inhibitors, a type of antidepressant.
• Certain antacids can diminish the effectiveness of many medicines, such as antibiotics and heart medications, by preventing them from being absorbed into the blood stream.

On its Web site,  BeMedWise.org provides advice on preventing drug interactions. Visit the site to learn more about safely taking medications

Water is a key to health – especially for seniors. Because seniors can tend to be less sensitive to thirst,  it’s especially important that they consume enough water everyday—eight 8-ounce glasses. Proper hydration helps flush toxins from the body, maintain flexibility in the joints, relieve constipation, and maintain mental focus.

Oddly enough – you can also get some of your needed water from certain foods. Here are a few foods high in water content can help fulfill this need.

• melons
• grapes
• cucumbers
• onions
• apples
• cabbage
• soup

For more information…
Read the National Institute on Aging’s online guide “Healthy Eating After 50” at www.nia.nih.gov/HealthInformation/Publications/HealthyEating.htm.

As days grow shorter, and daylight becomes scarce in late fall and winter, 4 to 6 percent of Americans experience a form of depression called winter-onset Seasonal Affective Disorder *(SAD). Another 10 to 20 percent have milder cases. Many mistakenly write off SAD as the winter blues or cabin fever, but as a recognized type of clinical depression, SAD requires professional diagnosis and attention, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) advises.

Although SAD is more common among younger adults (75 percent of SAD patients are women, most in their 20s, 30s and 40s), it also affects seniors.

And seniors diagnosed with other forms of depression may have symptoms aggravated by the isolating effect of forbidding winter weather. Treatment for SAD and other forms of depression is especially critical for older adults, who are at greater risk of suicide than the rest of the U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While American seniors make up 12 percent of the population they account for 16 percent of all suicides—and white men over 85 are at six times greater risk of suicide than other population segments.

Other means to help seniors elevate mood and fend off the effects of winter and depression include:

• Open curtains and blinds to allow in as much daylight as possible. Sitting near a window can increase daylight’s positive effects.

• As safety permits, spend time outdoors every day. Even on cloudy days the effect of daylight can be beneficial. For the added benefit of companionship, as well as safety, a family or professional caregiver may need to accompany a senior.

• Eat a well-balanced diet that provides recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals to maintain energy. Limit consumption of starchy and sweet foods.

• Get physical activity 30 minutes a day, three times a week. Again, a family or professional caregiver can help seniors achieve this safely with the added, healthful benefit of companionship.

• Stay involved with hobbies, church and social activities and friends to prevent feelings of isolation that winter can bring.