At Five Star Senior Living, we are serious about food! In fact, Dining and Nutrition is one of the three pillars that comprise the Five Star Difference. Our residents often list the delicious food as one of their favorite parts of life at their Five Star community. So, what better place to go next in our Behind the Scenes series than into the kitchen?

Being a Five Star Chef Is More Than Just Cooking Great Food

Our Dining Services team is filled with renowned chefs and stellar dining staff. But did you know that at Five Star, menu planning is its own discipline? We asked Janece DiFranco, Regional Director of Food & Dining Services in the Southeast, what makes menu planning so important at Five Star, and here’s what she said.

“Five Star Chefs put an enormous amount of time into planning menus each season to ensure each dish offered is inspired by the flavorful traditions, regional preferences, and the personal culture of our residents throughout the country.”

We Plan Menus That Reflect the Culture of Each Unique Community

Just as we do with activity planning, housekeeping, and more, our menu planning goes far beyond utilitarian necessity and truly considers the culture of each unique community and its residents. Chefs are in regular contact with residents, getting new ideas and learning what the popular ingredients and dishes are.

For example, in the Southeast, it seems that cauliflower is the current “it” food! The most popular dishes there now are: Lemon Herb Cauliflower and Bean Dip, Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Capers, and Sweet Sesame Cauliflower. What’s all the rage with cauliflower?

“Perhaps it’s conversations with their family members who are leading low-carb lifestyles, cooking shows, or articles they come across in newspapers or the web that intrigues them to try interesting recipes made with cauliflower,” Janece muses. It’s true that health and nutrition are big considerations for most Five Star residents.

Health and Nutrition Are Top Considerations in Menu Planning

Our chefs not only are great at making delicious meals that keep residents happy — they’re also keeping up with nutritional needs and special diets. Nearly 60% of Five Star residents have at least one special dietary need. “The importance for menu planning is to ensure adequacy in balanced diets for our residents who need assistance in this area,” Janece tells us.

At Five Star Senior Living we understand how food can nourish more than just the body, which is why we put so much thought and effort into not just our dining program as a whole, but into every meal and every menu item.  To learn more about what our senior living communities have to offer (or have on the menu) find a senior living community near you.

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Brain aerobics can do for your brain what walking and Chair Yoga can do for your body. Giving your grey matter a good workout can help keep your brain healthy and guard against memory loss.

So just what can you do to give your brain a real workout?

We have some tips to help you get your workout started.

6 Ways You Can Boost Your Brain Power

From tackling a new language to keeping up with world events, here’s what you can do to give your brain a boost:

1. Learn a New Hobby or Skill. Tackling a new and different hobby is a great way to stimulate your brain. Foreign languages, art classes, cooking classes and learning a new musical instrument can all help give your brain a workout.
2. Switch Hands. Are you familiar with Neurobics? This is when you try to complete tasks with your non-dominate hand. If you are right-handed, you could try scrubbing the counters down with your left hand. Or try teaching yourself to brush your teeth with your right hand if you are a leftie. Neurobics are one more avenue for stretching your brain.
3. Fun and Games. While research is mixed on this topic, some Alzheimer’s experts believe playing games and working puzzles can help maintain brain health. Enjoying a round or two of cards with friends or a game of Uno or Candyland can be a fun way to keep those neurons firing.
4. Turn Left Instead of Right. Routine can be dangerous for the brain. When you do the same things the same way every day your brain isn’t challenged. It slips in to “autopilot.” Look for opportunities to shake up your daily schedule. Take a different route to church. Find a different path for your morning walk.
5. Engage in Current Events. Keeping up with current events and engaging in healthy debate with friends are great brain booster activities.
6. Read Every Day. Finally, make reading a part of your daily life. It might be by downloading ebooks from the library on your tablet device or reading the local newspaper online.

Lifestyle360 at Five Star Senior Living is our holistic approach to active living. Call the community nearest you to learn how it works.

High Blood Pressure? The DASH Diet Can Bring Fast and Lasting Results

Many seniors have high blood pressure (hypertension). While medications play an important role in helping people manage their systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) levels, maintaining a proper diet is just as essential. At senior living communities like Five Star, residents have a lot of freedom to choose what they would like to eat and it can be challenging to stay on a restrictive diet with so much temptation.

