Austin Medical Times
Age Well, Live Well Nutrition Habits for Healthy Aging By Chelsea Couch, CHES Texas Health & Human Services
N
ational Nutrition Month is a great time to learn about older adults’ changing nutritional needs and the eating habits that are so important to healthy aging. Nutrients are compounds in food that are vital to living. They help the body heal, regulate chemical process and provide the body with energy. As we age our metabolism slows, and we lose the ability to absorb nutrients as well as when we were younger. As a result, nutrient recommendations will change. Experts recommend that older adults get more calcium, potassium, vitamin D and vitamin B12. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables as well as fortified foods can help you get the recommended amounts of these nutrients. If you have trouble getting enough of these nutrients through the foods you eat, you can talk with your doctor about supplements. Healthy eating is not only about the foods you eat but also habits like controlling portions, reading nutrition labels, substituting for healthier options and other practices.
Mental Health
Continued from page 6 the Texas A&M Health Opioid Task Force. Alonzo states that although the federal government has attempted to ease restriction to access medications, the guidelines are ambiguous and not uniformly implemented, creating a burden on patients. Additionally, the in-person individual and group therapy that is so important to maintain recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) have moved online or are not currently available. “People are isolated due to the pandemic and are not engaging in treatment online. Not everyone has Wi-Fi, a computer or phone to access telehealth,” Alonzo said. “If you are alone and have no access to your support network, you are at much greater risk of relapse, and if you start to use alone, you are at greater risk of an overdose.” Patients can still only receive methadone for OUD treatment through a federally licensed opioid treatment program. Some regulatory measures have changed to allow patients to receive a supply of
Learning about nutrition and aging can help you make nutritionally sound choices and practice healthy eating habits. The United States Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate provides nutrition information and recommendations for all ages. To learn more, visit myplate.gov. The Texas Health and Human Services Texercise initiative has a variety of free resources that engage older Texans in healthy lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity and eating habits. Texercise also provides several nutrition fact sheets highlighting topics such as sodium reduction, reading food labels and portion sizes to help Texans improve their everyday routines. Tracking the foods you eat is one way to start identifying the eating habits you want to move away from and which
take-home methadone, instead of coming to the facility every day. Another medication used to treat OUD, buprenorphine—which is regulated under a separate Drug Enforcement Administration prescriber licensing measure known as an X-waiver—has also undergone regulatory revisions. Although the X-waiver requirement still exists, the prescriber-to-patient, face-to-face requirements have been relaxed, reducing the number of times the patient has to come to the clinic to get the medication. There has been no provision for the lack of psychosocial supports which typically accompany the medication treatment and ensure that patients maintain recovery, which remains a huge concern. The result on patient outcomes of the new regulations is unknown, and access to care continues to be a challenge. The CDC has provided a list of recommendations for expanding essential service prevention and response activities to health care providers, public health departments, community education programs and others. Recommendations include guidelines to: “expand the provision and use of naloxone and overdose
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you want to adopt. To download the Texercise Daily Food Log, learn more about being healthy, access Texercise nutrition fact sheets and order a free copy of the Texercise handbook, visit texercise.com. COVID-19 impacted the nutritional health of many people through limiting access to healthy food options — congregate meal sites closed, for example, and transportation to grocery stores became limited. The good news is that there are resources to help people access healthy food options. • The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assists people with buying the food they need for good health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas HHS piloted a program that allows Texans to purchase groceries online using
SNAP benefits. To learn more about SNAP, how to apply and how to purchase food online, visit yourtexasbenefits.com. • Area Agencies on Aging provide older adults, their families and caregivers with nutrition services, like home and congregate meals. To connect with the nearest AAA and learn about available nutrition services, call Texas HHS at 800-252-9240. • Aging and Disability Resource Centers are part of the No Wrong Door System and help streamline access to long-term services and support for the whole family. To learn more about the full range of available long-term supports in Texas, call Texas HHS at 855-937-2372.
prevention education; expand access to and provision of treatment for substance use disorders; intervene early with individuals at the highest risk for overdose; and improve detection of overdose outbreaks due to fentanyl, novel psychoactive substances (e.g., fentanyl analogs), or other drugs to facilitate an effective response.” Learning how to recognize adverse patterns of behavior, evidenced-based screening techniques, and referring to appropriate treatment resources are key, Alonzo said. “Especially now, we have to see risk for opioid use disorder as a serious medical condition that requires medical intervention, not punitive intervention.” Through the Opioid Task Force and the EMPOWER TeleECHO Clinic program, Texas A&M faculty, staff and student ambassadors are able to educate the community and health care practitioners about the opioid epidemic and harm reduction strategies. “Our goal as a task force is to not only reach underserved areas, but any clinician, practitioner or community member in need of additional education and training
which will equip individuals with the knowledge, skills and expertise necessary to prevent opioid overdoses, thereby combatting the opioid epidemic in their local communities,” said Chinelo Nsobundu, RN, DrPH, CHES®, program manager for the center’s Opioid Task Force activities. EMPOWER (Enhancing Mental Health Practice, Organization and Workforce through Education and Readiness) enables providers from all disciplines and locations to build their expertise and increase their workforce capacity to implement high-quality, evidence-based care around opioid use disorder prevention, screening, treatment and recovery. By moving medical knowledge, not patients, patients can be treated where they are, rather than where specialists practice. “It is critically important for anyone in the health care field to reach out to those who may be at risk for or suffering from substance use disorder, including OUD,” Alonzo said. “All the issues regarding mental and behavioral health have been amplified during the pandemic, and it will take everyone in health care to increase access to care for those affected.”
austinmedtimes.com
April 2021
