As seniors age, their bodies change in a variety of ways. Slower metabolisms, reduced activity levels, and more time alone can cause seniors to start engaging in activities like emotional overeating. This can lead to bigger health issues that might be preventable. Looking for solutions to the base issues, like companion care at home to reduce loneliness, can often help seniors address emotional overeating.
What Is Emotional Overeating?
Overeating is more than just physical. It can have physical triggers, like certain activities or habits that trigger eating more than usual. But it can also have emotional triggers, like loneliness, anxiety, or depression. Many times, these triggers can cause people, including older adults, to make choices about the foods they eat that they wouldn’t have made in other situations. That can lead to unintended weight gain or worsening health issues.
Meal Planning Supports Healthy Eating
Planning meals and snacks is a great way for seniors to have healthy eating options, no matter what is triggering them to eat. This doesn’t have to mean that they never have comfort foods available, but having easy access to healthier foods more often can inspire healthier choices overall. Home care providers can help families with meal planning and preparation, ensuring seniors have excellent choices available at all times.
Make Snacks Nutrient-dense
Nutrient-dense snacks are ones that are satisfying to eat but that also pack a nutritious punch. That might mean offering apple slices with peanut butter or dried fruit and nut mixes. Finding options that seniors enjoy eating can allow them to reach for those foods when they feel their emotional triggers going off.
Offer Solutions to Help with Mindful Eating
Mindful eating practices encourage seniors to focus on the experience of eating, allowing them to pay attention to the food they’re eating. This is especially helpful when seniors find themselves eating more of a meal or snack than they really wanted to eat without realizing it. A common issue is not having someone to eat meals with, causing seniors to feel lonely. Companion care at home can be there during meals, offering the social aspect that helps seniors avoid unfocused eating.
Encourage More Physical Activity
Sometimes what seniors are missing is physical activity. As long as their doctors support and recommend that they adopt an exercise plan, moving more can help seniors to burn more calories and also avoid overeating due to loneliness or boredom. Physical activity can also have effects like improving moods and regulating hunger hormones, both of which can have positive impacts on emotional eating habits.
Offer Emotional Support
Often, what seniors need is to know that support is there for them. Stress, loneliness, and feeling as if they’re alone in the world can make it more difficult for aging adults to keep emotional overeating under control as they would like. Companion care at home can offer that emotional support, keeping seniors company, and giving them someone to talk to.
Tackling big issues like emotional overeating is complicated, especially for seniors. Companion care at home is a great way to start out, because the triggers related to emotional overeating often have to do with isolation and loneliness. If seniors keep having trouble, they should talk with their medical providers.
If you or an aging loved one is considering Companion Care at Home in Carmel, NY, please contact the caring staff at Elderly Caregivers LLC. today at (203) 628-7438
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