That’s why the DASH Diet (which stands for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension”) can be so effective: you eat a wide assortment of real foods so you always feel full, but you don’t have to count calories or carbohydrates, or even say no to desserts all the time. The DASH Diet is more of a lifestyle change than a strict diet, emphasizing foods that are low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol, and high in potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as well as protein and fiber. Scientific research sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) showed that DASH can lower high blood pressure and improve blood lipid levels, which can reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Making Good Choices is Easy

That may sound confusing but it really isn’t. It’s just a matter of choosing poultry and fish over red meat, eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods; and cutting out or reducing fats, sweets, and sugary beverages. Recommended daily or weekly servings are as follows:

• Whole grains: 6 to 8 servings a day
• Vegetables: 4 to 5 servings a day
• Fruits: 4 to 5 servings a day
• Low-fat or nonfat dairy: 2 to 3 servings a day
• Lean meat, poultry, and fish: 2 to 3 servings a day
• Nuts, seeds, and legumes: 4 to 5 servings a week
• Healthy fats and oils: 2 to 3 servings a day
• Sweets: 5 or fewer a week

That may seem like a lot of food but as we said, you won’t go hungry! Start off slowly and give your body time to adjust to the new way of eating. You’ll find that you’ll feel better, have more energy, and that eating will be as fun and satisfying as it’s supposed to be. After all, DASH is not a fad diet, it’s a day-to-day, lifelong approach to healthy eating, so you can stick with it more easily.

Menu Ideas and More Information

Five Star Senior Living communities offer delicious dining options and while we don’t offer a strict DASH menu, we do offer heart-healthy options that are closely aligned with the DASH diet. But the point is that the choices are in your hands, and by choosing lean proteins, increasing fruits and vegetables, low- or nonfat dairy, and limiting fats and sweets, you can make a real difference in your health.

For more information on the DASH diet and suggested servings and choices, please view these articles from the NHLBI and the Mayo Clinic.

The last one can be tricky. You obviously can’t list old medications on Craigslist or sell it on eBay. And you might find yourself wondering if it is safe to just throw them away?

The answer is actually easier than you might expect.

The Best Way to Get Rid of Unused Medicine

Pharmacists will frequently take back unused prescription and non-prescription drugs for proper disposal.

Yes, it really is as easy as that!

Next time you drop into your pharmacy, ask if they will accept your old drugs. Remember to remove the prescription label from the bottle and shred it to minimize the risk of identity theft. Your pharmacist will take the medicine and the bottle, returning both to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for proper disposal or recycling.

Pharmacist Won’t Take Your Medications?

If your local pharmacist can’t take your medicines, you can search for a DEA public disposal location near you. You can also call 1-800-882-9539 to find a collection location.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

In 2010, the DEA established National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, events held twice yearly to help people safely get rid of unused prescription medicines. Last May, the DEA collected 447 tons of prescription medications at almost 5,400 different collection sites across all 50 states.

Collection dates have not yet been set for 2017, but the events typically occur in the spring and fall.

When All Else Fails…

What if you can’t find a collection location near you, and you don’t want to wait until the next Drug Take Back Day?

The DEA says that’s okay. You can simply throw away your unused medications safely by following these four steps. 

1. Remove drugs from the original containers and place in a sealable plastic bag, jar, or other container (such as a coffee tin).

2. Fill the container with used coffee grounds, kitty litter or dirt to deter children, pets, or anyone else from finding the pills.
3. Throw it out with your regular garbage.

4. Toss out or recycle the pill bottle or container separately, after removing your identifying information.
 
Is It Safe to Flush Prescription Medicine?

In certain cases, it’s safer to flush prescription medicines than run the risk of anyone finding them. These medicines include certain powerful and addictive pain medications, such as Oxycontin and Percocet, which could be deadly to children and pets after just one dose.

The FDA has published a list of medicines that can be safely flushed down the toilet if you don’t have a disposal location in your area. It’s better to dispose of these drugs immediately than to leave them lying around the house if you can’t find a collection center.

Understanding the Concerns

Most prescription drug abusers get their drugs from friends and family members, according to DEA reports. Prescription painkillers may open the door to heroin abuse.
Disposing of prescription drugs safely can keep these dangerous drugs out of the hands of addicts, and also help ensure the safety of children and pets or others who might take the medication accidentally.

Five Star Senior Living helps residents manage their medications eliminating the worry about how to dispose of old medicine. Learn more about our services by calling the community nearest you today!

