Food and diet are critical elements in caring for older adults, but are often overlooked by providers. As we grow older, our metabolisms, appetites and nutritional requirements change, and diets must be carefully managed to account for these changes. What’s more, long-term conditions such as diabetes and heart disease require specialised diets in order to manage symptoms and safeguard the long-term health and wellbeing of residents.
Carers must understand the importance of diet when developing a comprehensive care plan and how they can use it to ensure the best outcomes for residents.
To find out more about the role diet plays and how it can benefit older adults in care, we spoke with Matt Dodge, Executive Chef at Loveday Belgravia.
Maintaining and Regulating Weight
Matt tells us that one of the primary challenges surrounding diet in elder care is helping residents maintain weight.
“We lose muscle mass as we get older,” Matt explains. “If someone is sedentary, they lose muscle, and that impacts their independence. They can’t get out of bed or walk down to the local shop by themselves. It’s a major indicator of someone’s wellbeing.”
To preserve residents’ independence and mobility, it is essential that providers deliver adequately calorific meals that can help them maintain muscle mass. This not only supports the residents’ mental wellbeing but also makes them less vulnerable to falls and other challenges that come with frailty.
Matt tells us that “if someone isn’t eating very much or they have a very low appetite, then we fortify their diet by getting as many calories into what they are eating to help them maintain weight.”
This approach ensures that residents struggling to maintain weight can eat the same meals as their peers without feeling singled out. Loveday also incorporates a resident’s personal preferences into a diet plan by identifying what they enjoy and adapting that meal to deliver more calories rather than providing something entirely unfamiliar.
Matt tells us how his team pursues a similar strategy to aid weight loss. “We keep the core menu consistent and make subtle adaptations where we can,” he says. “The idea is that everyone has the same experience, rather than making anyone feel singled out for trying to lose weight. We might remove carbohydrates, use natural sugars, or reduce portion sizes, but the dishes still feel part of the same menu.”
This non-intrusive approach keeps residents from feeling pressured or alienated while ensuring the correct interventions are being carried out discreetly to help protect their long-term health.
Maintaining Nutritional Balance
As we age, we typically experience a reduced appetite and begin to eat less. Older adults are therefore vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies and imbalances, which are a major source of frailty.
A 2025 study found adhering to diets that increased fruits, vegetables and whole grains while reducing red and processed meats was “associated with greater odds of healthy aging.” Matt concurs, stating, “We try not to use too many carbohydrates in our menus. Instead, we include a lot of leafy greens and vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli and aubergine that are packed with vitamin C and vitamin D and high in iron.”
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for healthy cells that promotes healing and strong skin, while vitamin D regulates calcium and phosphate for healthy bones and teeth. Iron is essential for the creation of red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the blood. Including these in a resident’s diet is a non-intrusive but highly effective way to ensure their long-term strength, stamina, and circulatory health.
Matt continues, saying, “We use a lot of fatty fish as well, like mackerel and salmon, which are rich in omega-3.” Omega-3s are fatty acids that are vital for heart health, helping to reduce blood pressure, mitigate against blockages in your circulatory system and reduce the risk of developing arrhythmia. A 2020 study also connected omega-3 intake with improving mental health conditions like depression.
Given the typically reduced appetites of older adults, it is vital that their meals are carefully balanced. Each of the nutrients we have discussed is essential to maintaining and improving long-term health and wellbeing, and delivering them via diet rather than through medication or supplements helps integrate them into a regular routine without making a resident feel isolated or self-conscious.
Managing Long-Term Conditions
Diet is an essential element for effectively managing the symptoms of long-term conditions affecting older adults. For example, regulating fats, carbohydrates and sugar and controlling weight are essential measures to managing diabetes and heart disease.
Specially curated menus ensure that residents receive the correct nutrition without being isolated from their peers and continue to enjoy their favourite foods with nutritional oversight.
Matt explains how his team in the kitchen collaborates with Loveday’s clinical team to ensure each resident’s diet is carefully managed, “Everyone who moves into Loveday will have an assessment of their dietary needs. We then incorporate that into a bespoke dietary plan. So, as well as having the core menu, we also do a lot more to tailor the menu to each resident.”
This advanced knowledge enables the kitchen team to begin delivering delicious, balanced meals tailored to an individual’s conditions the moment they transition into care.
He continues, adding, “We use a dietary notification system for the kitchen so we know exactly what their preferences are, what their dislikes are, allergies, and that’s what they’re given, and so we can create a bespoke menu for that individual.”
Matt’s team receives immediate updates on residents’ changing nutritional needs, ensuring they can deliver meals that help manage long-term and progressive conditions. For example, diabetes requires careful monitoring of blood sugar and may need day-to-day adjustments to protect a resident from hypoglycaemic shock. New nutrients can be added to a diet to accommodate changes in the status of a resident living with a progressive condition like Alzheimer’s. Through diet control, each individual receives bespoke nutritional support while maintaining the comfort and reassurance of a regular mealtime routine.
Transforming Meals into a Social Experience
Meals are not just a means to deliver nutrients and calories to the body. In a care home environment, they are an important time for socialising and connecting with fellow residents and a way to establish a routine outside of medication and treatments.
The Delaware Journal of Public Health found that “placing two or more patients together for meals can increase sociability and food intake.” The communal environment of a shared dining room is essential to ensuring residents eat regularly and well to maintain their strength and nutritional balance.
Matt and the team at Loveday Belgravia prepare food on request but maintain scheduled mealtimes to give residents a space to interact. “Lunchtime is a real occasion,” Matt explains. “Residents often have family and friends come, so we put on a big three-course meal.”
Loveday Belgravia also has a private dining area where residents are welcome to host private events catered by the in-house kitchen team. “People can book the dining room if they want to have a more intimate lunch or any event they want to host,” Matt explains. “We had a birthday a couple of months ago where 25 people came, and we prepared a completely bespoke menu.”
By treating meals as important occasions, residents have a chance to connect with their peers and enjoy an improved appetite compared to if they ate alone, improving calorie intake and reducing the risk of deficiency.
The Significance of Diet in Elder Care at Loveday
At Loveday, diet and nutrition are treated with the same meticulous attention to detail as every other aspect of our care plans. Each residence is equipped with an open-plan kitchen, where residents can see meals being freshly prepared throughout the day by our chefs. The sights, sounds and aromas create a welcoming, homely atmosphere which naturally stimulates appetite and establishes a more meaningful connection with food. This has improved enjoyment and anticipation for residents who have felt disengaged from meal times, turning them into inviting shared occasions.
Everything is prepared on-site using fresh, nutritious ingredients at set meal times or to-order by our award-winning chefs, accounting for nutritional needs, long-term conditions, religious and cultural requirements and personal preferences for a truly bespoke experience.
Discover more about our care services, make an enquiry with our team, or contact our relationship partners on 020 4530 4700. They will be happy to discuss your care requirements and arrange a free private tour of one of our residences.
