March 19, 2025 • 43 mins
Could changing your diet in your 70s actually improve your health, or is it too late? According to nutrition expert Amy Covington, the power to transform health through diet remains strong throughout our entire lives.
Amy shares the remarkable story of a senior who initially refused to change his eating habits but experienced dramatic improvements in his diabetes management and mobility after just six months of nutritional changes. This transformation challenges the widespread belief that older adults can't reverse chronic conditions or improve their metabolic health.
Drawing from her experience overseeing Utah's nutrition programs and researching senior malnutrition, Amy distinguishes between simply "plant-based" eating and truly nutritious whole foods. She offers practical approaches for seniors hesitant to completely eliminate animal products, suggesting an 80-20 rule that allows flexibility while maximizing health benefits.
Perhaps most valuable are her strategies for addressing decreased appetite, a critical issue for many seniors. From making mealtimes social events to enhancing food's visual appeal and stimulating appetite through light activity, these techniques help break the cycle of poor nutrition that often accelerates health decline. Amy also recommends specific screening tools caregivers can use to identify nutrition risks before they become serious medical concerns.
Whether you're caring for an aging parent, working professionally with seniors, or planning for your own healthy aging journey, these evidence-based nutrition strategies offer a path to enhanced quality of life. Discover how simple changes like incorporating more colorful vegetables, switching to whole grains, and being mindful about protein sources can significantly impact wellness in our later years.
• Nutrition changes can significantly improve health at any age – even in your 70s or 80s
• Plant-based nutrition offers specific benefits for chronic conditions common in seniors
• Small changes like following the 80/20 rule can make meaningful health improvements
• Decreased appetite is a major concern for seniors, often creating a cycle of poor nutrition
• Eating with seniors, making meals visually appealing, and encouraging light exercise can improve appetite
• Eating less red meat (ideally twice monthly) and focusing on whole grains offers significant health benefits
• Medicare and Medicaid increasingly recognize nutrition services for chronic conditions
• Simple screening tools like the Malnutrition Screening Tool can help identify nutrition risks
• Frozen fruits and vegetables are cost-effective alternatives that maintain nutritional value
• Changing the plate composition to include more colorful vegetables and fruits is an easy first step
Contact your local Area Agency on Aging through das.utah.gov/locations to learn about meal programs and nutrition services available in your county.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Senior Care Academy.
Brought to you by Helperly, I'myour host, caleb.
I'm excited to have you as weexplore the challenges and
opportunities in senior caretoday, so let's jump in.
Today we have a very specialguest joining us Amy Covington.
Amy is a registered dietitiannutritionist and oversees the
(00:20):
nutrition program for the entirestate of Utah.
She's an expert in seniornutrition and has a wealth of
experience.
We'll be diving into thebiggest nutrition challenges
seniors face, practical ways toimprove their health through
diet, and the role ofplant-based nutrition in
longevity and wellness.
Plus, amy is going to shareinsights from her research and
experience working directly withseniors, offering valuable
(00:43):
takeaways for caregivers, familymembers and anybody that is
passionate about senior care.
So we're excited to have her on.
Well, amy, thanks so much forcoming on Senior Care Academy
today.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You're welcome.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, so first tell us about yourself and kind of
your journey that got you towhere you're at.
Can you share what inspired youto pursue a career like in the
nutrition space and thenspecifically originally starting
with seniors and everything?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, for sure.
So this, being a registereddietitian, is actually my second
career.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Your season two.
If you will, my season twoabsolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I had just some.
Well, let me back up.
So what got me into nutritionis several years ago I had some
health issues and the medicalfield wasn't offering good
answers for what I wanted.
Kind of it was out of mycontrol and I thought I don't
know that I like that.
(01:43):
So I did a lot of research formyself and made some changes
nutritionally.
That really helped me a lot.
So then, when I decided topursue a second career and go
back to school, get my master'sin dietetics or my master's
degree, I looked and I thoughtyou know what dietetics is where
(02:03):
I want to go, because it's soempowering to know that what we
eat really can impact our health.
It doesn't necessarily changeeverything, but we do have some
power in our own health, and sothat's what got me into becoming
a registered dietitian.
Nutritionist is to help empowerothers for their health and
(02:25):
what they wanted, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think it's crazy how often modern medicine has
come so far, but how often a lotof times it's like limited to
what it can actually do, andit's like just getting back to
our roots of eating good wholefoods would solve a lot of stuff
.
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
A lot of our chronic illnesses that we deal with, and
especially in the older adultpopulation, lifestyle is a big
factor, not discounting themedicines that we have today In
tandem they're really strong.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
If it's just medicine and you're eating junk food all
day, it still has lots ofproblems.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yep, exactly.
And then, while I was workingon my master's degree, one of my
professors received a researchgrant for older adults in home
delivered meals, population andmalnutrition and asked if I
wanted to be a co-investigatorwith her and I thought, yeah,
let's give that a try.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And that was supposed to be two years.
Then we applied for anothersecond grant that went for three
more years, and now we're inthe middle of our third grant,
which is a five-year grant.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So what was going to be just a two-year jumping off
point for me, you know inresearch and nutrition has ended
up becoming my career being adecade in basically kind of
overseeing nutrition for thestate of Utah.
So can you talk a little bitabout that, your current role,
overseeing that nutritionprogram?
(03:53):
There's lots of cool thingsthat you're doing to help Utah
seniors.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah.
So to kind of boil it down,what my main job responsibility
is is in order.
Order for so we have areaagencies on aging I don't know.
Yeah, familiar with those triplea's, triple a's yep, uh-huh,
and there's 12 different triplea's throughout the state of utah
.
Some of them are located percounty, some of them have a few
(04:19):
counties, um, in, you know, intheir same area.
Yeah, but they providenutrition programs for older
adults and and that's the HomeDelivered Meals Program and the
Congregate Meal Program theyreceive funding through the
Older Americans Act for thoseprograms, and in order to
receive that funding, there arecertain guidelines that they
need to follow, and so my job isto monitor and make sure
(04:43):
everything's being metappropriately, which is really
great.
They do such a good job, andthe reason that I think it's so
great is it's making sure it's anutritious meal.
The meal needs to meet a thirdof the daily requirements for
this population, and so they'regetting one meal a day.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That has nutrient, dense yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, and so they you know, the caregivers or family
or the participant can feel goodabout that meal, that hey, I'm
getting the nutrition I need.
And other meals of the day theymight not be getting that, but
this is a good, balanced mealand so so, yeah, I get to
monitor the programs.
I get to go all over the stateof Utah.
I've gone on several homedelivered meals routes and those
(05:25):
are great and it's just reallyum wonderful to meet with
different of the seniors andwhat their experiences are, and
these are just great programs.
So I'm happy to be able to dothat.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I love that.
Um, I'm super curious becauseUtah, I feel like we have a
pretty cool.
Um, super curious because Utah,I feel like we have a pretty
cool.
Um, the state is just very.
You have a Metro and like SaltLake along the Wasatch front,
and then you have crazy ruralplaces, Um, so we have a big
kind of melting pot of differentliving experiences.
Considering, like, howdifferent Salt Lake is to a
(06:03):
Kanab or Vernal or something.
How does the state approachnutrition differently between
those two?
I'm curious because I wonder if, like in the rural places,
where maybe they have morehomegrown food, is it like as
needed?
I don't know, I'm just.
How does it?
How do you, with the 12different areas of aging that
have such different people, makesure that everybody's getting
(06:24):
the right nutrition?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, that's a great question and, honestly, on the
state level, we don't do thatthis is where our AAAs come in.
So, within these guidelines thatwe make sure they're following,
there's some flexibility forthem to really approach it for
the people in their areas, andso you know some counties that
(06:45):
have people that live very far.
They can't receive a homedelivered meals because they
can't drive to them, but theysend frozen meals and so they've
adapted that way.
Other areas maybe they havesmaller routes so that they do
take longer to deliver to get toa different area.
The nutrition requirements staythe same.
(07:08):
But the other thing that'sreally important that they need
to use part of the OlderAmericans Act is that they're
getting feedback from theirparticipants and adapting it to
something that, yes, it meetsthe requirements, but is it
something they enjoy and is itpalatable With that?
There are also other thingsthat the AAAs will do.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
So at senior centers they have people that have
gardens and they've got, youknow, all this excess.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
They come and bring it and anyone can take it, and
so it's just.
They're all like a whole uniquelittle area in and of
themselves.
They just manage it verydifferently, and so we allow
that flexibility for them toadapt it to those various areas.
That's interesting, Is there?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
and I don't know if there's not a right answer, but
is there like similaradaptability for like cultural
palatability?
Right like in utah, we have alot of native americans and
their general, their typicalfood like, or the same thing
with hispanics?
or asian americans, like theirpalates might be different, like
they want to have.
(08:19):
Is that also kind of in thatrealm of um customization that
each area can do for theirpeople?
Or is it kind of like here'sTuesday's meals and it's mashed
potatoes and steak and likewhatever and everybody gets it,
even if you like hate it?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, yeah, so yes and no, that's a great question.
The flexibility is there, so Iknow there's certain areas that
they will have.
Flexibility is there, so I knowthere's certain areas that they
will have, um, culturallycultural meals, you know, like
maybe an Asian meal or a Mexicanmeal one day, so everyone will
get that same meal.