The doctor-patient relationship is an important factor in aging well. While most people aren’t overly excited to visit a physician’s office, most understand the role preventative medicine plays in avoiding a medical crisis and the importance of intervening early enough for treatment to be effective.

To help make appointments with your physician more productive, we’ve put together a few tips.

4 Tips for Productive Physician Visits

1. Keep a health journal: Staying on track with your diet, exercise goals, medication schedule, and doctor visits is easier when you are organized. Maintaining a health journal is a useful tool. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to document wellness goals met (e.g., how much water you drank or if you had a good night’s sleep) as well as anything out of the ordinary that happened. Doing so can help you spot trends that might indicate a problem.
2. Prepare a list of questions: A day or two prior to your doctor’s appointment, look through your health journal to make notes on any concerns you have. Make a list of any items you want to ask the physician. The hurried atmosphere of many doctor appointments often makes it intimidating to quickly remember what questions you wanted to ask. Having a prepared list will make it easier to review everything. Remember, even the busiest of physicians want to hear your questions so they can take a proactive approach to managing your health care.
3. Keep a portable medical file: Another step you can take to make doctor appointments go more smoothly is to create a medical file with all of your health information. This is especially helpful for older adults who see multiple physicians at different medical centers. Having extra copies of medications lists, results of medical tests, and your medical history will make it easier to share with your physician. While most doctors utilize electronic patient records, it often takes time for information to be updated, especially for physicians in different health care networks.
4. Follow doctor’s orders: Talk with any doctor and they will likely tell you one thing that makes physician appointments less productive, and that is when patients don’t follow doctor’s orders. For example, if your physician has instructed you to take an over-the-counter iron supplement and you don’t, the physician might be frustrated when he or she sees you again. If there is a reason you can’t follow doctor’s orders, call the office to alert the staff. Maybe the iron supplement is upsetting your stomach too much to continue taking it. The physician might have another solution for you to try.

Using these tips will likely help you feel as though you’ve made the most of your doctor’s appointment when you leave.

Living Well During Retirement

If you are looking for more ideas to help you live your best quality of life during retirement, follow the Five Star Senior Living Blog. Every few weeks we’ll send you an email packed with resources dedicated to aging. From diet tips to senior-friendly ways to manage stress, we’ll keep you updated on the latest trends in healthy living.

A Culinary Experience Celebrating Lifestyle360 & Bridge to Rediscovery

This year, we’re celebrating our wonderful programs with signature recipes from our Five Star chefs. In January, we’re exploring the intellectual aspect of cooking with recipes inspired by legendary authors. Our very own Chef Quinton Branson, Food & Beverage Director from Parkwood Village and the Landing, has compiled a list of his favorite authors and some delicious dishes based on their life stories. Join us in a toast to lifelong learning!

Meet the Chef

Chef Quinton Branson
Food and Beverage Director of Parkwood Village and the Landing

Chef Quinton Branson was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Greenville, North Carolina where he graduated high school. While attending school, he opened up Corner Stop Café for the students and staff. With a passion for cooking, he helped his mother cater for many years – cooking, making sales, and delivering food to many customers. He then took a job as a dishwasher at Cypress Glen United Methodist Retirement Community. Through his hard work he became a line server, then a baker, and moved up to be a manager for eight years. In 2012, he began working for Five Star Senior Living at Parkwood Village and The Landing as a cook. After five years of dedicated service, he became the Food and Beverage Director. Chef Quinton is currently continuing his education to better serve his residents at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

“My motto is simple – food isn’t good if it’s not cooked from the heart. I love preparing my specialties for our residents, including broccoli and cheese soup, potato soup, chicken rice soup, fried chicken, pork BBQ, strawberry delight, molasses pudding, and bread pudding, just to name a few.”

Featured Authors & Recipes

Jack London

• Shrimp and Corn Chowder
• Famous 1900’s Salad
• Vanilla Pound Cake

Bernard Clayton Jr.

