Is Your Elderly Loved One Eating Enough Fiber?

Home Care in Southampton NY: Is Your Elderly Loved One Eating Enough Fiber?

Fiber is filling and it can do a lot of good for your elderly loved one’s body. The big question can be whether your loved one is getting enough fiber for her, though.

What Does Fiber Do?

Fiber does a lot more for your elderly loved one’s body than she might think. There’s the big benefit of fiber helping your loved one to stay regular, but there’s even more. It can help to lower your loved one’s cholesterol levels, her blood sugar levels, and it can reduce her risk of a lot of terrible health issues, including possible strokes and heart disease. As if that weren’t enough, bumping up your loved one’s fiber intake can help her to lose weight, too.

Easy Sources of Fiber

You might have been hearing a lot of talk recently about whole grains being much better for you than other types of grains. The reason for this is that there’s more fiber in whole grains because it hasn’t been removed yet. Whole wheat bread, flour, and cereal are good sources of fiber. So is oatmeal, nuts, barley, and brown rice. Other good sources of fiber are vegetables and fruits.

Foods Without Fiber

On the other end of the spectrum you’ve got foods that don’t have any fiber at all. These types of foods include dairy products, eggs, and meat. Refined foods such as white flour, white rice, and sugar don’t have enough fiber to really count. In fact, white flour and white rice are just like their whole grain counterparts only they’ve been processed to remove the fiber.

Talk to Your Loved One’s Doctor

When in doubt, it’s always a good idea to talk to your elderly loved one’s doctor. He can help you to determine what sources of fiber are the best fit for your elderly loved one’s diet. He can also help you to calculate how much fiber she should be adding to her diet. If a supplement is the right thing for her, he can help you determine the right one, as well.

Hiring home care providers can help you and your elderly loved one to more accurately track her food intake and get a better idea how much fiber she’s actually eating.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional home care in Southampton, NY, call the caring staff at Artful Home Care today at 631-685-5001.