Nutrition shortcuts when you live alone

I learned early on in my career that loneliness affects the dinner table. I was a young TV news anchor at the time, and one day, an elderly woman walked up to me in a store and said, “I live alone, but I eat dinner with you every night.” It was the first of many times that I would hear those words. It was always humbling, and it instilled an extra sense of responsibility in me at 6 o’clock every evening. Now that I have elderly loved ones who live alone, I see that they’re coping with an empty table and little interest to cook or even eat. It’s a common problem. “They’re missing companionship,” says Melanie Pearsall, a dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. “When eating is no longer a social experience, people don’t make an effort. There’s no joy left in preparing food, because people don’t view it as something valuable to do for themselves.” Challenges lead to health risks Loneliness is just part of the nutrition challenge for older people who live alone. They may also experience depression, which can reduce appetite immobility, which can keep people from being able to cook declining thinking skills, which can cause people to forget to eat transportation or financial problems, which can keep people from buying food dietary restrictions due to chronic illness, which can feel overwhelming when it’s time to figure out what to eat medication side effects, which can cause changes in taste. As a result, older adults may wind ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Healthy Aging Healthy Eating Source Type: news