Sunday, June 28, 2020

coffee breaks and tea time

coffee breaks and tea time

Dehydration can cause health problems.
Dehydration causes confusion, effects coordination, exacerbates dry skin. It can cause nausea, fainting, and dizziness. Dehydration can worsen constipation and cause headaches.

Dehydration is evidence by a decrease in urination and its dark color.
Dehydration happens not only in the heat of summer, it can happens in winter too. In winter the air is dryer, we don't have the "hot and thirsty" feelings, but we can still be dehydrated.

And worse it can compound the brainfog of dementia. Someone with dementia may not be able to recognize they are thirsty or have the ability to ask for a drink.

Instead of fighting the battle with dementia and your loved one "you must drink another glass of water", what if we develop the routine to have daily coffee breaks and tea time, morning and afternoon, pause and refresh.

Some elders have smaller appetites, so opportunities for more small meals is a good thing too. Stop and pause, the opportunity to have a little bite to eat at coffee or tea time.

More small meals is another way to get in a healthy snacks: cheese and fruit with crackers, or vegetables and humus, or fruit muffins, or mini meatballs, or fruit and yogurt parfait.

And your beverage doesn't have to be coffee or tea.  Fruit or vegetable juice, ice tea, herb tea, popcycles, lemon-aid, fruit and yogurt frappe, milk shake, water, or seltzer.
Maybe this is time to sneak in that dose of fiber into a smoothie or nutritional supplement into a frappe.
Or maybe the tea time beverage can be the first course for dinner, a soup.  A soup can be hot and hearty or a cold soup, chilled and refreshing.

I make a chilled cucumber soup in the summer, it contains broth and peach yogurt, blended with cucumbers and mint. My granddaughter calls it a cucumber smoothie - whatever you call it, it's delicious and nutritious.