How Can You Help Your Parent Reduce Sugar in Their Diet?

Elder Care in Falls Church VA

If you are a family caregiver for an elderly adult who is suffering from diabetes, you know how important it is for them to remain compliant with the guidelines given to them by their doctor. This compliance will help them to manage their condition, reduce the risk of complications, and improve their overall health and well-being as they age in place. One of the most common recommendations that people with diabetes receive is to reduce the amount of sugar that they eat on a regular basis. Reducing sugar is all about preventing spikes in the blood sugar and overloading the body in terms of what the insulin available to can handle. Taking steps to reduce the sugar in your parent’s diet can help them to manage their condition better and help prevent potentially disastrous complications associated with this disease.

Use these tips to help your parent reduce sugar in their diet:

• A carb is a carb. One of the most important things to keep in mind when working to reduce the sugar in your parent’s diet is that contemporary research shows carbohydrates of all types have a serious impact on the body. This means you should not just think about cutting out the sweets, but reducing the carbohydrates in general.
• Know your sugars. Trimming sugar out of your parent’s diet is not just about not adding table sugar to foods. White sugar, or sucralose, is only one type of sugar. There are many other types of sugars and all of them have a negative impact on blood sugar levels. This includes brown sugar, molasses, honey, fruit sugars, and even agave syrup, as well as sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol.
• Swap them out. One of the biggest struggles that many people face when it comes to making a major dietary change, such as reducing sugars, is giving up the foods that they love. Helping your parent realize that they do not have to give up sweets all together can make this change seem less daunting. Talk to their doctor about how many carbohydrates they should have in a day. You can then help your parent make meaningful “swaps” to keep themselves within that guideline. For example, if they would like a sweet treat with lunch, they could forego the sandwich and eat a leafy green salad without any bread, croutons, or starchy vegetables to balance their carbohydrate consumption.

If your aging parent has recently been diagnosed with diabetes or has been suffering from this condition for some time and you feel that they would benefit from some addition support to help them keep their condition under control, now may be the ideal time to consider elderly care. An elderly home care services provider can be with your aging parent when it is right for their needs as well as the care that you give them to ensure that they receive the personalized support, care, assistance, and encouragement that they need to manage their condition effectively, live a healthy lifestyle, and maintain as much independence and quality of life as they can as they age in place. This can include bringing them to the grocery store, helping them to review food options and select the ones that are best for their needs, assisting them in preparing meals and snacks, keeping them active and engaged, and offering reminders to remain compliant with their prescriptions and other guidelines from their doctor. This can help them to take control of their health and do what they need to do to keep their body at its best as they age in place.

If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care in Falls Church, VA, call the caring staff at Medical Professionals On Call today. 703-273-8818

Sources:

http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/understanding-carbohydrates/sugar-and-desserts.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

http://www.everydayhealth.com/type-2-diabetes/diet/can-eating-too-much-sugar-cause-diabetes/

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Michelle DeFilippis

I graduated with a BS degree and had been selling medical equipment to hospitals, clinics and technicians. More recently, a family member was diagnosed with dementia and we, as a family, realized we were not prepared t care for her. We were thrown into that whirlpool of hospital stays, 24/7 live-in care, skilled care, caring for mom ourselves and finally, now daily home care. This was such a stressful time that I started thinking there had to be other people, other families as overwhelmed and unprepared as we were.

Medical Professionals On Call has such a caring, professional staff who are available to step in with whatever level of care necessary for loved ones and to relieve you of that stress.

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