They can't do yeah, but theytry to make it throughout the
(08:57):
week that there's like oh, I'mreally looking forward to taco
Tuesday or something like.
Okay, yeah, exactly, that's sointeresting.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So in your season one of your life you were in kind
of private practice and howwould you say that that
influenced the approach that youhave to getting nutrition for
seniors in their homes?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
So in my private practice I was in a physician's
office, and so family medicineand a lot of older adults you
know are frequently going totheir family medicine.
I want to hear a crazystatistic that I learned today.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, 61% of all money that we're going to spend
in our lifetime on health carehappens after the age of 65.
And the average lifespan in the?
U is 77 years old.
So that means that over half ofall money that you're going to
spend on healthcare happens inthe last 12 years of your life,
(09:52):
which is crazy.
Anyway, no, that is reallycrazy.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, so yeah, I saw that.
You know, at the, at thisoffice.
It was what I really took awayfrom that experience pertaining
because I saw all ages, but whatI really took away working with
older adults in that area isbeing able to see the metabolic
(10:18):
improvements.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Interesting.
We talk about it like hey, ifyou eat?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
healthy and do these things, you'll see improvements
in your metabolic markers.
And then to have them do thatand then have blood work done
and to actually see okay, we'renot just talking here Older
adults can improve theirdiabetes, type 2 diabetes and
prediabetes, high cholesterol.
(10:45):
They can bring that down.
Hypertension they can work toeither reduce the doses of their
medications or get off of themedications if they're willing
to make these changes.
And so that was really great toreally see that actually
working and in action.
And then it also you know theconversation would come up about
(11:06):
well, maybe I don't want tolive longer.
Oh, interesting you know I'mkind of done why would I want to
live until I'm 90?
, and so then that changes fromlike not just longevity, but
quality of life, and like youknow, prolonging morbidity and
so really having you live aslong as you can and healthy and
(11:27):
active before anything you knowmight interfere with that.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, I wonder.
I bet that you didn't get a lotof like I don't want to be
around for another decade.
Maybe post like spouse dyingthat was more common.
But I would feel like thepeople that were healthy and had
a good active lifestyle theyweren't the ones saying like,
yeah, I wouldn't mind if I wasgone in the next few years.
(11:52):
It was the people that hadalready had so many health
choices make it so.
That way, their quality of lifereally isn't that good, and so
they're like I don't want tolive like this for another
decade.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, exactly, they'd been through some really hard,
tragic things potentially andhad some health issues.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It is interesting though, because you mentioned
with the metabolic markers, Ifeel like there's.
Is that like a false?
What's the word?
Not a false?
I'm trying to remember the word.
I know it's in one of thesequestions, so let me, aaron,
what is it?
When it's like a false belief,a?
(12:30):
I'm just blanking.
False equivalent, no.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Like placebo.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
No, I'm so blanking on this word.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Get there, get there, brain blast Jimmy Neutron or
whatever False whatever.
But I feel like it's reallycommon to have this like false
belief around aging where youcan't reverse the because
everybody we're getting older,our bodies are deteriorating
because we're getting older.
But I feel like there's thisbelief that when you become a
(13:00):
senior it has this quick dropoff and you're like going down
and you can't slow down Likeyou're just going to, you're
going to pass away in likeshambles of what you could have
been, but I feel like that's nottrue.
Like in my family, my grandmagrandpa's 90 and he's still
kicking it Like I think he'sgoing to pass away super
peacefully in his sleep 30 yearsfrom now.
(13:21):
I don't know, but is it like afalse belief that you can't slow
down that metabolic decline andall the other declines that are
happening as you get older?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It sounds like it's like I can't remember what the
term is, but no, I, I exactlyknow what you mean, because you
know I would have people comeand they're like well, I've been
diagnosed with type twodiabetes and my mom had it and
my brother or my aunt, and theyjust have this feeling of I have
to accept this now and this ismy journey and I'm going to
(13:54):
decline, and so I've just got toget on medicine and and I'll be
taking this pill and doing thatfor the rest of the next 40
years Exactly.
Yeah, and that's you know.
That's, I think, where I goback to my experience with my
health, when I thought I coulddo like there's gotta be more to
this, this issue and being ableto really see yes, it doesn't
(14:17):
matter what age you are, youdefinitely can affect your
health in a positive or anegative way.
And changing that belief, Ithink, is probably step one,
that what I do will matter.
It doesn't matter that I'm 60or 70, I can improve this.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
And I think it's the return that you get for it.
Say, you're 70 and like you'vebeen living life a certain way
and you have all these terriblehealth markers and it's like,
well, it'll take me three yearsto turn it all around.
It's like, yeah, but then maybeyou die or you pass away at 85
instead of 70.
Set like that, what is thatextra eight years worth to you?
You?
know, is it worth a year or twoof really hard work to get back
(14:58):
onto the horse.
You know that extra eight yearswith family or friends or
hobbies I think it's the mind,the shift in mentality around
health as you get older.
I think is so important to haveand being able to help seniors
in our life and ourselves LikeI'm.
I'm 26 and I still have that.
I'm like man.
It's so much work to try to getback on the horse but it's like
(15:18):
at this point I have this.
It could add way more qualityof life to my later years.
So, yeah, well, and can I touchon that?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I think that's such a great comment.
It actually doesn't take thatlong to see improvements, so let
me, if I could share an exampleof one of the gentlemen that I
worked with in one of ourstudies.
He was at a congregate millsite and he had had some.
He had a wife die, son die.
(15:47):
His diabetes was getting reallybad, his functionality was
going downhill, he'd beenfalling.
He qualified to be in our studyand he said, all right, I'll
try it, but I'm not going tochange.
I'm not going to change whatI'm doing.
I'm like that's okay, let's youknow let's just see what you can
do.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Do the behaviors and see what happens.
You don't have to believe it.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Uh-huh and it took him a little time to kind of buy
into it.
But within the first threemonths, three to four months,
he'd been back to his doctor andhis doctor said your A1C has
improved a lot.
So whatever you're doing, keepdoing it.
So in that short amount of timeand by the time he'd finished
(16:29):
the study, which was six months,he was walking better, he was
being able, he was able to godown to the gas station again to
get his morning drink andthings can turn around.
So it really doesn't take a longtime to see some of the
benefits.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Maybe the full picture, just little changes
that you're able to implement,you can really start.
That's pretty incredible,that's fascinating yeah.
Literally half a year is.
It's not that long, especiallywhen you get to being an older
adult.
(17:05):
It's like you've gone throughso many years at six months.
It's like that you know likeand so taking half a year to get
back on track and thencommitting to a long-term health
is really interesting.
We found, as we were doing somerandom research on a website,
that you maybe what switchedyour health over was kind of
(17:26):
going to a plant-based nutritiondiet.
Is that accurate, mm-hmm?
Yep, our research was good, youdid good, yep, you did good,
Yep.
Do you find that a lot ofseniors would be open to like
plant-based diets because you'veseen firsthand the effect that
they can have?
Or are there added benefits toseniors for a plant-based diet
(17:47):
versus just like a normalwell-rounded nutrition kind of
thing?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good question.
Definitely there are benefitsand I would say I feel like the
population, the older adultpopulation, is starting to
understand better health andtaking that into their own hands
.
A little bit more than maybe inthe past.
And there are.
(18:14):
So, and let me maybe,plant-based versus vegetarian,
versus vegan.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Is that okay?
If I kind of cover that alittle bit?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
too, so whole.
So we want to say whole foodplant-based, because really what
we're talking about, you know,oreos are plant-based.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, that's true, they're.
You know, they're not there'sno animal products.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Veggie straws are plant-based.
You know you could take youcould, I mean stretch it.
Those are better, exactly, yeah, like you can.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
potato chips are plant-based yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And so so we want to focus on whole food plant-based.
So you want to eat the potato,not the potato chips and things
like that.
So so that whole foodplant-based, that's also a
little different than like vegan.
You know vegan is more of maybedirected towards animal rights
(19:07):
and the environment, and youknow they don't won't wear
leather or they avoid, you know,honey things like that, any
sort of animal product.
Yeah.
And then you've got vegetarian,which there's a spectrum, you
know.
Honey, things like that, yes,product, yeah, yeah.
And then you've got vegetarian,which there's a spectrum, you
know you can be vegetarian andstill eat fish.
But you don't need any of theothers.
So um so, with that whole food,plant-based diet, the reason
that is such a like I'm such aproponent of that is because
(19:29):
you're getting whole fruits andvegetables and whole grains and,
um, proteins that are veryhealthy.
That have fiber, but also havethe protein and the iron and the
magnesium that your body needs,and you know you're just
getting back to the earth andfeeding your body what it needs
and in a whole way, and so so,yes, that that does help a lot
(19:55):
Older.
So when I, when I approach,approach this maybe with older
adults, because when they cometo me and they say, you know, I
don't want to, I don't want tobe diabetic, I want to reverse
this.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, that takes a lot of effort, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
And you really are going to have to cut out some um
animal proteins to do that andreally switch to getting those
whole foods.
But there's a little leeway inthat, you know, you don't have
to completely cut out all animalproducts to do that.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So it's like going a little bit back to.
