Cuisine and Care: The Gourmet Advantages of Assisted Living Dining

Eating and maintaining a balanced and varied diet is important at every stage of life. For older adults, eating well promotes healthy aging and extends life expectancy.

Seniors, in particular, have unique nutritional needs. Your meals and eating habits will change as your body changes while aging. Your metabolism slows, your appetite control decreases. Older adults generally need less calories, but more nutrients than young people.

Too much or too little nutrients can increase a person’s risk for diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues. Consult your physician for your dietary needs to properly prep your daily meals. Reading nutrition labels as you shop can help you make informed decisions on what you consume. This is, of course, easier said than done, which is why many older adults choose the convenience and routine that comes with the assisted living dining experience.

The Benefits of Assisted Living Dining

At an assisted living facility, residents can enjoy restaurant-style assisted living dining services for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They can also have their meals sent straight to their apartments or studios.

At a facility’s on-site restaurant, residents have access to a high-quality culinary team preparing fresh, delicious, and most importantly, nutritious meals. They can cater to and accommodate every dietary restriction or preference and introduce residents to new cultural cuisines.

Senior living communities employ healthcare professionals and registered dietitians who closely monitor each resident’s dietary needs and eating habits. They can remove the stress of healthy eating for you, so you can spend more time and energy simply enjoying your food.

Communal restaurant-style dining establishes a convenient structure and routine for residents to look forward to multiple times a day. The consistency of mealtimes and comforting, familiar environment can reduce anxiety and promote sustainable healthy eating habits. The lively conversations between friends and loved ones provide mental stimulation and emotional nourishment as they actively make and share new memories together.

Dining programs offer tailored dining menus to individuals and can be paired with scheduled fitness classes. By personalizing each meal, the assisted living facility not only enhances each resident’s nutritional intake, but also cuts down on food waste significantly.

These are just some of the many gourmet advantages that come with moving into and staying at an assisted living community.

Sample Assisted Living Dining Menus

You can typically expect appetizers, featured entrées, desserts, drinks, and a selection of dishes that are available no matter the time of day.

For lunch, appetizers are usually a wide range of different salads (with your choice of dressing) and soups. For entrées, choose between protein and vegetable-filled dishes such as quiche lorraine or shrimp scampi.

Standard dishes such as steak, chicken, cheeseburgers, tuna salad, chicken fingers, spaghetti and meatballs, and a variety of hot and cold sandwiches may be the handful of meals that are always available. Finally, treat yourself with cream puffs or Dutch apple pie à la mode for dessert.

On the menu, you can find helpful details that notify you whether a certain dish is heart healthy, higher in sodium, or has an available sugar-free option. As we mentioned earlier, it’s incredibly important to make informed decisions on what you consume.

After leaving the assisted living dining room, you’ll find yourself looking forward to the variety of options and comfort foods presented to you for your next meal!

Leave the Cooking to Us at The Residences at Plainview

The Residences at Plainview’s on-site restaurant, Windows on Central Park, offers an unforgettable dining experience. All our menus are approved by registered dietician, Laura Weisberg, who oversees every Chelsea Senior Living kitchen across New York and New Jersey. We work closely with our residents’ physicians to continually meet their dietary needs and goals.

We strive to create a sustainable, worry-free environment for our residents and encourage them to develop and maintain a healthy and happy lifestyle. Every month, Laura hosts educational sessions on valuable topics including the relationship between one’s diet and health and weight maintenance.

Our Food Services Director, Michael Fitzpatrick, leads our farm-to-table dining initiative and ensures every meal includes vegetables, herbs, and spices we have planted and grown ourselves.

Our residents walk into our expansive dining room with enthusiasm and surround themselves in great food and conversation with even greater people. Their family members often stop by for seconds! We even have frequent parties paired with themed food offerings for special occasions.

Schedule a tour and come dine with us at The Residences today.