Nutrition Reflection

Key Takeaways:
Nutrition as it relates to aging is an area that is often overlooked, but it is very necessary and relevant to the field of occupational therapy. There are ways, with proper nutrition, to slow down the aging process in older adults and maintain functionality, quality of life, and mental health. One of the biggest problems in hospitals is the lack of nutrition provided to patients. While in the hospital, the patient is normally in a hyper metabolic state where the metabolism is in overdrive due to the immune system working so hard to heal the body. This causes patients to require over double the amount of calories of what they would normally eat on a daily basis, which is almost never offered to patients in the hospital setting. This can cause malnourishment among patients at discharge, which can lead to decreased functional activity and increased risk of hospital readmission. Patients are rarely receiving the adequate nutrition education, an as OTs, we can play a role in promoting healthy eating habits and routines.

2 OT Nutrition Interventions:
-Many widows and widowers suffer from malnutrition. This could be due to many different factors: depression, isolation, low motivation, and not knowing how to properly prepare food. A good intervention for this population would be to hold a support group for those who have lost loved ones that educates proper nutrition habits and healthy meal preparation.

-Another intervention that could be useful for increasing one's knowledge of healthy meal preparation is to hold a session for education, safe kitchen mobility, and a cooking task where the client can ask questions and learn new habits and techniques.