We are, as a species, used tobe hunter, gatherers like you'd
typically have whatever youcould gather and if you got
lucky and got some animal meatonce, however often you could
great, but, like vast majority,what was available was what you
could gather, which is plants.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, and you know, and it's.
It's interesting because a lotof you know meat and a lot you
know if we're eating a lot ofthat, that can actually cause
inflammation in our body and so,yeah, getting back to just
having a little bit is is good,um.
So when I approach it, they'renot, you know, not everyone's
okay with that Um, but I domention, you know, maybe try to
(21:06):
have a meal that's plant-basedonce a week and and start there
and and they're, you know, happyto do that.
The gentleman that I I wastalking about, he stopped eating
hot dogs and I was so happyabout that because that's the
oreo of meat of animal-basedmeat.
Yes, yes, exactly, um.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
So, yeah, sorry, I was no, you're good, I don't
know if you want some likespecifics on different like
diabetes and heart disease, yeah, no, I think it would be really
interesting what specific kindof differences are there with,
for health and health issues, toadopting a full plant-based
(21:49):
diet like compared to a regulardiet that's animal meat-based.
Three meals a day of protein,you know?
Yeah, how do you what?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
you mentioned diabetes a few times and other
things that that can affect thiswould be interesting okay, yeah
, um, so older adults havehigher rates of chronic diseases
, and those are, you know,obesity type 2 diabetes, heart
disease, constipation which canlead to like diverticulosis and
(22:20):
things like that.
So GI issues and then, you know,dementia and Alzheimer's, and
so just some of the foods thatare beneficial.
For those like diabetes, morefiber helps to keep the glycemic
response under control and thenhelps with increased bile
absorption and so it's not beingreabsorbed into the liver and
(22:43):
promoting a worsening ofdiabetes or fatty liver disease.
And so fiber, your solublefiber, like legumes, oats barley
, some fruits and somevegetables, is really important.
And then insoluble fiber, soall of those plant foods, oats
barley, some fruits and somevegetables is really important,
and then insoluble fiber.
So all of those plant foods,whole plant foods, are really
(23:04):
important.
Those also help with heartdisease.
You know, the thing is is wehave these.
The way these chronic illnessesaffect us, I think are
genetically disposed.
You know, you're predisposed fordiabetes or you're predisposed
for heart disease.
But feeding your body, it's allconnected and so when you have,
you're eating, you know you'reavoiding animal products that
(23:25):
are high in saturated fats highyou know they can cause
inflammation in the body andyou're bringing in the high
fiber foods, the healthy fats.
It's going to help everything.
It's going to help diabetes,you know, heart disease.
When you're doing those, you'regetting more phytonutrients and
a lot of those healthy fatsfrom nuts and seeds and olives,
(23:49):
and you know those types offoods.
And it's low in saturated fat,which is really important too
for heart disease.
That leads into hypertension.
You know, more vitamin C, lesssodium, more potassium, that's
going to help with hypertension,and so you just can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
It's going to help in every way.
Just eating more plants, moreplants, yes, so with that, the
gentleman in your example, youknow he he cut out hot dogs.
Major win, probably from 80years of eating hot dogs every
day um and then.
But what would be like ideal forsomebody that like said they're
(24:27):
kind of they want to keep meatin their life?
Is it like have uh, lean meatsonce a day, or something like,
if there was, was a rule to helpcurb the anxiety that comes
with people like, but wait it'sso good.
What would you say would belike the bare minimum or the not
(24:48):
the bare minimum, the maximumamount of meat.
And then what type would yourecommend people have in that to
if they wanted to have meat intheir diet still?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Okay, so an easy way to do that without an assessment
is to just say, like an 80-20rule.
80% of your meals are justreally nutritious and whole
foods brown rice, whole grains,fruits, vegetables, legumes
those are a superfood, so wedefinitely want to get those on
our plates.
And then, yeah, having legumes.
(25:17):
Those are a super food, so wedefinitely want to get those on
our plates.
And then, yeah, having somemeat is fine.
Red meat is one I would stayfurther away from.
I know it's got so much of thatgood fat in it Saturated fat is
really high in red meat and soyou know people that would come
to me and they're like I havered meat every day, what can I
(25:38):
do?
And I said can you cut thatdown to once a week?
And they're like ah no, I can'tlike, okay, twice a week, so
then they would do twice a weekand then they'd be like, hey,
I'm actually learning to reallyenjoy plant foods and so so I
would say, for red meat, ideally, if you're really talking like,
hey, I really want to fix myhealth and you want to keep red
(26:00):
meat, yeah, cut it.
But if you really want to keepit twice a month is my special
occasion.
Yep hey we got a raise orwhatever date night, you know.
Um, and then the meats that, ifyou want to keep them in, you
want to go with your lean meats,so lean chicken, so white meat,
fish and turkey you know,poultry, your lean poultry, and
(26:25):
then 80-20 is like maybe you'reeating that every other day out
of the meals.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, interesting, I think I can do that.
Or small portions, you know itcould even be, which sometimes
is hard.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
So it's whatever works for you Some people are
like I'll just have a little bitversus.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Okay, tomorrow I'm having my chicken breast and
it's going to be, you knowwhatever it's, whatever works
for you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Every step in that direction, though they do show
improvements in health.
That's so interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Even just taking cutting red meat consumption to
twice a week, had this bigimprovement, and then cutting it
to twice a month and exactlyyou mentioned something about
portion sizes which made methink about an issue within
older adults which I think it'scommon is appetite.
So as they get older they justeat less, and so it's hard to
(27:13):
get those nutrients in everysingle day.
So, what advice do you have forthat, for people that see that
in their loved ones?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, that is a very common issue with older adults
and that can lead tomalnutrition, which is a big
concern in this population.
But you know, the first thing Isay is limit drinks during a
meal because you don't want tohave them filling up on a drink,
so limit that.
Offer smaller food itemsthroughout the day is also
(27:45):
helpful.
Another thing is, you know,maybe they've had some diet
restrictions and so they're likeI'm just not happy with this,
pulling up the Internet withthem and looking you know we
have so much access to all kindsof recipes and ways to make
foods and eat and have them lookand you know, talk about it
Like, hey, what about we trythis?
(28:06):
And you do it together, whichalso leads to eating with them.
That is really helpful.
People who eat alone will eatless than if someone else is
with them.
So, if you can sit down andhave that meal with them, Make
it an event.
Use the nice china or make itlook appealing and pretty and
(28:28):
have a good conversation whileyou're eating.
Those are some things that help, and then physical activity
will help to improve appetite aswell.
Yeah, burning calories, thingsthat help and then physical
activity will help to improveappetite as well, and so
calories, if you can get themmoving before they they'll get.
You know that gets your gisystem running, moving actually
if you do exercise, whatever itis, whatever they can do, um,
and then there was one lastthing I had.
(28:50):
Wow, where was that?
It's okay.
What question was?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
that?
Uh, this was the question eight.
What are the most commonnutrition challenges?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
you had appetite, mobility and absorption okay,
yeah, right here, sorry, no,you're good um way to make it
number based, so you couldrecall it.
I'm like I just didn't havetime to really even go over
everything.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I think I had it in a different section, but oh,
another, yeah.
So another issue that can comefrom you know, when we get older
and that appetite, our appetitedecreasing is, our taste buds
change and so food tastesdifferent and so we just kind of
lose the pleasure in eating andso we don't want to just add
(29:42):
salt, which is can happen often.
Some people are avoid salt, buta lot of older adults salt
because they need to get moreflavor.
So really just getting creativewith herbs and spices and even
Mrs Dash has a lot of no sodium,you know different variety and
then keeping in mind, with adecreased appetite, when someone
(30:02):
hasn't been eating well for awhile, it just it's kind of like
a circular effect If you're noteating well, your appetite goes
down, and then you continue tonot eat well, your appetite goes
down, and so some point it'slike I know, you know, maybe you
don't feel like eating, butfood becomes medicine.
(30:23):
Now and so it's thatconversation of you know, let's
just get some food in you, eventhough you may not be enjoying
it as well as you could, um, toget their appetite to come back.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, my grandpa.
Um, on my mom's side he, he hasa ranch and if you don't like
force him to sit down, like takefood to him on the tractor and
like make him turn it off.
He's just not eating, or he'lleat like a tiny bowl of hot
cereal in the morning and thenthat's it for the day I think
(30:56):
just is totally fine yeah, itreally is like very conscious
effort.
Um, I had a random thought asyou were talking about, like
let's look up meals together.
I have a friend that uh or Iguess my wife's friend she
didn't know what to make and sowith tools, today she took out
her phone and opened ChatGPT.
Yeah, yeah, and took a pictureof the fridge and was like, what
(31:16):
can I make?
And it like, made these recipeswith the ingredients in her
fridge.
It was pretty sweet.
Yeah, and you can do that as acaregiver of being like go
grocery shopping with what'srecommended for your loved one,
take a picture and just say whatcan I make and see if there's
anything that's appealing.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, so it's pretty cool and that's such a great
idea too, because that helpswith food costs.
You know, a lot of times we goto the store and we just buy
things like, okay, we'll havethis and this, but what did you
have at home first?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Because sometimes that ends up getting pushed to
the back and we we don't use itand so how often, uh, in my
house we buy like spinach andkale and blah, blah, blah, and
then like two weeks later we'relike ah he got one serving out
of the 12 in this container,yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, so yeah, that's .
