How To Accommodate Senior Living Dietary Restrictions

Residents often view mealtimes as a cherished part of daily living. Every dining experience is an opportunity to catch up with friends, sample exciting new foods, or indulge in old favorites. However, meals can feel stressful or even downright dangerous for people with dietary restrictions. Instead of relaxing, these residents may obsessively read menu descriptions and scrutinize their food to check for harmful ingredients and allergens. 

Dining technology like eMenuCHOICE alleviates these fears by providing safeguards for senior living dietary restrictions. This revolutionary software integrates with electronic health records (EHRs) and other systems to ensure that food services staff have the latest information about residents' dietary requirements. Senior living communities can enjoy numerous benefits by adding dining software to their technological ecosystems. 

The Impact of Accommodating Dietary Restrictions on Senior Health

According to the 2022 Food and Health Survey, 52% of Americans follow a specific diet or eating pattern. People restrict their diets for many reasons, including: 

• Food Allergies: Approximately 6% of American adults have a food allergy. The Food and Drug Administration reports that the most common food allergens include milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Food allergies cause various symptoms, ranging from mild gastrointestinal discomfort to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
• Medical Conditions: Healthcare providers frequently prescribe special diets to manage or prevent health conditions. For example, people with heart failure could decrease fluid retention by strictly limiting their sodium intake. Residents with kidney disease need to avoid foods high in sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. 
• Lifestyle Choices: Residents often restrict their diets for ethical or lifestyle reasons. Approximately 5% of Americans are vegetarian and 2% are vegan. Other common diets limit carbohydrates, gluten, processed foods, and other ingredients. 
• Cultural Reasons: Many cultures and religions have specific dietary requirements, such as kosher and Halal food. 

Accommodating dietary restrictions improves residents' health and overall quality of life. These accommodations can: 

• Prevent allergic reactions 
• Manage or improve certain health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease 
• Help residents maintain a healthy weight 
• Ensure residents eat a balanced and nutritious diet 
• Relieve anxiety and stress 

Residents also feel safer and more valued when their caregivers understand and respect their dietary restrictions. 

How Software Can Help Accommodate Dietary Restrictions

Many communities rely on allergen boards, paper records, or staff members' memories to keep track of residents' dietary restrictions. However, these faulty systems can easily lead to mistakes. A chef might forget to double-check a resident's list of allergens before preparing their food and include a prohibited ingredient. Or a distracted resident might accidentally order a new meal that contains too much sodium for their prescribed diet. 

Integrated senior living solutions increase mealtime safety by preventing these errors. Here are five ways this technology improves meal services for seniors with dietary restrictions. 

Identify Common Dietary Restrictions Among Seniors

Senior living software for dining improves the resident experience by highlighting meals that contain common allergens or intolerances on the menu. Residents can also peruse detailed ingredient lists and photos before placing their orders. 

Say a resident is lactose-intolerant and allergic to fish. As they view the electronic menu, they'll see individual meals like salmon and macaroni and cheese highlighted. The colors indicate that these types of food contain allergens, so the resident knows to steer clear of them or request substitute ingredients. 

Identifying dietary restrictions on the menu allows residents to order safe foods confidently and reduces the time dining staff spend answering questions about ingredients. This feature is particularly useful for communities that frequently rotate their menu selection to provide residents with a variety of foods. 

Collaborate With Nutritionists and Dietitians

Dining technology makes it easy for dining staff to collaborate with dietitians, nutritionists, and other healthcare providers. Software like eMenuCHOICE comes with predesigned, dietitian-approved menus, taking the guesswork out of providing a healthy diet for residents. 

Additionally, eMenuCHOICE integrates with EHR systems to streamline communication between dining staff and healthcare providers. Dining staff can access real-time updates about a resident's recommended diet, allergens, and other relevant data. 

Automatically Updated Scratch-Made Menus

eMenuCHOICE increases food safety and convenience by automatically updating scratch-made menus based on residents' dietary restrictions. Say a lactose-intolerant resident orders a creamy chicken Alfredo pasta dish. The dining software can automatically substitute prohibited ingredients like whole milk and Parmesan cheese with lactose-free alternatives. This feature allows the resident to enjoy a delicious evening meal without getting sick. 

Automatic ingredient substitutions also save staff time. Servers can simply enter the resident's order and rely on the system to make the necessary adjustments instead of rushing back to the kitchen to ask if the chef can substitute an ingredient. 

Enhance Resident Choice and Safety Through Dietary Profiles

Senior dining software empowers resident choice by allowing them to indicate their dietary preferences in their profile. For instance, people who don't like asparagus can note this so staff know to substitute ingredients. This feature enables residents to enjoy a wide variety of safe and nutritious meals without sacrificing their health — or offending their taste buds. 

Also, technology like eMenuCHOICE creates individual dietary profiles for every resident. These electronic records allow staff to quickly view allergens, intolerances, and other safety information. They can use this data to provide recommendations and consult with residents about orders that may contain dangerous ingredients. 

Train Staff on Dietary Restriction Awareness

Dining software educates staff about the importance of accommodating dietary restrictions when preparing meals for seniors. Dining professionals can quickly access resources like ingredient lists and resident profiles to verify that all diners receive the correct meals. Also, the technology increases awareness of the need for safe food preparation techniques, such as separating utensils and cleaning surfaces. 

How Senior Living Menu Software Can Help

Communities strive to provide optimal nutrition for seniors, but dietary restrictions can make mealtimes complicated and stressful. No one wants a harmful ingredient to make it out of the kitchen and onto a resident's plate, but mistakes can happen in even the best-run dining operations. 

Senior living menu software like eMenuCHOICE prevents errors by providing multiple layers of safeguards. Convenient features like resident profiles, highlighted menu items, and automatic ingredient substitutions increase food safety and minimize mistakes. At the same time, the technology enhances resident choice, ensuring that dietary restrictions can still enjoy satisfying dining experiences. 

Contact eMenuCHOICE to learn more about how our dining software accommodates specialty diets, enables communities to offer flexible senior living meal plans, and increases revenue.