While it’s been proven that your diet is heavily correlated with risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, at this point little is known about the connection between diet and memory loss – specifically diseases like Alzheimer’s. 

Despite the lack of concrete evidence at this point, here are some foods and diet tips based on early research that can help prevent memory loss as you age.

Living a healthy lifestyle is important for everyone no matter your age.  However, as we age certain nutrients become more important for maintaining good health. 

The World Health Organization recommends people eat no more than 100 calories per day (~6 teaspoons) of added sugar, but the average American actually consumes almost 4x that amount. Reducing the amount of sugar in your diet is something all credible nutrition experts agree is good for you.

Eating properly is especially important as you age, but due to a variety of factors it can be more difficult to get the nutrients your body needs. The good news is, there are simple measures seniors can take to make sure nutritional challenges don’t affect their overall health and well being. 

Dehydration is an excess loss of water that disrupts the body’s normal functions.  It takes place when someone loses more fluids than they take in. For many elderly people, chronic dehydration is a major concern that can lead to hospitalization and health issues. Generally speaking, humans can only survive for 4 days without water. 

Loss of teeth is sometimes a symptom of aging, but just because you need softer foods doesn’t mean your nutrition should suffer.  The following 10 foods are nutrient dense while also being easy to chew for seniors without teeth.

Simply put, most people in the US eat too much salt, and one of the main culprits is pre-packaged snacks foods.  Here’s a list of healthy low sodium snacks to add to your next grocery list. 

Your diet plays an important (if not THE most important role) in development and management of diabetes.  Eating the wrong foods can raise your blood sugar and promote inflammation.  Whether you’re managing your diabetes or want to avoid developing the disease, here are 10 foods you’ll want to avoid. 

If you have certain medical conditions or are recovering from surgery, your doctor may recommend a mechanical soft or soft foods diet.  While these two eating plans sound similar, they’re actually quite different in terms of what foods are allowed and what they’re prescribed for.  In this article we’ll discuss the differences between these two oft-prescribed diets.

For seniors especially, being mindful of heart health is very important.  There’s a growing body of research that suggests your diet can protect against a variety of ailments – and that you can reduce your risk for heart disease by 70% if you make the right food choices!

Everyone has that one food they can’t stand.  Whatever it is, it’s probably because you don’t care for the taste, not because it’s harmful for you to eat it.  However, there are many foods in your local grocery store that ARE very unhealthy, and should be avoided whenever possible. Here are 5 foods to never buy at the grocery store.

Nutritional and dietary supplements used to make you think of just vitamins and minerals.  But nowadays, there are a lot of big businesses selling supplements with amino acids, hormones, herbs, vitamins, and minerals.  These supplements can be added to seniors’ diets in some cases to prevent various health problems, and can be beneficial because seniors are especially susceptible to dietary deficiencies because their bodies aren’t as efficient at absorbing nutrients.

The purpose of antioxidants is to protect your body from damage caused by harmful free radical molecules.  Without antioxidants, those free radicals can damage cells and many experts believe that damage can lead to various diseases including cancer.

The DASH diet (Dietary Approach to Stopping Hypertension) has been consistently rated the #1 diet by US News & World Report for the last 6 years.  Different than the fad diets that promise dramatic weight loss, the DASH diet is based on sound nutrition principles that everyone should follow.   At Chefs For Seniors, we use the DASH diet principles to come up with a lot of our weekly menu items!