That's really great to takethat inventory and see what can
we make.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Um, we the time's flying, we've been going for
like 40 minutes.
But what you are working withthe government programs in Utah?
I feel like you mentioned a few, but what are some initiatives
that seniors in Utah, um, shouldbe taking advantage of?
There's meals on wheels?
Is there anything else as faras nutrition goes?
Any maybe dieticians from thestate that can help them for
(32:25):
those other two meals out of theday?
I don't know what.
What, uh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
So it depends on which area you're in.
Um, everyone's funding is alittle bit different with the.
Aaas.
So some there's.
There's some that may have adietician on staff that if
they're part of their programsthey can work with them.
For those other two, meals.
And that's yeah.
That's kind of what I was doingis helping like, okay, you're
getting one balanced meal, buthow do we navigate?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
these others?
How do we not get a microwavemeal for those other two meals?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Unfortunately, that's , you know, not widespread
because of funding which?
Speaker 1 (33:00):
we all understand yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
But Medicare and Medicaid have are recognizing
nutrition and dieticians more,and so if people have certain
chronic conditions, theirinsurance can pay for a
dietician.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
And so they can just look that up.
They just call their insuranceand see if it's part of their
policy or whatever.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, call your insurance, find out if that's
part of their policy or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, call your insurance, find out if that's covered.
You can talk to your physicianand ask for a recommendation as
well.
Sometimes physicians will haveconnections with dieticians, and
so that's the best way to dothat.
There are online dieticians aswell.
I don't know that insurance.
(33:45):
Some of them would takeinsurance.
A lot of them don't, but I wishit was a little more simple to
get older adults in front ofdieticians.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
But we're getting there, we're taking steps and I
think to your point earlierwhere um, older people like 80
years old and older, like theyaren't as speaking generalities.
They aren't as open to usingtechnology and using google and
using chat, gpt.
But I think that the babyboomers that are getting into
(34:19):
being older, they're more opento the free resources that are
all over the internet to likeget started or the, you know,
using the internet to find adietician in their area, or like
find a Facebook group of likehealth.
I don't know, I'm sure there'sa.
Facebook group out there calledlike healthy grandmas or
something.
(34:40):
And so, like I think that we'regetting there, and it's just
kind of this bridge periodbetween now and the next one, to
maybe two decades of gettingpeople that are using their
technology to do a lot of that,so it's yeah, it is tricky and,
I think, relying.
One like supporting the elderlypeople in our lives to get there
(35:04):
and help them and use ouraptitudes to try to help.
And then two is just likegovernment programs trying to
support the best that they canin the meantime, you know like,
yeah, it's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah, they're, you know, they do education,
nutrition, education quarterlyalso for participants of the
meal programs for the homedelivered and the congregate, so
they do get you know.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
general nutrition information, which is really
helpful too like screening toolsavailable that caregivers or
other providers for seniors thatthey could use to monitor their
seniors health to just like a20, answer these 20 questions to
(35:55):
see what blah blah blah Like.
Is there something out therelike that?
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, yeah, there are a few that would be appropriate
for that, that setting One ofthem is.
So we're looking.
There's a couple different wayswhere we can screen.
We can look at nutrition healthjust in general, and so that
would be the determine yournutrition health risk is
questions on how many you know.
(36:18):
Are you eating fruits andvegetables each day?
How many alcoholic drinks doyou have?
How many medications do youtake?
So those all factor intonutrition risk and so that gives
a score Malnutrition risk.
It's called the MSTmalnutrition screening tool and
it's just a few questions.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
And you just go to Google MST or malnutrition.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Okay, yeah, and so if caregivers can do that, that is
a really good thing to give totheir physician and or make a
contact and say hey, I justscreened my mom and I'm
concerned because she's scoringthis on the mst, and make an
appointment um to talk to thephysician, um have you know,
(37:03):
maybe he'll have a dietician hecan bring in as well.
But but, yeah, those are, thoseare good.
Those are a couple of thescreening tools that are
available.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I love those.
I think that it's sounderappreciated how much taking
the five minutes to do a testlike that and then, you know,
red flagging it for theirprimary care physician can go a
long way, cause I bet a lot ofuh, if I were a betting man I
would bet that most of theirinsurances cover it.
But it needs a cause, it needsa well.
(37:31):
We're getting a dieticianbecause and not just like
everybody- not Oprah.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
you get a dietician as much as that would be awesome
.
Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
But you know getting that started because then when
they go into that appointmenttheir physician can say yes,
insurance, they need a dietician.
Because and it takes fiveminutes and a phone call- to
like help an aging person.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Do that or themselves to do that.
Yeah, and you know some otherthings as a caregiver you can
look at is if they have a changein mood and they're down a lot
more than they used to be orsleeping more a lot more than
they used to be, or sleepingmore.
If there's been a recent loss,a lot of those things right,
there are a flag that hey,there's going to be some changes
(38:13):
in what they're eating, and sogetting the eyes on how much are
they eating if it's someonethat's not in the home all the
time?
just looking for even thosephysical changes and how their
affect is and stuff can also bea you know like huh, something's
changing.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
And with your nutrition.
So let's, let's look into thata little deeper.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, um, what so say they do, that they get in
contact with their physician.
What's something that a seniorcaregiver, if they wanted to
start making small andmeaningful changes, um, changes
to get towards a healthier diet,what's something that they
could do, like today?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Okay.
So I don't know if everyone'sfamiliar with MyPlate.
It's the government, it's aplate, you know it's in the
school.
Sometimes it's green, red, blueand yellow.
You got it.
Yeah, focusing on that plate isreally helpful.
It's a very good visual of okay, is this meal balanced?
And so start there.
Look at that.
(39:10):
But statistics show we are not,as a society doesn't matter
your age getting enough fruitsand vegetables, so start with
that All right, and it's likehalf your plate or something.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Half, yes, should be a vegetable.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Vegetables or fruits, okay, and or you half your
plate or something, half, yes,it should be a vegetable.
Vegetables or fruits, okay.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
And or you know, oh good, yeah, it can be.
And or Because I'm way morejust kidding.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Vegetables are better a lot of the time, but Nope,
they're not.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Fruit and vegetables are awesome.
They all have their own role.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
My Not as good as vegetables.
Just get a plate of kale andsuck it up.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So do you remember that old you know, eat the
rainbow.
You're probably too young.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
I don't remember Eat the rainbow.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
You know you want your greens and your reds and
your whites and your yellows andoranges all the color of the
rainbow.
So if you've got a rainbow onthe half of your plate, you're
doing great.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
so you don't want to just eat apples only because
yeah, that's not good.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Or just kale, that's not good.
You want variety so get thosefruits in there too?
Yeah, absolutely, and so that'sa an easy first step.
Um, with cost, frozen fruitsare just as cost effective, or
sorry, they're more costeffective because they don't go
bad and you're not throwing themaway.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
And they're just as nutritious as fresh, and so
people tend to shy away.
Oh, I have to go where it'sfresh and that's not the case.
Yeah, it doesn't lose nutrition.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yeah, even can't If that's the best way someone can
get their fruits and vegetablesin.
Just make sure it's no sodiumadded and no added sugar.
The nutrition value goes downslightly, but not enough to not
eat it.
Whatever you can do to getfruits and vegetables in,
because sometimes eating hardvegetables is hard in this
population, so a canned one isgoing to be better.
(40:59):
Great, do that.
The other one I would say isswitch to 100% whole grains.
That's an easy switch.
We're eating bread, we'rehaving tortillas, we're having
pasta.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
And rice Switch to whole grain.
One tip for bread with wholegrains is bread can say it's
whole wheat and it's not.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
It's not whole grain, yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
So you have to look at the nutrition or the
ingredient list and if it saysenriched, that's not a whole
grain.
If it just says whole grainflour, you know that's good,
that's what you would want topick.
And then the third one I wouldsay decreased saturated fat in
the diet.
So swapping butter for, likeolive oil and avocado oil, skim
(41:41):
milk versus whole milk, or even,you know, 2% milk, or some
simple changes that people canreduce fat intake.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
That's awesome, Um.
Last two questions is one, whatadvice do you have for somebody
getting into the space, adietician that's maybe that's
focused on seniors?
Um, and then two, if anybodywants to get in contact with
some of these nutrition programsfor the state of Utah, who
(42:12):
should they reach out to?
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Okay, yeah, great.
So yeah, for a dietician justgetting into this space, I would
say I think we approachsometimes older adults as
they're all the same and they'rejust younger people in bodies
that have aged.
They still you know they're,they're very independent, they
know what they like.
Um, and to not think becausethey're older we know better,
(42:38):
and to discount the, the yearsof living that they have.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Years ago they were just dating their soon-to to be
spouse and had all the like theyjust they lived that too.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Yeah, like, yeah exactly yeah, and so you know,
listening to them and what whatmight work for them, you know
they might not want to changesome things changes hard, that's
been ingrained in them.
You know we get in our comfortzones and getting out of that is
really hard, but they'rewilling to do that.
So don't I just, you know,don't underestimate the power
that you can have as a dietitianin helping them have better
(43:13):
health and helping them changeand have more helpful patterns
in their life.
So it's a great space to be inUm and then, if anybody's
interested in the meal programsum for like the triple a, to
figure out which triple a you're, you live in um go to
dosutahgov D.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
A S dot Utah.
