Nutrition hydration week promoting health and wellbeing

Nutrition and Hydration Week, an annual event, 14 – 20th March 2022 aims to highlight, promote and celebrate improvements in nutrition and hydration, locally, nationally and globally within health and social care settings.

With approximately three million people at risk of malnutrition in the UK, Gold Care Homes fully supports the awareness week to educate people on the value of food and drink in maintaining health and wellbeing.

What is good nutrition?

Regardless of age, good nutrition plays a big part in our health. Paying attention to what we eat by ensuring we fuel our bodies through the right nutrients on a daily basis is more important than ever.

A good balance of proteins, carbohydrates, whole grains, natural foods and fats can reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol as well as increase energy levels and help our bodies cope with ongoing illnesses.

Signs of inadequate nutrition:

Unexplained fatigue, lack of energy Muscle weakness Increased infections, accidents or falls Changes in behaviour Changes in bowel movements Brittle or dry hair, ridged or spoon shaped nails

Why is good hydration important?

The human body is around 60 per cent water. Practising good hydration is critical for maintaining body functions, including the heart and brain. It is recommended to consume around 6-8 glasses of water a day, depending on your body size, age and activity levels.

Whilst water is the best option for rehydrating the body, juice, tea or milky drinks can also contribute to rehydration. Often elderly are more at risk of becoming dehydrated as they fail to recognise when they are thirsty or are unable to communicate their needs.

Signs of inadequate hydration:

• Dryness of mouth

• Sunken eyes

• Dry skin

• Drowsiness, confusion, disorientation

• Dizziness

• Low blood pressure

How does Gold Care Homes ensure residents get a good balanced diet and hydration?

A bespoke care plan is generated when a resident joins the Gold Care family, with details about food likes and dislikes, intolerances or allergies and general preferences. These are regularly reviewed and monitored through digitalized care plans across the team of carers and management in conjunction with residents to ensure they receive the correct daily nutritional and fluid intake requirements.

Each of our homes has a dedicated kitchen team who are involved in the planning, creating and delivering of nutritional meals for our residents based on individual needs. They use local and seasonal ingredients as much as possible. Often a cultural background or favourite cuisine can make all the difference in supporting good nutrition and hydration, which is why our kitchen staff surpass expectations as they work to create aesthetically pleasing meals that are catered to each resident’s palate.

Our teams often prepare finger foods for our residents living with dementia, making a big difference in the way they eat. Foods can also play a big part in reminiscence, being reminded of childhood favourites by taste or smell can help stimulate conversations and stories about likes and dislikes.

Mealtimes can be the highlight of the day as can act as a social time where people come together and communicate with each other. Setting tables, using contrasting colours, and adding background music, not only helps provide visual and sensory clues that it is mealtime but creates a relaxed environment where there are no distractions, particularly suitable for residents with dementia.

Protected meal times are implemented in our homes, which permits our kitchen team and carers to be on the floor with our residents to ensure they are eating and drinking enough to maintain balanced nutrition and hydration. During this time our teams can not only assist but also assess residents, to ascertain if further aids are required to help maintain independence.

Our teams keep a close eye on all residents and have regular snack and drink times or ‘Happy hours’, as well as having juice, milk and hot drinks available at all times. Team members are trained to identify barriers to drinking, such as worries about toilet habits or physical inability to make or reach drinks and provide assistance with aids where required or offer emotional support and encouragement regarding these issues.

Gold Care Homes empower both residents and team members to be champion specialists across a variety of subjects including Prevention of malnutrition and dehydration, whereby they liaise with each other and staff members to discuss likes, dislikes and wants so the chef, carers and management can incorporate these into daily life.

None of us wants to eat the same food day in day out, we like to try new cuisines. In addition to weekly menus, our homes also provide a variety of cuisines through celebratory days such as Chinese New Year, Shrove Tuesday, Burns Night and many more, whereby residents can experience different foods to accommodate cravings or changes in palates.

Summary and top tips

In summary, being aware of your diet and what you put into your body is always going to have an impact on your health, however, as you get older it is even more important that you are eating the right things to help your body cope. At Gold Care Homes we maintain the highest standards of food safety and nutritional value, whilst striving to create delicious food dishes every day for all our residents.

Top tips for eating and drinking well

Create a menu that promotes a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables

• Offer healthy snacks for those who are unable to cope with large meals

• Drink fluids regularly throughout the day (water, milk, sugar-free drinks, diluted squashes, juices, tea and coffee all count towards hydration. Foods with high water content can also contribute watermelon, soup, cucumber, jellies)

• Cut down on saturated fat, sugar and salt

• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads

• Ensure dedicated mealtimes are in relaxed environments and there are team members around to assist

For more information on how to support health and wellbeing through good nutrition and hydration take a look at the government Eatwell guide.

click here for more details or to contact Gold Care Homes