Aging & Eating in Good Taste

Many retirement homes make extra efforts to serve up yummy treats. For those with disabilities and less energy, mealtime is often an important time to socialize.

Courtesy: kannadigaworld.com

(SALEM) - All of us have eaten countless meals in order to survive to becoming senior citizens. The lure of delicious food has satisfied our taste buds over the years. However, we must adjust to changing times.

Just as our vision often gets dimmer and our capacity for hearing decreases with age, our tongues also get older with wear and tear. It is normal to retreat to the memories of an earlier era. The reality is that we older folks simply do not register taste as we used to. Our taste buds are not quite as sharp.

Let us not overlook the role of medications. Almost all can pose side effects. Sometimes they can diminish our sense of taste. We may be unaware that this happens. But that's part of our imperfect world.

Many retirement homes make extra efforts to serve up yummy treats. For those with disabilities and less energy, mealtime is often an important time to socialize. Eating in a group can deepen friendships. So let us savor the wonderful people in our midst.

Indeed, they add flavor to our lives. All in good taste, of course.

NOTE: Lee Coyne is a retired medical social worker from Salem, OR. His wife lives in the Holiday Corp. facility called Madrona Hills. His email: notcoy@netzero.net.

B. Lee Coyne, a NYC native, blends three careers: Journalist, Counselor, Educator. His writings have appeared in newspapers and magazines on the East and West Coasts and the Southwest. He loves the art of the interview and has covered such persons as Dr. King's 1963 "Dream" speech and Sen. William

Proxmire as an advocate for the environment. A global traveller to some 30 countries aboard, he speaks Spanish semi-fluently and very rudimentary Russian, Tagalog, German, Arabic and Hebrew.

Lee's legacy here in Salem includes launching the Salem Peace Mosaic at the YMCA and doing a radio talk show for KMUZ/88.5 FM. It airs Mondays and highlights lives of proactive, productive senior citizens. He invites you to contact him at: notcoy@netzero.net.