Caregivers in McKinney, TX – 5 Ways to get More Nutrition from Common Foods

It can be easy to get into a routine in the kitchen, not really thinking about each thing we do. For example, we may have always peeled carrots and potatoes. But did you know they can be gently scrubbed with a veggie brush to clean them and then you can eat the skin for extra nutrients and fiber?

Raising nutrition through alternate cooking methods

If getting more nutrition from your food sounds interesting to you, keep reading. It’s a great benefit to put the nutrients into our own body rather than throwing them in the garbage or pouring them down the sink. It’s not always easy to get your elderly loved ones to eat enough food, so an increase of nutrients with the same volume of food should sound really appealing.

A home care provider can help your elder with meal preparation when you’re not there. If you have a plan of meals you’d like to be served, the caregiver can follow it. That way you can be assured of what your dear mom or dad is eating so they get all the nutrients important to good health. The caregivers are also trained in health and nutrition and know how to take good care of your loved one.

Some ways to increase nutrition include:

1. Team iron-rich spinach with citrus fruits to aid absorption of the iron. Same goes for broccoli and kale. Squeeze on some lemon juice or toss in some orange segments to your greens.
2. Crushed garlic is the way to go. It’s better than whole cloves because crushing or mincing it releases and activates the allicin, which is the compound that fights disease. The more it’s crushed or chopped, the more allicin is produced.
3. It’s better to grind flaxseeds than leave them whole. They are easier to digest when ground, so your body has access to all the nutrients. If you leave them whole, they can pass through your intestines undigested. Digested flaxseeds help lower blood cholesterol levels.
4. Potato skins contain a lot of nutrients. If possible, clean potatoes with a vegetable brush to retain all the vitamin c and potassium found just under the skin. Most of these vitamins come off with a potato peeler.
5. You can serve pasta with vinegar to help keep blood sugar levels in balance. Red wine vinegar can help control a blood sugar spike, according to the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The acetic acid in the vinegar moderates the sugar levels in the blood after a meal high in starchy foods such as rice, pasta and bread.

If the above foods are on your menu anyway, it makes sense to increase the efficiency of extracting the nutrients. It’s not hard to make these little changes, especially if you post this list up on the side of the fridge for easy reference.