One of the leading causes of death amongst the elderly is cardiovascular disease, but a lot of the negative aspects of aging on our heart and circulatory systems can be reduced with some simple things. Exercise has always been cited as being one of the best things for you, bust diet is usually right behind it in importance. However, as we get older, exercise becomes more and more difficult, and while certain types of exercise are still easily accessible, diet is the one thing that remains constant and extremely easy to address.
The main problem is that it can be really easy to keep old dietary habits going, even if we know that they are not beneficial. This is just one of the extra, often unthought of, benefits of in-home care, and outside help in general. A caregiver can help with the preparation of meals and snacks, and make sure that the proper foods are being eaten, and not just what’s most convenient at the time.
This is important in light of a recent study that shows that eating fruit on a daily basis has a serious impact when it comes to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Really, this is good news for everyone since cardiovascular issues are the leading cause of death in the world. This includes ischemic stroke and heart attacks, which are something that the elderly are particularly at risk of. The recent study looked at about half a million people over the course of seven years, which is a huge number. It gives extra reliability to the data, too, since the results seem to be pretty universal.
This really isn’t surprising, though. Fruit in general has a ton of diverse nutrients, and many varieties contain powerful antioxidants which are known to clean toxins out of the body and even might help fight off cancer. It only makes sense that this natural food would be helpful, then. Furthermore, fruit break down quickly within the body–something that promotes a healthy weight or weight loss. Again, this is something that would obviously be good for the cardiovascular system, especially when exercise becomes difficult in someone’s later years.
An in-home caregiver of any value will help your elderly loved one prepare meals, and throwing in healthy food like a favorite fruit once in a while is simple, yet something that you might not automatically think of on your own. The more reputable the service is that you go with, the easier things like this become. There are lots of caregivers out there, but only a few will give your loved one their best. Doing this, as you can see, has the potential to help your loved one’s health in a profound manner. Simple things can go a long way toward improving health and thus living conditions, and a trained caregiver will know that this is true. Others, such as independent caregivers that are just in it for a quick buck, might not realize or care to strive for these seemingly little things.
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