Blue eye fish and apple slaw and Tandoori lamb aren’t usually your first thought when you think of food in retirement villages – but it’s what’s now on the menu for residents at Aveo Retirement Villages.
Their National Marketing Manager Stephen Gook was our radio show last Sunday. He told us older Australians have extra nutritional needs but often a decreasing appetite makes it difficult for them to meet their nutritional requirements.
Aveo’s solution? They hired Executive Chef John Casey to develop a national nutrition program for their 13,000 residents with help from the Nutrition Professionals Australia (NPA) – a first for retirement villages in Australia.
“We need to focus on protein. We need to make sure that residents stay well,” Stephen says. “So someone in their middle age is thinking ‘I want to lose a bit of weight’. Someone who is a bit older they need to think ‘you need to be keeping a bit of weight on’.”
Maintaining muscle vital in old age
It’s well known that you lose muscle mass as you get older. Increasing your protein can help to slow this, improving your balance and lowering the risk of falls.
John became interested in nutrition after working with Olympic Gold medallist Cathy Freeman during the 2000 Sydney Games, and it turns out the nutritional needs of older people aren’t that different from an elite athlete.
Aveo’s 60-plus meals on their Nutrition Select menu are also sized to suit older appetites, and as not all of Aveo’s villages have a dining room or restaurant, residents can choose to have their meals delivered to their door or picked up from the local community centre.
This is good news for families who may worry that their loved one isn’t getting the nutrition they need.
When our mother moved into a retirement village, she never wanted to eat in the shared dining room so delivery to your home is a great service.
If you’re interested in finding out more about life in a retirement village, visit villages.com.au.
You can hear the full podcast of our interview with Stephen here.
Aveo lists their villages on villages.com.au, along with 200-plus other operators.