D A S D A S dot U T or Utah.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Utah.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Dot gov.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Dot gov forward slash locations, so yeah.
Awesome, and then it'll have aclick box that you click on the
the county that you live in, andit will direct you to the area
agency on aging.
Give them a call and they canhook you up.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Awesome, amy.
I really appreciate your timeand wisdom that you shared.
There's a lot of, uh, healththings that I can change that I
learned that I'll implement, um,but yeah, it was great having
you in and I appreciate youtaking 45 minutes here.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
So yeah, well, thanks .
This is a great podcast thatyou guys are doing and I
appreciate that you're doing itWell, thank, you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Thank you for tuning in to Senior Care Academy,
brought to you by Helperly.
We hope that today's episodeprovided some insights and
something valuable to help youcare for yourself, a loved one
or seniors that you serve.
If you enjoyed the episode,don't forget to subscribe, rate
and leave us a review, and if itwas extra insightful, share it
with a friend so that they canget something out of it also.
We'll see you next time wherewe continue to explore the heart
(44:36):
of senior care.
So until then, take care.
Welcome to Senior Care Academy.
Brought to you by Helperly, I'myour host, caleb.
I'm excited to have you as weexplore the challenges and
opportunities in senior caretoday, so let's jump in.
Today we have a very specialguest joining us Amy Covington.
Amy is a registered dietitiannutritionist and oversees the
(00:20):
nutrition program for the entirestate of Utah.
She's an expert in seniornutrition and has a wealth of
experience.
We'll be diving into thebiggest nutrition challenges
seniors face, practical ways toimprove their health through
diet, and the role ofplant-based nutrition in
longevity and wellness.
Plus, amy is going to shareinsights from her research and
experience working directly withseniors, offering valuable
(00:43):
takeaways for caregivers, familymembers and anybody that is
passionate about senior care.
So we're excited to have her on.
Well, amy, thanks so much forcoming on Senior Care Academy
today.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You're welcome.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, so first tell us about yourself and kind of
your journey that got you towhere you're at.
Can you share what inspired youto pursue a career like in the
nutrition space and thenspecifically originally starting
with seniors and everything?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, for sure.
So this, being a registereddietitian, is actually my second
career.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Your season two.
If you will, my season twoabsolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I had just some.
Well, let me back up.
So what got me into nutritionis several years ago I had some
health issues and the medicalfield wasn't offering good
answers for what I wanted.
Kind of it was out of mycontrol and I thought I don't
know that I like that.
(01:43):
So I did a lot of research formyself and made some changes
nutritionally.
That really helped me a lot.
So then, when I decided topursue a second career and go
back to school, get my master'sin dietetics or my master's
degree, I looked and I thoughtyou know what dietetics is where
(02:03):
I want to go, because it's soempowering to know that what we
eat really can impact our health.
It doesn't necessarily changeeverything, but we do have some
power in our own health, and sothat's what got me into becoming
a registered dietitian.
Nutritionist is to help empowerothers for their health and
(02:25):
what they wanted, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think it's crazy how often modern medicine has
come so far, but how often a lotof times it's like limited to
what it can actually do, andit's like just getting back to
our roots of eating good wholefoods would solve a lot of stuff
.
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
A lot of our chronic illnesses that we deal with, and
especially in the older adultpopulation, lifestyle is a big
factor, not discounting themedicines that we have today In
tandem they're really strong.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
If it's just medicine and you're eating junk food all
day, it still has lots ofproblems.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yep, exactly.
And then, while I was workingon my master's degree, one of my
professors received a researchgrant for older adults in home
delivered meals, population andmalnutrition and asked if I
wanted to be a co-investigatorwith her and I thought, yeah,
let's give that a try.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And that was supposed to be two years.
Then we applied for anothersecond grant that went for three
more years, and now we're inthe middle of our third grant,
which is a five-year grant.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So what was going to be just a two-year jumping off
point for me, you know inresearch and nutrition has ended
up becoming my career being adecade in basically kind of
overseeing nutrition for thestate of Utah.
So can you talk a little bitabout that, your current role,
overseeing that nutritionprogram?
(03:53):
There's lots of cool thingsthat you're doing to help Utah
seniors.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah.
So to kind of boil it down,what my main job responsibility
is is in order.
Order for so we have areaagencies on aging I don't know.
Yeah, familiar with those triplea's, triple a's yep, uh-huh,
and there's 12 different triplea's throughout the state of utah
.
Some of them are located percounty, some of them have a few
(04:19):
counties, um, in, you know, intheir same area.
Yeah, but they providenutrition programs for older
adults and and that's the HomeDelivered Meals Program and the
Congregate Meal Program theyreceive funding through the
Older Americans Act for thoseprograms, and in order to
receive that funding, there arecertain guidelines that they
need to follow, and so my job isto monitor and make sure
(04:43):
everything's being metappropriately, which is really
great.
They do such a good job, andthe reason that I think it's so
great is it's making sure it's anutritious meal.
The meal needs to meet a thirdof the daily requirements for
this population, and so they'regetting one meal a day.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That has nutrient, dense yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, and so they you know, the caregivers or family
or the participant can feel goodabout that meal, that hey, I'm
getting the nutrition I need.
And other meals of the day theymight not be getting that, but
this is a good, balanced mealand so so, yeah, I get to
monitor the programs.
I get to go all over the stateof Utah.
I've gone on several homedelivered meals routes and those
(05:25):
are great and it's just reallyum wonderful to meet with
different of the seniors andwhat their experiences are, and
these are just great programs.
So I'm happy to be able to dothat.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I love that.
Um, I'm super curious becauseUtah, I feel like we have a
pretty cool.
Um, super curious because Utah,I feel like we have a pretty
cool.
Um, the state is just very.
You have a Metro and like SaltLake along the Wasatch front,
and then you have crazy ruralplaces, Um, so we have a big
kind of melting pot of differentliving experiences.
Considering, like, howdifferent Salt Lake is to a
(06:03):
Kanab or Vernal or something.
How does the state approachnutrition differently between
those two?
I'm curious because I wonder if, like in the rural places,
where maybe they have morehomegrown food, is it like as
needed?
I don't know, I'm just.
How does it?
How do you, with the 12different areas of aging that
have such different people, makesure that everybody's getting
(06:24):
the right nutrition?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, that's a great question and, honestly, on the
state level, we don't do thatthis is where our AAAs come in.
So, within these guidelines thatwe make sure they're following,
there's some flexibility forthem to really approach it for
the people in their areas, andso you know some counties that
(06:45):
have people that live very far.
They can't receive a homedelivered meals because they
can't drive to them, but theysend frozen meals and so they've
adapted that way.
Other areas maybe they havesmaller routes so that they do
take longer to deliver to get toa different area.
The nutrition requirements staythe same.
(07:08):
But the other thing that'sreally important that they need
to use part of the OlderAmericans Act is that they're
getting feedback from theirparticipants and adapting it to
something that, yes, it meetsthe requirements, but is it
something they enjoy and is itpalatable With that?
There are also other thingsthat the AAAs will do.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
So at senior centers they have people that have
gardens and they've got, youknow, all this excess.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
They come and bring it and anyone can take it, and
so it's just.
They're all like a whole uniquelittle area in and of
themselves.
They just manage it verydifferently, and so we allow
that flexibility for them toadapt it to those various areas.
That's interesting, Is there?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
and I don't know if there's not a right answer, but
is there like similaradaptability for like cultural
palatability?
Right like in utah, we have alot of native americans and
their general, their typicalfood like, or the same thing
with hispanics?
or asian americans, like theirpalates might be different, like
they want to have.
(08:19):
Is that also kind of in thatrealm of um customization that
each area can do for theirpeople?
Or is it kind of like here'sTuesday's meals and it's mashed
potatoes and steak and likewhatever and everybody gets it,
even if you like hate it?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, yeah, so yes and no, that's a great question.
The flexibility is there, so Iknow there's certain areas that
they will have.
Flexibility is there, so I knowthere's certain areas that they
will have, um, culturallycultural meals, you know, like
maybe an Asian meal or a Mexicanmeal one day, so everyone will
get that same meal.
They can't do yeah, but theytry to make it throughout the
(08:57):
week that there's like oh, I'mreally looking forward to taco
Tuesday or something like.
Okay, yeah, exactly, that's sointeresting.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So in your season one of your life you were in kind
of private practice and howwould you say that that
influenced the approach that youhave to getting nutrition for
seniors in their homes?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
So in my private practice I was in a physician's
office, and so family medicineand a lot of older adults you
know are frequently going totheir family medicine.
I want to hear a crazystatistic that I learned today.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, 61% of all money that we're going to spend
in our lifetime on health carehappens after the age of 65.
And the average lifespan in the?
U is 77 years old.
So that means that over half ofall money that you're going to
spend on healthcare happens inthe last 12 years of your life,
(09:52):
which is crazy.
Anyway, no, that is reallycrazy.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, so yeah, I saw that.
You know, at the, at thisoffice.
It was what I really took awayfrom that experience pertaining
because I saw all ages, but whatI really took away working with
older adults in that area isbeing able to see the metabolic
(10:18):
improvements.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Interesting.
We talk about it like hey, ifyou eat?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
healthy and do these things, you'll see improvements
in your metabolic markers.
