If you parent needs to follow a gluten-free diet for their health, you may be concerned when sending them to a nursing home. The main question is, how can you be sure they will get gluten-free meals every day?
Nursing homes are obliged to provide the diet a doctor has prescribed, as this counts as part of overall treatment. Before choosing a nursing home, it is advised to talk to the staff. Introduce them to every single issue and ask them what gluten-free meals they provide. Every facility needs to have one or several dietitians, so it would be best if you could discuss concerns with them. Developing a gluten-free meal plan for the elderly is part of their expertise and they probably have had patients on a gluten-free diet before.
Source: https://www.usnews.com/
Gluten-Free Nutrition for the Elderly at Home
However, when your parent lives at home, it would be good to help them organize their meals. At the beginning, it may seem difficult to develop a perfect gluten-free plan, but there are plenty of options. In the morning, they can eat some combination of scrambled eggs, vegetables, potatoes, cereals, zucchini, quinoa, oatmeal, or tofu.
For lunch, chicken, turkey, and tuna would be the best; shrimps as well. They can try to make quinoa salad, or even baked sweet potatoes. If they are a fan of sushi, that would be a perfect dinner. Apart from that, nutrition can include broccoli, potatoes, beef stew, gluten-free cheese, etc. However, when buying groceries, check if they have a label stating they are gluten-free, since some processed food may contain gluten.
As you can see, there are a plenty of options for elderly adults who follow a gluten-free diet. Whether they live at home or a nursing facility, they shouldn’t be worried; following a gluten-free diet is not as difficult as it seems.
If pay attention to what you eat, you may be interested in nutrition tips for seniors.
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