Five Reasons To Eat a Salad This Month
Farmer’s markets are beginning to open up, produce prices are dropping in the stores, and warm temperatures may lead to avoid the oven. While those alone are great reasons to dig into a big bowl of greens this month, let’s look more in depth into some other wonderful reasons you might just want to enjoy a salad the next time you share a meal with your elderly parent.
- It’s National Salad Month. Yes, it’s really a thing – a whole month set aside to celebrate salads! That makes
Elder Care Garden City, MI: National Salad Month
this the perfect month to try some new salads or look at how you can help your parent incorporate more salads into her diet. You might ask your elderly care provider to help with cleaning and prepping vegetables so when your parent wants to make a salad – either for herself of for guests, she’s ready and can celebrate National Salad Month with her friends and family and even her elderly care provider.
- Eating salads helps cut calories and increases meal satisfaction. Adding a leafy green salad before a meal can help your parent cut back on how much she eats during her meal. If the doctor has recommended weight loss or weight management, a salad can be a great choice for an appetizer with her lunch and dinner. Just watch what your parent puts on her salad – some salad dressings have just as much fat as a fast-food burger. If she’s not accustomed to reading ingredient labels on her food purchases, ask her elderly care provider assist her in choosing healthy toppings for her salads on their next grocery trip.
- Eating salads provides fiber. Fresh vegetables are chock full of fiber, which has some great health benefits. Eating a diet high in fiber can help reduce cholesterol and prevent constipation.
- Salads are full of healthy nutrients. Make sure your parent’s salad has lots of colorful vegetables like red peppers, yellow squash, and orange carrots to beef up its nutrient count. And have her use darker greens for the base of her salad, like kale, arugula, or spinach. People who eat a lot of salads are more likely to have higher levels of antioxidants in their blood, which then fight off free radicals. Free radicals can lead to all kinds of health problems and even diseases, such as some forms of cancer.
- Salads can provide good fats. As we mentioned earlier, your parent doesn’t want to add a salad dressing that is high in fat, but there are good fats that can be found in many salads that will help her overall health, including her hair, nails and skin. Look at adding avocados, nuts, and olive oil-based dressing to her salads for a little healthy fat that will not only improve taste, but also help keep your parent satiated after enjoying her salad.
Don’t forget – there are lots of different salads your parent can enjoy so don’t just buy a head of lettuce, some tomatoes, croutons, and dressing. Look at fruits, vegetables, and lean meat you can add to the salad. Looks for flavorful yet light dressings to keep in the fridge so she can choose whatever flavor profile she is craving. Making salads a regular part of your parent’s diet will bring plenty of great health benefits.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Elder Care in Garden City, MI please contact the caring staff at No Place Like Home Health, LLC today. 734-259-4200
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