Home Health Dallas wants all seniors to know that they should always talk to their doctor before starting a new exercise or diet program.

For senior citizens, being conscious of their health is extremely important. Good heart health can extend a life a great deal. Seniors looking to keep their blood cholesterol low, helping to decrease the chances of heart disease, can turn to these simple guidelines.

• Saturated Fats—To follow the Heart Healthy Diet, only 8% to 10% of a senior’s total daily calories should come from saturated fats. This percentage is based upon the percentage of calories you actually eat. In other words, the amount will vary depending on how many calories you consume.

• Fats—A senior’s total daily calories from fat should be 30% or less. Once again, this percentage is based on the percentage of calories you eat.

• Dietary Cholesterol—Seniors should keep their daily dietary cholesterol intake under 300 milligrams if they want to stick with the heart healthy diet.

• Sodium—Sodium consumption should be limited to 2400 milligrams a day.

• Eating Habits —Seniors should not deprive themselves of calories or over eat. It is important to always eat enough calories towards maintaining or achieving a healthy weight. Also, a healthy calorie intake should help reduce blood cholesterol levels.

Source: nhlbisupport.com

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

For anyone, especially seniors, once January is in the past, so too are those New Year’s resolutions. Keeping those goals past January can become a struggle. Home Health Senior Care Dallas encourages you to keep with it, especially if your goals are health related, below is a list of simple solutions for keeping those resolutions.

• Keep Your Resolutions To A Minimum—If you have a laundry list of resolutions staring you in the face, discouragement will eventually follow when all goals are not met. Try to only make one or two resolutions for the New Year.

• Goals Should be Realistic - Weight loss or spending resolutions with large goals tend to fly out the window past January. Start small with any resolution. Losing a small amount of weight a week in comparison to setting a 20-pound goal for the month will be much easier to keep going.

• Be patient and don’t get discouraged—The saying “old habits die hard” could not be truer when it comes to New Years resolutions. Correcting old habits will take a while to change. Setbacks may present themselves, so do not get discouraged and punish yourself for falling back on an old habit.

• Give Yourself a Pat on the Back—When you accomplish a goal, reward yourself. Being proud of your accomplishments will give that additional incentive to keep up your resolutions just for how good it makes you feel.

Source:  ehow.com

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

Here at Home Health Dallas we have many goals we wish to accomplish this year, when you’re setting your goals this year, don’t do it alone. Encourage your grandchildren to make goals of their own, and then work with them to keep them motivated, and also keep your own goals on target. Collectively as a family you can make this year better than last.

1. Ask them to come up with an area that they could improve in their lives – be gentle, but ask them how they think they could improve. Would they like to get better grades? Get along better with a sibling? Learn a new skill? Once an area has been settled on, help them make that goal specific.

2. Motivate with group efforts – write down your resolutions along with theirs, and track progress with charts. Get the whole family involved, and come together to talk about how you’re doing with your resolutions

3. Use visual rewards for progress – when you check in with the progress of your grandchildren, reward them. Add stickers to a chart you’ve created, or give them pennies for their piggy bank for every step of the way

4. Keep the experience positive – motivate children by ensuring they always remain positive even if they have setbacks while trying to reach their goals

Via: eHow

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

Home Health Dallas knows that setting and achieving meaningful goals is a great way to build confidence and increase motivation. This could be exactly the medicine a senior that’s been feeling down needs. A crucial part of achieving goals is support, so as a caregiver, you can give the senior that you care for a helping hand towards success.

1. Help form a support team – you don’t have to do it alone! Help your loved one form a support network that will help them reach their goals. If it’s to eat better, consider hiring a nutritionist and encourage friends and family to adopt healthier eating habits around them too. If it’s exercise, attend classes with your senior and ask others to do the same.

2. Remind him/her it’s not always going to be easy – especially for seniors who often face so many challenges later in life, it’s easy to give up on something that’s not coming easy. Often, resolutions that will drastically change their life aren’t going to be easy. Certain goals can be physically and emotionally challenging, so give them a friendly push when needed

3. A slip up doesn’t mean give up – as part of overcoming the challenges that can come with new goals, seniors need to keep on going even if they slip up along the way. In that situation, encourage them to learn from what they were doing wrong, then put it behind them and move forward. Ask them if there’s anything you can do to give them a hand with starting new!

Via: Associated Content

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

Young people are not the only ones who make a New Year’s resolution to shed a few pounds. Many seniors are overweight, and losing extra pounds will not only make them feel better about themselves, but it will be beneficial to their over-all health. Below is a short list of tips that will help seniors implement ways to lose weight in the upcoming year.

1. Try to be more conscious of what you eat. While sweets are hard to resist, try eating a piece of fruit instead of candy. It will satisfy your craving for sugar and is much healthier.

2. Buy a scale for the bathroom. This will help monitor your weight. You can even use a journal to keep track of any changes. A good scale will help you through your weight-loss journey.

3. Increase physical activity. Seniors do not need to join a gym. A simple short walk each day will help burn extra calories. In addition, that walk can help keep your heart healthy.  Exercise also increases your mood, so not only will it have physical benefits, but your mental health will improve as well.

