If your senior is getting on board the plan to start eating healthier foods, she might want to avoid some of the cravings that have tempted her in the past. That can be easier said than done.
Distracting Your Senior from the Craving Can Help
Using distraction can be a powerful tool in helping your senior to avoid a food she’s trying not to eat. Little distractions like taking a walk or stretching also give her a chance to move a little bit. One distraction you don’t want to use is offering her a different food, especially one that’s high in calories. If she gives in and eats the food she really wanted, now she might have eaten more than she wanted for the day.
Writing about the Craving Can Also Help
One distraction to consider is using a food journal to dig deeper into those cravings. There might be some foods your senior genuinely doesn’t want to eat, but she’s still experiencing cravings for those meals and snacks. Sometimes writing about the emotions or situations around those cravings can help your senior to understand the craving and can even help her to determine how to leave the craving behind.
If the Food Isn’t Available, the Craving Can Disappear
To make avoiding the food even easier, it’s much better if it never makes it into your senior’s home. If the chocolate cake she can’t resist isn’t there, she can’t give in so easily to that craving. That might seem overly simplistic, but it’s something that people often forget when they’re dealing with a strong craving. Your senior might want to have that food around, though, even if she isn’t interested in eating it. If she insists, it’s best not to argue with her about it.
Sometimes it Helps to Just Have a Little Bit
There are times, though, when a craving just won’t go away. No matter what else your senior eats, she might still want a little bit of that chocolate cake. In that case, it might make a little more sense to just have a little bit of the food that is giving her such a hard time. This is especially true if she’s tried things like taking a walk and journaling about what’s driving that craving. Sometimes just having a few bites is enough to deal with that craving.
One solution you might want to consider is making sure you’re senior always has plenty of healthy food choices at hand. For many caregivers, this can be difficult. Hiring elderly care providers to take over the meal preparation and cooking can be helpful with meeting this goal. They can ensure your senior always has healthy and tasty options.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring HomeCare in Piedmont, CA, call the caring staff at Aviva In-Home Care.
Call today: (415) 795-2203
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