And then to have them do thatand then have blood work done
and to actually see okay, we'renot just talking here Older
adults can improve theirdiabetes, type 2 diabetes and
prediabetes, high cholesterol.
(10:45):
They can bring that down.
Hypertension they can work toeither reduce the doses of their
medications or get off of themedications if they're willing
to make these changes.
And so that was really great toreally see that actually
working and in action.
And then it also you know theconversation would come up about
(11:06):
well, maybe I don't want tolive longer.
Oh, interesting you know I'mkind of done why would I want to
live until I'm 90?
, and so then that changes fromlike not just longevity, but
quality of life, and like youknow, prolonging morbidity and
so really having you live aslong as you can and healthy and
(11:27):
active before anything you knowmight interfere with that.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, I wonder.
I bet that you didn't get a lotof like I don't want to be
around for another decade.
Maybe post like spouse dyingthat was more common.
But I would feel like thepeople that were healthy and had
a good active lifestyle theyweren't the ones saying like,
yeah, I wouldn't mind if I wasgone in the next few years.
(11:52):
It was the people that hadalready had so many health
choices make it so.
That way, their quality of lifereally isn't that good, and so
they're like I don't want tolive like this for another
decade.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, exactly, they'd been through some really hard,
tragic things potentially andhad some health issues.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It is interesting though, because you mentioned
with the metabolic markers, Ifeel like there's.
Is that like a false?
What's the word?
Not a false?
I'm trying to remember the word.
I know it's in one of thesequestions, so let me, aaron,
what is it?
When it's like a false belief,a?
(12:30):
I'm just blanking.
False equivalent, no.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Like placebo.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
No, I'm so blanking on this word.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Get there, get there, brain blast Jimmy Neutron or
whatever False whatever.
But I feel like it's reallycommon to have this like false
belief around aging where youcan't reverse the because
everybody we're getting older,our bodies are deteriorating
because we're getting older.
But I feel like there's thisbelief that when you become a
(13:00):
senior it has this quick dropoff and you're like going down
and you can't slow down Likeyou're just going to, you're
going to pass away in likeshambles of what you could have
been, but I feel like that's nottrue.
Like in my family, my grandmagrandpa's 90 and he's still
kicking it Like I think he'sgoing to pass away super
peacefully in his sleep 30 yearsfrom now.
(13:21):
I don't know, but is it like afalse belief that you can't slow
down that metabolic decline andall the other declines that are
happening as you get older?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It sounds like it's like I can't remember what the
term is, but no, I, I exactlyknow what you mean, because you
know I would have people comeand they're like well, I've been
diagnosed with type twodiabetes and my mom had it and
my brother or my aunt, and theyjust have this feeling of I have
to accept this now and this ismy journey and I'm going to
(13:54):
decline, and so I've just got toget on medicine and and I'll be
taking this pill and doing thatfor the rest of the next 40
years Exactly.
Yeah, and that's you know.
That's, I think, where I goback to my experience with my
health, when I thought I coulddo like there's gotta be more to
this, this issue and being ableto really see yes, it doesn't
(14:17):
matter what age you are, youdefinitely can affect your
health in a positive or anegative way.
And changing that belief, Ithink, is probably step one,
that what I do will matter.
It doesn't matter that I'm 60or 70, I can improve this.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
And I think it's the return that you get for it.
Say, you're 70 and like you'vebeen living life a certain way
and you have all these terriblehealth markers and it's like,
well, it'll take me three yearsto turn it all around.
It's like, yeah, but then maybeyou die or you pass away at 85
instead of 70.
Set like that, what is thatextra eight years worth to you?
You?
know, is it worth a year or twoof really hard work to get back
(14:58):
onto the horse.
You know that extra eight yearswith family or friends or
hobbies I think it's the mind,the shift in mentality around
health as you get older.
I think is so important to haveand being able to help seniors
in our life and ourselves LikeI'm.
I'm 26 and I still have that.
I'm like man.
It's so much work to try to getback on the horse but it's like
(15:18):
at this point I have this.
It could add way more qualityof life to my later years.
So, yeah, well, and can I touchon that?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I think that's such a great comment.
It actually doesn't take thatlong to see improvements, so let
me, if I could share an exampleof one of the gentlemen that I
worked with in one of ourstudies.
He was at a congregate millsite and he had had some.
He had a wife die, son die.
(15:47):
His diabetes was getting reallybad, his functionality was
going downhill, he'd beenfalling.
He qualified to be in our studyand he said, all right, I'll
try it, but I'm not going tochange.
I'm not going to change whatI'm doing.
I'm like that's okay, let's youknow let's just see what you can
do.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Do the behaviors and see what happens.
You don't have to believe it.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Uh-huh and it took him a little time to kind of buy
into it.
But within the first threemonths, three to four months,
he'd been back to his doctor andhis doctor said your A1C has
improved a lot.
So whatever you're doing, keepdoing it.
So in that short amount of timeand by the time he'd finished
(16:29):
the study, which was six months,he was walking better, he was
being able, he was able to godown to the gas station again to
get his morning drink andthings can turn around.
So it really doesn't take a longtime to see some of the
benefits.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Maybe the full picture, just little changes
that you're able to implement,you can really start.
That's pretty incredible,that's fascinating yeah.
Literally half a year is.
It's not that long, especiallywhen you get to being an older
adult.
(17:05):
It's like you've gone throughso many years at six months.
It's like that you know likeand so taking half a year to get
back on track and thencommitting to a long-term health
is really interesting.
We found, as we were doing somerandom research on a website,
that you maybe what switchedyour health over was kind of
(17:26):
going to a plant-based nutritiondiet.
Is that accurate, mm-hmm?
Yep, our research was good, youdid good, yep, you did good,
Yep.
Do you find that a lot ofseniors would be open to like
plant-based diets because you'veseen firsthand the effect that
they can have?
Or are there added benefits toseniors for a plant-based diet
(17:47):
versus just like a normalwell-rounded nutrition kind of
thing?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good question.
Definitely there are benefitsand I would say I feel like the
population, the older adultpopulation, is starting to
understand better health andtaking that into their own hands
.
A little bit more than maybe inthe past.
And there are.
(18:14):
So, and let me maybe,plant-based versus vegetarian,
versus vegan.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Is that okay?
If I kind of cover that alittle bit?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
too, so whole.
So we want to say whole foodplant-based, because really what
we're talking about, you know,oreos are plant-based.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, that's true, they're.
You know, they're not there'sno animal products.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Veggie straws are plant-based.
You know you could take youcould, I mean stretch it.
Those are better, exactly, yeah, like you can.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
potato chips are plant-based yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And so so we want to focus on whole food plant-based.
So you want to eat the potato,not the potato chips and things
like that.
So so that whole foodplant-based, that's also a
little different than like vegan.
You know vegan is more of maybedirected towards animal rights
(19:07):
and the environment, and youknow they don't won't wear
leather or they avoid, you know,honey things like that, any
sort of animal product.
Yeah.
And then you've got vegetarian,which there's a spectrum, you
know.
Honey, things like that, yes,product, yeah, yeah.
And then you've got vegetarian,which there's a spectrum, you
know you can be vegetarian andstill eat fish.
But you don't need any of theothers.
So um so, with that whole food,plant-based diet, the reason
that is such a like I'm such aproponent of that is because
(19:29):
you're getting whole fruits andvegetables and whole grains and,
um, proteins that are veryhealthy.
That have fiber, but also havethe protein and the iron and the
magnesium that your body needs,and you know you're just
getting back to the earth andfeeding your body what it needs
and in a whole way, and so so,yes, that that does help a lot
(19:55):
Older.
So when I, when I approach,approach this maybe with older
adults, because when they cometo me and they say, you know, I
don't want to, I don't want tobe diabetic, I want to reverse
this.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, that takes a lot of effort, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
And you really are going to have to cut out some um
animal proteins to do that andreally switch to getting those
whole foods.
But there's a little leeway inthat, you know, you don't have
to completely cut out all animalproducts to do that.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So it's like going a little bit back to.
We are, as a species, used tobe hunter, gatherers like you'd
typically have whatever youcould gather and if you got
lucky and got some animal meatonce, however often you could
great, but, like vast majority,what was available was what you
could gather, which is plants.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, and you know, and it's.
It's interesting because a lotof you know meat and a lot you
know if we're eating a lot ofthat, that can actually cause
inflammation in our body and so,yeah, getting back to just
having a little bit is is good,um.
So when I approach it, they'renot, you know, not everyone's
okay with that Um, but I domention, you know, maybe try to
(21:06):
have a meal that's plant-basedonce a week and and start there
and and they're, you know, happyto do that.
The gentleman that I I wastalking about, he stopped eating
hot dogs and I was so happyabout that because that's the
oreo of meat of animal-basedmeat.
Yes, yes, exactly, um.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
So, yeah, sorry, I was no, you're good, I don't
know if you want some likespecifics on different like
diabetes and heart disease, yeah, no, I think it would be really
interesting what specific kindof differences are there with,
for health and health issues, toadopting a full plant-based
(21:49):
diet like compared to a regulardiet that's animal meat-based.
Three meals a day of protein,you know?
