When conducting a nutritional counseling in households with various age compositions it requires a careful thought session. It is necessary to consider nutritional needs of such family in regards to individual members’ nutritional status. If for instance a family has school children, adolescents , adults and elderly at the same time, a tailored nutrition counseling is of great essence so as the parent can be able to plan for the family foods and nutritional needs adequately without straining.
How would a parent in a multigenerational family with an elderly having teeth problems , a school child suffering from acute diarrhea and an adult household member suffering from gastrointestinal reflux disease strike a balance in meeting all the family members foods and nutrients needs especially in a resource limited setting? While elderly requires a soft diet, an adult person would go for a regular diet as growing child needs a vast dietary pattern to meet it growth needs and be able to establish suitable food habits.
Thus, when counseling such a parent a comprehensive approach is necessary so that very individual’s nutritional need is attended. Tips to cater household member’s food and nutritional needs To be able to provide differing pleasing plates to family members without compromising their food and nutritional needs, the basis for the diet should be based on normal diet. Normal diet provides all the nutritional needs because it contains all the food groups and it is easy to prepare.
It is also socially acceptable because parents would not need to prepared different meals that would be labeled to particular person because of his or her health condition. From the basis of normal diet, meal can be prepared in a way that it will need little modification so as to suit every household’s member’s needs without extra work in preparation. Conclusion Throughout the lifecycle there are different nutritional needs.
In a family that is multigenerational, these nutritional needs are supposed to be addressed in a more integrated approach to ensure that while parents are having easy time to plan for family meals they do not compromise their family members’ nutritional status. When planning diet for such a family, normal diet should form a basis of diet modification to meet nutritional needs. References: Nutrition-Life Stages (n. d):
Retrieved on 24th February 2009 from: http://www. bbc. co. uk/health/healthy_living/nutrition/life_diettipsoldage1. shtml Reinhard Tonia (2002); Gastrointestinal Disorders and Nutrition. ISBN 0737303611, 9780737303612, Published by McGraw-Hill Professional Williams S. R. & Schlenker, E. D. (2003); Essentials of nutrition and diet therapy. ISBN 0323016359, 9780323016353, Elsevier Health Sciences