Salt intake can be a huge battle for your elderly family member. It’s really easy to continually use more and more salt over time, especially if your senior’s taste buds have changed. Unfortunately, even though it’s a vital mineral, too much salt can cause issues. Here are a few ways to reduce salt in your senior’s diet, and how home care can help.
Reduce Use of Prepackaged Foods
Prepackaged meals and foods are often incredibly high in sodium. Part of that is because salt is a great preservative, but also food manufacturers want their food to taste great. The problem is that if your senior needs to reduce her sodium intake, a steady diet of prepackaged foods can be dangerous.
Encourage Your Senior to Taste Before Salting
Home Care in Redington Beach FL
Adding extra salt to a plate of food can be a habit, but it’s one your senior might need to break. Encourage her to get into the habit instead of tasting her food, just a bite or two, before she actually adds any salt. She might start to find that she doesn’t always need to add more.
Rinse Canned Vegetables and Look for Low Sodium Versions
Fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables are all great choices. Canned vegetables can be tricky, though, because they may be packed with a little more salt than you expect. Low sodium options are available, but you may have to read the labels carefully to find them. If you can’t find low sodium versions, make sure to rinse canned veggies thoroughly, especially canned beans.
Read Labels on Condiments
Condiments contain a shocking amount of salt, even if you don’t really taste the salt. Obvious sources of high sodium include things like pickles and olives, but salad dressings, ketchup, and even relish can all have more salt than you expect. Read the labels and make sure that you’re aware of how often your senior is using condiments with high salt content.
Measure Salt Carefully While Cooking for Your Senior
If you’re doing the cooking for your senior, you might do what a lot of home chefs do and simply “salt to taste.” That doesn’t always mean that you’re tasting the food as you go, but just like with your senior salting her food automatically at the table, you might be in the habit of salting automatically as you’re cooking. Try reaching more often for other herbs and spices and carefully measure the salt that you add.
Another option, especially if you’re not able to cook for your senior, is to hire home care providers to do the cooking. Let them know that your senior needs to lower her salt intake and they can help you to keep better track of how much salt is being used.
If You Or An Aging Loved One Are Considering Hiring Home Care in Redington Beach, FL, Please Contact The Caring Staff At Assisting Hands Home Care Today! 727-748-4211.
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Becky Moultrie is Owner and Administrator of Assisting Hands Home Care Serving Pinellas. Guided by a motto to Do Good with Love, she’s well positioned to do just that at Assisting Hands. She has a passion for helping families keep seniors and those who are diabled happy and healthy at home. She serves on a number of boards in Pinellas County including the Pinellas Park Gateway Chamber and Better Living Seniors (BLS), leading the Membership Committee. Annually, she hosts a Silver Santa Party, collecting donations for nearly 100 low income seniors in the county. She attends Blessed Sacrament Church, Seminole where she is an Ascribed Member of the Rosminian Order. When not busy Doing Good in the community, Becky is at home with her husband David & their 4 children, tending to their beehives and digging in the garden.
