Today, July 17, is National Peach Ice Cream Day!Taking a bite into a ripe, juicy, peach on a hot day is one of the best simple pleasures of summer! Another reason why peaches are perfect to eat during summer months is that peaches keep you hydrated because they are 85% water!
For seniors, peaches can bring back nostalgic memories of beloved summer days and they are soft fruits that can be easy to eat when cut up. Peach ice cream is even easier to eat, and it cools you off during hot weather!
If you feel extra lucky on July 17th, it might be because it’s National Lottery Day! However, you do not need to buy a ticket to win! Our clients have described Private Home Care as ‘winning the lottery’ in terms of home health care and our high quality services. Our expert, compassionate caregivers ensure the best care for our clients. Private Home Care is a sure bet for you and your loved ones!
Lotteries date back to the 15th century. While early lotteries funded village needs by feeding and clothing the poor, they also strengthened defenses. According to Random Riches author, Manfred Zollinger, one of the oldest lotteries dates back to 1441 in Bruges, Belgium.
In early lotteries, merchants paid for the chance to win money prizes. Often, the grand prizes included the tax farm on the wijnscrooderschap (wine transporters). These early Renaissance lotteries granted one grand prize winner the opportunity to own the tax farm. Their winnings also included quality control of the wine. There’s no question, merchants gained a lucrative position if they won this lottery.
In the United States, early lotteries paid for cannons during the American Revolution. Lottery money also paved roads up and down the East Coast. Today, states own and operate the lotteries. The funds they gather support government programs and the communities they serve.
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.
It is always very exciting and relieving when a loved one finally comes home from a hospital stay! Although there is much to celebrate, there can be unforeseen bumps in the road to your loved one’s recovery at home. The home adjustment period takes about a week, and there are many low profile details that need to be attended to, such as Activities of Daily Living, errands, meals, cleaning, and more. There is also the emotional component of increased stress for the one in recovery as well as their family (who are often the caregivers) and friends. This is due to different factors, such many changes happening at once and the frustration of the patient to want to get back to normal life. Sometimes pain, certain medications, or unexpected complications may exacerbate difficulties with the adjustment period.
A great strategy is to cope ahead, this is where Private Home Health Care is here for you and your loved ones. Our company prides itself on our decades of experience caring for postoperative clients. From post-op paperwork, caregiving instructions, assistance with ADL (Activities of Daily Living), medication allocation, companionship, accompanying doctor’s appointments, assisted living, and anything in between, Private Home Care provides excellent care and a top tier experience for our clients and their loved ones.
Today, July 14th, measuring twice means something extra on National Tape Measure Day.
The tape measure comes in a wide array of sizes, colors, and materials. You can find some smaller than the palm of your hand or bigger in lengths of 300+ feet. They are used for anything from health purposes, DIY projects at home, by contractors, and in construction. They are a standard tool in almost every household and doctor’s office.
Tape measures are a useful tool for preventing and fighting against dementia. How can this be?! In older adults, body mass index (BMI)-adjusted waist circumference is positively associated with the incidence of dementia, according to study results published in ‘Obesity’. That means that using waist circumference (measured using a tape measure!) is a more acurate indicator of visceral fat than BMI. The reason why BMI – Body Mass Index – is not a reliable measurement for predicting increased risk for dementia is that BMI calculations do not discriminate between fat and lean body mass.
Waist size (measured with a trusty tape measure!) may be better than BMI as an indicator of excess fat. This is because older people tend to lose muscle and gain fat without a change in their weight. A larger waist size is also a sign of excess visceral fat, the deeper type of fat stored within the abdominal cavity. Higher amounts of visceral fat also have been linked with such health issues as heart disease and diabetes. These chronic diseases may contribute to or interplay with the risk of dementia. Sometimes it is better for your health to rely on the old fashioned tape measure than on a fancy new scale!
National Mac n Cheese Day One of the classic comfort foods earns a place of honor on July 14th. It is National Mac and Cheese Day!
Mac n’ Cheese is an American favorite and can be found all over the nation, often with added regional twists – New England Lobster Mac n’ Cheese is divine!
Made with macaroni noodles, cream or milk, and the golden goodness of cheese, mac and cheese shines as a side dish while also standing on its own as a main dish. This meal reminds many of us of home while also teaching us the basics of the kitchen, or as a lunchbox staple, or as a go-to easy dinner after a long work day. (Psst – check out this health mac n cheese recipe – https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/healthy-mac-cheese/?fbclid=IwAR20uX2SOEg34_2NQeWT4xkrJa4kZRZIr7NECcThkP8pBZ2sx9vDp-8Wb7U )
From the classic boxed mac n’ cheese, to baked mac n cheese with cheddar or American (and bread crumbs on top!), to the spicy cowboy mac with bacon and jalapenos, there’s a combination for everyone. Mix up the cheeses or load up on seasonings like veggies, meats, and other yummy ingredients.