Yeah, how do you what?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
you mentioned diabetes a few times and other
things that that can affect thiswould be interesting okay, yeah
, um, so older adults havehigher rates of chronic diseases
, and those are, you know,obesity type 2 diabetes, heart
disease, constipation which canlead to like diverticulosis and
(22:20):
things like that.
So GI issues and then, you know,dementia and Alzheimer's, and
so just some of the foods thatare beneficial.
For those like diabetes, morefiber helps to keep the glycemic
response under control and thenhelps with increased bile
absorption and so it's not beingreabsorbed into the liver and
(22:43):
promoting a worsening ofdiabetes or fatty liver disease.
And so fiber, your solublefiber, like legumes, oats barley
, some fruits and somevegetables, is really important.
And then insoluble fiber, soall of those plant foods, oats
barley, some fruits and somevegetables is really important,
and then insoluble fiber.
So all of those plant foods,whole plant foods, are really
(23:04):
important.
Those also help with heartdisease.
You know, the thing is is wehave these.
The way these chronic illnessesaffect us, I think are
genetically disposed.
You know, you're predisposed fordiabetes or you're predisposed
for heart disease.
But feeding your body, it's allconnected and so when you have,
you're eating, you know you'reavoiding animal products that
(23:25):
are high in saturated fats highyou know they can cause
inflammation in the body andyou're bringing in the high
fiber foods, the healthy fats.
It's going to help everything.
It's going to help diabetes,you know, heart disease.
When you're doing those, you'regetting more phytonutrients and
a lot of those healthy fatsfrom nuts and seeds and olives,
(23:49):
and you know those types offoods.
And it's low in saturated fat,which is really important too
for heart disease.
That leads into hypertension.
You know, more vitamin C, lesssodium, more potassium, that's
going to help with hypertension,and so you just can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
It's going to help in every way.
Just eating more plants, moreplants, yes, so with that, the
gentleman in your example, youknow he he cut out hot dogs.
Major win, probably from 80years of eating hot dogs every
day um and then.
But what would be like ideal forsomebody that like said they're
(24:27):
kind of they want to keep meatin their life?
Is it like have uh, lean meatsonce a day, or something like,
if there was, was a rule to helpcurb the anxiety that comes
with people like, but wait it'sso good.
What would you say would belike the bare minimum or the not
(24:48):
the bare minimum, the maximumamount of meat.
And then what type would yourecommend people have in that to
if they wanted to have meat intheir diet still?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Okay, so an easy way to do that without an assessment
is to just say, like an 80-20rule.
80% of your meals are justreally nutritious and whole
foods brown rice, whole grains,fruits, vegetables, legumes
those are a superfood, so wedefinitely want to get those on
our plates.
And then, yeah, having legumes.
(25:17):
Those are a super food, so wedefinitely want to get those on
our plates.
And then, yeah, having somemeat is fine.
Red meat is one I would stayfurther away from.
I know it's got so much of thatgood fat in it Saturated fat is
really high in red meat and soyou know people that would come
to me and they're like I havered meat every day, what can I
(25:38):
do?
And I said can you cut thatdown to once a week?
And they're like ah no, I can'tlike, okay, twice a week, so
then they would do twice a weekand then they'd be like, hey,
I'm actually learning to reallyenjoy plant foods and so so I
would say, for red meat, ideally, if you're really talking like,
hey, I really want to fix myhealth and you want to keep red
(26:00):
meat, yeah, cut it.
But if you really want to keepit twice a month is my special
occasion.
Yep hey we got a raise orwhatever date night, you know.
Um, and then the meats that, ifyou want to keep them in, you
want to go with your lean meats,so lean chicken, so white meat,
fish and turkey you know,poultry, your lean poultry, and
(26:25):
then 80-20 is like maybe you'reeating that every other day out
of the meals.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, interesting, I think I can do that.
Or small portions, you know itcould even be, which sometimes
is hard.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
So it's whatever works for you Some people are
like I'll just have a little bitversus.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Okay, tomorrow I'm having my chicken breast and
it's going to be, you knowwhatever it's, whatever works
for you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Every step in that direction, though they do show
improvements in health.
That's so interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Even just taking cutting red meat consumption to
twice a week, had this bigimprovement, and then cutting it
to twice a month and exactlyyou mentioned something about
portion sizes which made methink about an issue within
older adults which I think it'scommon is appetite.
So as they get older they justeat less, and so it's hard to
(27:13):
get those nutrients in everysingle day.
So, what advice do you have forthat, for people that see that
in their loved ones?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, that is a very common issue with older adults
and that can lead tomalnutrition, which is a big
concern in this population.
But you know, the first thing Isay is limit drinks during a
meal because you don't want tohave them filling up on a drink,
so limit that.
Offer smaller food itemsthroughout the day is also
(27:45):
helpful.
Another thing is, you know,maybe they've had some diet
restrictions and so they're likeI'm just not happy with this,
pulling up the Internet withthem and looking you know we
have so much access to all kindsof recipes and ways to make
foods and eat and have them lookand you know, talk about it
Like, hey, what about we trythis?
(28:06):
And you do it together, whichalso leads to eating with them.
That is really helpful.
People who eat alone will eatless than if someone else is
with them.
So, if you can sit down andhave that meal with them, Make
it an event.
Use the nice china or make itlook appealing and pretty and
(28:28):
have a good conversation whileyou're eating.
Those are some things that help, and then physical activity
will help to improve appetite aswell.
Yeah, burning calories, thingsthat help and then physical
activity will help to improveappetite as well, and so
calories, if you can get themmoving before they they'll get.
You know that gets your gisystem running, moving actually
if you do exercise, whatever itis, whatever they can do, um,
and then there was one lastthing I had.
(28:50):
Wow, where was that?
It's okay.
What question was?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
that?
Uh, this was the question eight.
What are the most commonnutrition challenges?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
you had appetite, mobility and absorption okay,
yeah, right here, sorry, no,you're good um way to make it
number based, so you couldrecall it.
I'm like I just didn't havetime to really even go over
everything.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I think I had it in a different section, but oh,
another, yeah.
So another issue that can comefrom you know, when we get older
and that appetite, our appetitedecreasing is, our taste buds
change and so food tastesdifferent and so we just kind of
lose the pleasure in eating andso we don't want to just add
(29:42):
salt, which is can happen often.
Some people are avoid salt, buta lot of older adults salt
because they need to get moreflavor.
So really just getting creativewith herbs and spices and even
Mrs Dash has a lot of no sodium,you know different variety and
then keeping in mind, with adecreased appetite, when someone
(30:02):
hasn't been eating well for awhile, it just it's kind of like
a circular effect If you're noteating well, your appetite goes
down, and then you continue tonot eat well, your appetite goes
down, and so some point it'slike I know, you know, maybe you
don't feel like eating, butfood becomes medicine.
(30:23):
Now and so it's thatconversation of you know, let's
just get some food in you, eventhough you may not be enjoying
it as well as you could, um, toget their appetite to come back.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, my grandpa.
Um, on my mom's side he, he hasa ranch and if you don't like
force him to sit down, like takefood to him on the tractor and
like make him turn it off.
He's just not eating, or he'lleat like a tiny bowl of hot
cereal in the morning and thenthat's it for the day I think
(30:56):
just is totally fine yeah, itreally is like very conscious
effort.
Um, I had a random thought asyou were talking about, like
let's look up meals together.
I have a friend that uh or Iguess my wife's friend she
didn't know what to make and sowith tools, today she took out
her phone and opened ChatGPT.
Yeah, yeah, and took a pictureof the fridge and was like, what
(31:16):
can I make?
And it like, made these recipeswith the ingredients in her
fridge.
It was pretty sweet.
Yeah, and you can do that as acaregiver of being like go
grocery shopping with what'srecommended for your loved one,
take a picture and just say whatcan I make and see if there's
anything that's appealing.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Yeah, so it's pretty cool and that's such a great
idea too, because that helpswith food costs.
You know, a lot of times we goto the store and we just buy
things like, okay, we'll havethis and this, but what did you
have at home first?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Because sometimes that ends up getting pushed to
the back and we we don't use itand so how often, uh, in my
house we buy like spinach andkale and blah, blah, blah, and
then like two weeks later we'relike ah he got one serving out
of the 12 in this container,yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, so yeah, that's .
That's really great to takethat inventory and see what can
we make.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Um, we the time's flying, we've been going for
like 40 minutes.
But what you are working withthe government programs in Utah?
I feel like you mentioned a few, but what are some initiatives
that seniors in Utah, um, shouldbe taking advantage of?
There's meals on wheels?
Is there anything else as faras nutrition goes?
Any maybe dieticians from thestate that can help them for
(32:25):
those other two meals out of theday?
I don't know what.
What, uh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
So it depends on which area you're in.
Um, everyone's funding is alittle bit different with the.
Aaas.
So some there's.
There's some that may have adietician on staff that if
they're part of their programsthey can work with them.
For those other two, meals.
And that's yeah.
That's kind of what I was doingis helping like, okay, you're
getting one balanced meal, buthow do we navigate?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
these others?
How do we not get a microwavemeal for those other two meals?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Unfortunately, that's , you know, not widespread
because of funding which?
Speaker 1 (33:00):
we all understand yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
But Medicare and Medicaid have are recognizing
nutrition and dieticians more,and so if people have certain
chronic conditions, theirinsurance can pay for a
dietician.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
And so they can just look that up.