• L’aido Boulido (Boiled Water Soup)
• Mom Unser’s Chili
• Chocolate Soup from Hotel Hershey 

John Steinbeck

• Pork and Pozole with Chipotles

J.D. Salinger

• Classic Roast Beef

Willa Cather

• Kolaches

Walt Whitman

• Coffee Cake

Jack Kerouac

• Apple Pie

<!–[CDATA[Fit for Life: Exercise for Seniors
Not everyone enjoys exercise but studies show that seniors who keep physically fit are able to live independently longer. Aside from the sheer health benefits, people who exercise have better balance, and so avoid potentially serious injuries from falling. Furthermore, when you exercise you have more energy so you can do more of the things you enjoy doing, such as spending time with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren – who want you around for a long time.

The fact is, it’s not hard for most seniors to get some beneficial physical activity into their day; furthermore, it can even be fun and a good way to socialize. You don’t need to work out in a gym, you can go for brisk walks, ride a bike, swim, dance, and take the stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Not only can you delay disease and other aging problems with exercise, you can also feel better emotionally, as exercise releases endorphins that make you feel exhilarated and happy.

Four Ways to be Active
The National Institute on Aging recommends that seniors incorporate all four types of exercise into their daily physical activity regimen: endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility.
 

• Endurance. Try to build up to at least 30 minutes of activity that leaves you breathing hard. You can do it in 10-minute increments, you can do it 3-5 times a week. Start low and slow and increase duration and energy level as you get more fit.
• Strength. Everything you do requires muscles: getting up from a chair, lifting a grandchild, carrying groceries are all things you’d like to be able to do without needing assistance. Keeping your muscles in shape keeps you independent.
• Balance. Falls are the leading cause of fractures, hospital admissions for trauma, loss of independence, and injury deaths among seniors. Practicing standing on one foot and walking heel to toe can help you improve your balance.
• Flexibility. Stretching is something you can do anytime and anywhere. Stretch your arms, legs, neck, and back. You’ll find it easier to tie your shoes, look over your shoulder when backing out of the driveway, and reach for things whether they’re on a high shelf or the ground.

Fitness at Five Star
All Five Star Senior Living communities offer a comprehensive fitness program covering all four areas described above, including Five Point Fitness programs, which are tailored to each resident’s personal fitness level and offered in a group or one-on-one setting with a specially trained staff member, and fitness and wellness rooms where you can work out on your own. Just remember to start slowly, especially if you haven’t been particularly active for a long time. Never hold your breath while doing strength exercises and be sure to use safety equipment when needed (such as helmets for bike riding). Stay hydrated and try to commit to working out a few days a week for least 30 minutes.

Smoking cigarettes can be one tough habit to break. For older adults who have smoked for many decades, nicotine addiction can feel like an impossible habit to kick. Many seniors also believe that the damage to their body has been done and there is no point in trying to quit now. 

Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. There are health benefits that can be reaped from giving up smoking no matter how young or old you are.

Benefits to Your Health When You Stop Smoking

If you or a senior loved one is a smoker, know that it’s never too late to stop. The health benefits of kicking the nicotine habit begin almost immediately. Even if you’ve tried unsuccessfully to quite many times before, here are a few reasons why you should try again:

• Your heart rate and blood pressure begin to slow down within 30 minutes of stopping smoking. If you are a heavy smoker, that impact can be especially significant. Chain smokers often live with high blood pressure and an elevated heart rate.
• If you go 48 hours without having a cigarette, your lungs will start to clear.
• At the 72 hour mark, your body will be free from nicotine. 
• Smokers who quit will notice a spike in energy and that breathing becomes easier after just 4 days without a cigarette. 

Remember, it doesn’t matter how old you are when you give up smoking. You will still reap these health rewards.

The Long-Term Benefits of Kicking the Habit

Over the long-run, smokers who quit will benefit even more. 

• Fewer colds and illnesses: Smokers experience more incidences of colds, flu, and bronchitis than non-smokers. After you’ve stopped smoking for a few months, you will begin to notice you don’t get sick as often. 
• Lower risk of heart disease: Smoking is the leading cause of heart attacks. No matter how old you are when you quit your risk for heart disease will begin to decline. This decline will continue as long as you cease smoking. 
• Reduce your cancer risk: Stopping smoking will also help to reduce your risk for a variety of different types of cancer, including cancer of the lung, colon, esophagus, and throat. 
• Save money: Depending on how heavy a smoker you or a senior loved one are, giving up smoking can provide a boost to your financial well-being. This is another benefit most of us will enjoy!

If you are interested in reading more about successful aging and how you can live a longer, healthier life, we encourage you to bookmark the Five Star blog and stop back often. We share new resources and articles several times each week!