Personal Chefs and How They Can Help Improve Senior Health

We all love convenience food, but one of the simplest ways to improve your health is by preparing more home-cooked meals. Also, as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues, dine-in restaurants in your area may be closed or have limited seating, or you may not feel comfortable about eating out. This can be an ideal opportunity to try cooking meals at home. Even if you’re not able to share home-cooked food with friends and family at this time, you can still experience the many health benefits – and save some money on your weekly food bills.

When you prepare your own meals, you have more control over the ingredients. By cooking for yourself, you can ensure that you and your family eat fresh, wholesome meals. It also allows you to further monitor portion controls. Many restaurants serve portions that are two to three times larger than the recommended dietary guidelines. This encourages you to eat more than you would at home, adversely affecting your waistline, blood pressure, and risk of diabetes. Preparing your own meals can help you look and feel healthier, boost your energy, stabilize your weight and mood, and improve your sleep and resilience to stress.

Despite all the benefits, many of us still think of preparing meals as a chore or something we don’t have time for. Maybe you’ve tried cooking before and didn’t like the end results, or maybe your kids just prefer take out food. Others may have difficulty with the ability to cook. Older people may find cooking to be a much more difficulty task than others due to disabilities, trouble remembering recipes, or no longer being physically able to cook for themselves in the kitchen.

Today, July 16th, celebrates National Personal Chef Day and recognized the dedication and hard work of personal chefs across the United States. There is a difference between a personal chef and a private chef. A private chef usually works exclusively for one client and typically lives in a person’s home or on the property. A personal chef may have clients, run their own business, or work for a company.

The services a personal chef provides may include preparing meals in the clients’ homes or delivering meals already prepared. They may also create a meal plan according to dietary needs or the clients’ preference. Clients then follow instructions provided by the chef for heating the meals. Some personal chefs offer catering services as well.

A personal chef service provides stress-free meals prepared to your specifications in your home. Your kitchen is left spotless with a refrigerator full of delicious meals. Having your own personal chef is not a luxury reserved for the rich. A personal chef service can cost you less than eating out at a moderately priced restaurant.

Carrying heavy grocery bags, lifting heavy pots, spending hours on your feet in front of the stove – most of us don’t give a second thought to the physical and mental work that goes into preparing a home-cooked meal. But for an aging loved one, these seemingly simple tasks can be very burdensome, leading to compromised nutrition and health.

Maintaining access to nutritious meal options is one of the biggest challenges faced by an older adult who wishes to remain living in their own home. As their ability to prepare healthy meals for themselves declines, they often turn to take-out, frozen meals, and pre-packed products for sustenance. These foods tend to be high in calories, loaded with salt and sugar, and contain large numbers of artificial preservatives.

Convenience and processed food can take a significant toll on your mood and health. Convenience food is typically high in chemical additives, hormones, sugar, salt, unhealthy fat, and calories, all of which can adversely affect your brain and outlook. It can leave you feeling tired, bloated, and irritable, as well as exacerbate symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety.

Many personal chefs are very health-conscious and well-educated in the preparation of foods that heal. A good chef can prepare meals with simple ingredients that are full of flavor and add to your well-being. You won’t have to spend time agonizing over menus, shopping, or preparations since you will be able to rely on your personal chef to prepare and customize your meals to support your health goals and dietary needs.

Adhering to a nutritious meal plan can do wonders for an older adult’s physical well-being, and the benefits of a home-cooked meal can extend far beyond the food’s nutritional value. Having healthier meals cooked for him and getting regular exercise enabled one Chefs for Seniors client to go off of the blood pressure medication he’d been on for nearly a decade. One chef remembers a woman whose arthritis was so bad she could no longer make her family’s famous lasagna. Her chef was able to recreate the recipe with such precision that it brought tears of joy and memory to her eyes when she took the first bite.

Whether you are too busy to cook, unable to cook for yourself, or what have you, a personal chef is a great way to make sure you are eating healthy while still enjoying delicious meals.