4. Discuss weight loss plans with a doctor. You want to make sure your diet is providing you with the intake you need to stay healthy yet at the same time will help you lose weight.

Source: aarp.org

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

Seniors often make New Year’s resolutions, but very few follow through on them past the first few turns of the calendar. 2010 is a great year for seniors, at least it can be if they stick to their goals that can improve their health and lives.

1. Focus on fun – particularly when it comes to losing weight or starting an exercise program, the resolution can become a burden rather than something you desire to achieve. Find exercise activities you enjoy, and if your resolutions have nothing to do with weight loss or exercise; ensure you go about attaining your goals in a way that’s focused on fun!

2. Think about your future today – if you have goals for the future, there’s no better time than now to start working towards achieving them. You might have excuses, whether it’s related to your age, your health, the logistics of getting around or something else; but those are aspects unlikely to change so take the bull by the horns and work towards the goals you set

3. Talk to others – if you tell others about your goals, you’ll be more likely to stick to them. It almost creates a challenge, since you’ll be encouraged to tell your friends and family that you’re successful rather than failing at your New Year’s resolutions. This also gives you a support network for encouragement

Via: AARP

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

New Year’s resolutions can be hard to stick to, but for 2010 seniors can abide by resolutions that will improve their health, but also offer them some fun!

1. Be social – attend parties, classes, and social groups. Seniors who are socially active have better physical and mental health than those who are isolated. It’s not uncommon for seniors to withdraw, but avoid it in 2010

2. Try healthy indulgences – controlled amounts of red wine and dark chocolate are enjoyable and can improve health by preventing diabetes, lower blood pressure and more

3. Laugh a lot – you’ve heard laughter is the best medicine. It’s true. Laughter is about the only thing you shouldn’t do in moderation. People should get in a good laugh a couple of times a week to improve the health of their blood vessels

4. Take a snooze – heart related death has been proven to be reduced in seniors who nap for 30 minutes at least 30 times per week. It can also help seniors feel refreshed and improve their immune systems

5. Dance for health – dancing can help to prevent dementia, and is a great form of exercise. Get out those dancing shoes in 2010!

6. Eat some fat – linoleic acid and safflower oil can actually help seniors with a few pounds to shed lose weight, so incorporate them into your diet

7. Get some sun – don’t forget the sunscreen, but vitamin D can lift spirits and reduce the risk of heart disease

8. Try tai chi or yoga – these activities can improve mental health through meditation and help with balance, strength and flexibility

9. Have sex – many seniors give up sex, but it can help you to sleep better, reduce pain, blood pressure and stress

10. Spend time in nature – anxiety and depression are greatly reduced in those who appreciate green space!

Via: AARP

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

Many seniors are reluctant to engage in high-impact physical exercise for fear of causing damage to their joints or other strain on their bodies. But, according to a study of older athletes who participated in the 2005 National Senior Games, those who participate in high impact activities have higher bone density, decreasing the likelihood of conditions like osteoporosis. Seniors looking to reap the benefits, shouldn’t jump right off into the deep end, but can work their way up to high-impact activities by following these tips:

1. Start slow – particularly for those seniors who don’t exercise regularly, it’s important to build up strength, balance and endurance. Jumping right into high-impact activity could cause too much strain. Starting with light weights, aerobics and other activities will help to prepare seniors

2. Talk to your doctor – before beginning any exercise program as a senior, it’s essential you get clearance from your doctor. The study shows that your bone health could benefit, but of course, specifics depend upon your background and health. Seniors don’t want to do harm while trying to find benefit

3. Find exercises that work for you – high-impact exercises include anything that get your feet off the ground. Running, jumping rope, jumping jacks, and step aerobics can all have their benefits

4. Listen to your body – with any activity, particularly as you age, listen to what your body is telling you. Stop if it hurts or seems to cause strain; push yourself, but not too hard

Via: Xomba

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.

Older generations often take the approach to medical care, that if they don’t require immediate attention, there’s no need to visit a doctor or clinic. Costs and lack of insurance may play a role in this decision, but according to a report released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s crucial that the medical community and senior caregivers promote preventative medicine for those aged 50 to 64.

Preventative medical services that older adults can benefit from include:

• Vaccinations - middle-aged adults and seniors should receive routine vaccines for illnesses like influenza pneumococcal disease

• Blood tests and screening – routine doctor’s visits should be encouraged which allow medical professionals to monitor cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels which can both prevent and allow for early diagnosis of health issues

• Technological screening – the technology today allows for less invasive screening for conditions like breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer and should be done regularly, dependent upon family history, age and the advice of a doctor

Older adults may put off preventative care in order to reduce their costs, but by following through with preventative steps they can secure their future health and costs that can arise from the treatment of much more serious medical conditions.

Via: CDC

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Home Health Senior Care Dallas - Your elderly loved one prefers to live at home and our CAREGivers are trained to help them remain safe and healthy at home. Call us at 972-239-3934.