How to Cook for an Elderly Person

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Christine Marquette and I'm a dietitian with Austin Regional Clinic and I am going to talk to you about how to cook for an elderly person. Elderly people have very unique nutritional needs. Most elderly people actually have a lower body water mass than a young adult. An elderly person may only have up to 50% of their body as water where the young adult may have up to 60%. What that means is that an elderly person is at a higher risk for dehydration. Another factor is that elderly people often have a diminished sense of thirst so they may not always be aware that they are not drinking enough fluids. So you really want to push fluids, you want to encourage your elderly friend or relative to drink fluids throughout the day in between meals and when serving meals you want to include items that do have a high fluid content such as soups or stews, lots of fruits and lots of vegetables. You do need to keep in mind any special needs this person may have, they may have difficulty chewing, they may have dentures. So you want to choose meats that ar soft, things like ground meats, fish, or ground chicken. You may want to also try finger foods for those people who may have trouble handling utensils, things such as chicken tenders, string cheese, sandwiches, anything that is fairly easy to handle without needing a knife or a fork. If this person is still able to use utensils but they just still have a little bit of trouble say with their balance, choose some items that stick very easily to a utensil, things such as mashed potatoes, meatloaf, anything that is a very thick item and again make sure that you are really encouraging this person to drink fluids in between their meals. Another concern is lack of appetite or getting full very quickly so often it is best to have that fluid in between meals, not exactly with the meal because they may get full on their beverage and not actually eat their food. So again encourage those fluids in between their meals and really emphasize the fruits and the vegetables and make sure that they are actually able to handle their foods properly and those are just some basic tips for cooking for the elderly."