They just call their insuranceand see if it's part of their
policy or whatever.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, call your insurance, find out if that's
part of their policy or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, call your insurance, find out if that's covered.
You can talk to your physicianand ask for a recommendation as
well.
Sometimes physicians will haveconnections with dieticians, and
so that's the best way to dothat.
There are online dieticians aswell.
I don't know that insurance.
(33:45):
Some of them would takeinsurance.
A lot of them don't, but I wishit was a little more simple to
get older adults in front ofdieticians.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
But we're getting there, we're taking steps and I
think to your point earlierwhere um, older people like 80
years old and older, like theyaren't as speaking generalities.
They aren't as open to usingtechnology and using google and
using chat, gpt.
But I think that the babyboomers that are getting into
(34:19):
being older, they're more opento the free resources that are
all over the internet to likeget started or the, you know,
using the internet to find adietician in their area, or like
find a Facebook group of likehealth.
I don't know, I'm sure there'sa.
Facebook group out there calledlike healthy grandmas or
something.
(34:40):
And so, like I think that we'regetting there, and it's just
kind of this bridge periodbetween now and the next one, to
maybe two decades of gettingpeople that are using their
technology to do a lot of that,so it's yeah, it is tricky and,
I think, relying.
One like supporting the elderlypeople in our lives to get there
(35:04):
and help them and use ouraptitudes to try to help.
And then two is just likegovernment programs trying to
support the best that they canin the meantime, you know like,
yeah, it's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah, they're, you know, they do education,
nutrition, education quarterlyalso for participants of the
meal programs for the homedelivered and the congregate, so
they do get you know.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
general nutrition information, which is really
helpful too like screening toolsavailable that caregivers or
other providers for seniors thatthey could use to monitor their
seniors health to just like a20, answer these 20 questions to
(35:55):
see what blah blah blah Like.
Is there something out therelike that?
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, yeah, there are a few that would be appropriate
for that, that setting One ofthem is.
So we're looking.
There's a couple different wayswhere we can screen.
We can look at nutrition healthjust in general, and so that
would be the determine yournutrition health risk is
questions on how many you know.
(36:18):
Are you eating fruits andvegetables each day?
How many alcoholic drinks doyou have?
How many medications do youtake?
So those all factor intonutrition risk and so that gives
a score Malnutrition risk.
It's called the MSTmalnutrition screening tool and
it's just a few questions.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
And you just go to Google MST or malnutrition.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Okay, yeah, and so if caregivers can do that, that is
a really good thing to give totheir physician and or make a
contact and say hey, I justscreened my mom and I'm
concerned because she's scoringthis on the mst, and make an
appointment um to talk to thephysician, um have you know,
(37:03):
maybe he'll have a dietician hecan bring in as well.
But but, yeah, those are, thoseare good.
Those are a couple of thescreening tools that are
available.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I love those.
I think that it's sounderappreciated how much taking
the five minutes to do a testlike that and then, you know,
red flagging it for theirprimary care physician can go a
long way, cause I bet a lot ofuh, if I were a betting man I
would bet that most of theirinsurances cover it.
But it needs a cause, it needsa well.
(37:31):
We're getting a dieticianbecause and not just like
everybody- not Oprah.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
you get a dietician as much as that would be awesome
.
Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
But you know getting that started because then when
they go into that appointmenttheir physician can say yes,
insurance, they need a dietician.
Because and it takes fiveminutes and a phone call- to
like help an aging person.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Do that or themselves to do that.
Yeah, and you know some otherthings as a caregiver you can
look at is if they have a changein mood and they're down a lot
more than they used to be orsleeping more a lot more than
they used to be, or sleepingmore.
If there's been a recent loss,a lot of those things right,
there are a flag that hey,there's going to be some changes
(38:13):
in what they're eating, and sogetting the eyes on how much are
they eating if it's someonethat's not in the home all the
time?
just looking for even thosephysical changes and how their
affect is and stuff can also bea you know like huh, something's
changing.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
And with your nutrition.
So let's, let's look into thata little deeper.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, um, what so say they do, that they get in
contact with their physician.
What's something that a seniorcaregiver, if they wanted to
start making small andmeaningful changes, um, changes
to get towards a healthier diet,what's something that they
could do, like today?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Okay.
So I don't know if everyone'sfamiliar with MyPlate.
It's the government, it's aplate, you know it's in the
school.
Sometimes it's green, red, blueand yellow.
You got it.
Yeah, focusing on that plate isreally helpful.
It's a very good visual of okay, is this meal balanced?
And so start there.
Look at that.
(39:10):
But statistics show we are not,as a society doesn't matter
your age getting enough fruitsand vegetables, so start with
that All right, and it's likehalf your plate or something.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Half, yes, should be a vegetable.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Vegetables or fruits, okay, and or you half your
plate or something, half, yes,it should be a vegetable.
Vegetables or fruits, okay.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
And or you know, oh good, yeah, it can be.
And or Because I'm way morejust kidding.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Vegetables are better a lot of the time, but Nope,
they're not.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Fruit and vegetables are awesome.
They all have their own role.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
My Not as good as vegetables.
Just get a plate of kale andsuck it up.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So do you remember that old you know, eat the
rainbow.
You're probably too young.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
I don't remember Eat the rainbow.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
You know you want your greens and your reds and
your whites and your yellows andoranges all the color of the
rainbow.
So if you've got a rainbow onthe half of your plate, you're
doing great.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
so you don't want to just eat apples only because
yeah, that's not good.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Or just kale, that's not good.
You want variety so get thosefruits in there too?
Yeah, absolutely, and so that'sa an easy first step.
Um, with cost, frozen fruitsare just as cost effective, or
sorry, they're more costeffective because they don't go
bad and you're not throwing themaway.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
And they're just as nutritious as fresh, and so
people tend to shy away.
Oh, I have to go where it'sfresh and that's not the case.
Yeah, it doesn't lose nutrition.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yeah, even can't If that's the best way someone can
get their fruits and vegetablesin.
Just make sure it's no sodiumadded and no added sugar.
The nutrition value goes downslightly, but not enough to not
eat it.
Whatever you can do to getfruits and vegetables in,
because sometimes eating hardvegetables is hard in this
population, so a canned one isgoing to be better.
(40:59):
Great, do that.
The other one I would say isswitch to 100% whole grains.
That's an easy switch.
We're eating bread, we'rehaving tortillas, we're having
pasta.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
And rice Switch to whole grain.
One tip for bread with wholegrains is bread can say it's
whole wheat and it's not.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
It's not whole grain, yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
So you have to look at the nutrition or the
ingredient list and if it saysenriched, that's not a whole
grain.
If it just says whole grainflour, you know that's good,
that's what you would want topick.
And then the third one I wouldsay decreased saturated fat in
the diet.
So swapping butter for, likeolive oil and avocado oil, skim
(41:41):
milk versus whole milk, or even,you know, 2% milk, or some
simple changes that people canreduce fat intake.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
That's awesome, Um.
Last two questions is one, whatadvice do you have for somebody
getting into the space, adietician that's maybe that's
focused on seniors?
Um, and then two, if anybodywants to get in contact with
some of these nutrition programsfor the state of Utah, who
(42:12):
should they reach out to?
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Okay, yeah, great.
So yeah, for a dietician justgetting into this space, I would
say I think we approachsometimes older adults as
they're all the same and they'rejust younger people in bodies
that have aged.
They still you know they're,they're very independent, they
know what they like.
Um, and to not think becausethey're older we know better,
(42:38):
and to discount the, the yearsof living that they have.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Years ago they were just dating their soon-to to be
spouse and had all the like theyjust they lived that too.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Yeah, like, yeah exactly yeah, and so you know,
listening to them and what whatmight work for them, you know
they might not want to changesome things changes hard, that's
been ingrained in them.
You know we get in our comfortzones and getting out of that is
really hard, but they'rewilling to do that.
So don't I just, you know,don't underestimate the power
that you can have as a dietitianin helping them have better
(43:13):
health and helping them changeand have more helpful patterns
in their life.
So it's a great space to be inUm and then, if anybody's
interested in the meal programsum for like the triple a, to
figure out which triple a you're, you live in um go to
dosutahgov D.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
A S dot Utah.
D A S D A S dot U T or Utah.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Utah.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Dot gov.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Dot gov forward slash locations, so yeah.
Awesome, and then it'll have aclick box that you click on the
the county that you live in, andit will direct you to the area
agency on aging.
Give them a call and they canhook you up.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Awesome, amy.
I really appreciate your timeand wisdom that you shared.
There's a lot of, uh, healththings that I can change that I
learned that I'll implement, um,but yeah, it was great having
you in and I appreciate youtaking 45 minutes here.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
So yeah, well, thanks .
This is a great podcast thatyou guys are doing and I
appreciate that you're doing itWell, thank, you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Thank you for tuning in to Senior Care Academy,
brought to you by Helperly.
We hope that today's episodeprovided some insights and
something valuable to help youcare for yourself, a loved one
or seniors that you serve.
If you enjoyed the episode,don't forget to subscribe, rate
and leave us a review, and if itwas extra insightful, share it
with a friend so that they canget something out of it also.
We'll see you next time wherewe continue to explore the heart
(44:36):
of senior care.
So until then, take care.
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