Mac n’ cheese can be prepared as indulgently or as healthy as you like! You can have 4-cheese mac n cheese, deep fried mac n cheese, or even pizza topped with mac n cheese (carb overload much?). At Private Home Care, we love Mac n’ Cheese, but as always we love it elevated to a healthier dish. Simple ways to make it healthier is to use whole wheat or bean-based pasta, or swap out butter for olive oil or Greek yogurt (which has more protein AND probiotics). Great healthy add-ins could be peas, chickpeas, petit broccoli or brussel sprouts, or tomatoes. Experiment with different cheeses too – you can use Swiss, Parmesan, Gouda, goat cheese, or a tangy soft Lebanese cheese called ‘Labneh’ where you do not have to add any butter or milk!
On July 14th, celebrate mac and cheese not only because we love to eat it, but because it taught us we can cook, too.
P.S. We always love to make foods healthier, but using low fat cheese is NOT the best choice. Why? Because when fat is taken out of cheese, fillers are added to still make the cheese taste good. This could be extra salt or sugar, or even chemicals! PHC always encourages the use of whole foods ingredients, and if you are trying to cut down on fat in cheese, just use a little less!
Sometimes jello is not always the best for seniors because it can be difficult to eat. Everyone can agree that is can be frustrating when eating jello and it falls off of your spoon can be difficult to eat.
A 24-year-old student recently developed brightly colored edible water pods to help his grandmother with dementia who has great difficulty staying hydrated and had been rushed to hospital with severe dehydration. The Jelly Drops he created are 90 percent water, contain hydrating electrolytes, easy to grip and leave no residue on hands.
Jelly Drops are hydrating treats shaped like raindrops that come in a treat box with a see-through lid. They look like a box of candies, but they are not! The drops are meant to be appealing to people with dementia, as well as easy to grasp and swallow, and they contain water and electrolytes to help keep elderly patients hydrated.
‘Eat Your Jello Day!’ was yesterday, July 12th. With plenty of flavors to choose from, you should have no problem finding one you like. It is easy to eat and fun to make!
Private Home Care loves jello because it is a great food for care giving. Many seniors may have difficulty swallowing, and jello is easy to consume. This is very important for when seniors have trouble swallowing medications and pills. A pill can be crushed up and stirred into jello for easy consumption, or pressed deep into the jello as a whole to help facilitate swallowing. The elderly are more prone to dehydration due to processes that happen when the body ages.
Those with dementia or alzheimers are particularly prone to dehydration because they may simply forget to drink or not realize when they are thirsty. The high water content of jello is a fantastic way to keep seniors hydrated, and it is easy to swallow. It is a great way to make sure that your loved ones who find the taste of water to be bland are hydrated.
Trademarked in 1897 by Pearle Wait of Leroy, New York, Jell-O is the novel and fun dessert loved by millions. Francis Woodward, who later purchased the recipe and trademark, eventually made Jell-O a household name. With 21 different flavors, Jell-O satisfies every taste and can be enjoyed in numerous combinations.Jell-O’s primary ingredient is gelatin. Gelatin consists of collagen, specifically animal collagen. It’s a protein extracted from the connective tissues. Once the protein is broken down and extracted, the collagen is dried and ground into a fine powder.
National Beans ‘N’ Franks Day on July 13th encourages us to make our favorite recipes during National Hot Dog Month. This simple recipe cooks up a delicious dish in no time and goes well with summertime barbecues, too!
Beans boast many health benefits and are an important part of a healthy diet. Baked beans are often made with pinto beans, which are a rockstar superfood! Pinto beans contain important vitamins and minerals like Vitamin B1 (thiamine), iron, magnesium and phosphorus. Pinto beans are also full of fiber and protein.
Pinto beans can help improve blood sugar regulation because they have a low GI and are high in fiber and protein. The same properties in pinto beans aid in weight loss because it promotes fullness and a healthy digestive system. Other benefits include rich in antioxidants and may aid heart health!
Baked beans became popular during the Civil War in the United States. They would later become one of the first canned convenience foods on the market in the 1890s. The franks, or frankfurters, can be beef, pork, or a combination of both. They can even be plant-based! The ground meat is blended with spices and seasonings before being cured. Home cooks make beans and franks, too.
Recipes can include beans, hot dogs, brown sugar, onion, mustard, barbecue sauce, and spices. The United States isn’t the only place recipes are found, either. Around the world, beans and franks enjoy wide popularity.Beans and franks go well with coleslaw, grilled corn on the cob, and vegetable kabobs. Add some iced tea and pie to complete the meal.
National Cheer Up the Lonely Day was July 11th. On this day people across the United States make a special effort to give someone a lift.
If you know someone who is lonely or going through a difficult time, be a bright spot in their life with a little extra thoughtfulness today. Whether their loneliness is due to health issues, financial reasons, grief due to loss or personal reasons, isolation can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, many seniors really struggle with loneliness.
Use this day as a reminder to contact those people, especially seniors, in your life who need a little extra love and attention. Your small act of kindness can make a big difference to them.
One word or special consideration may brighten their world at just the right moment.
We are all lonely from time to time. The gift of companionship and support for lonely seniors is priceless for you and for them.
