By Jamie Keyes
Utah State University dietetic students visited the Cache
County Senior Citizens Center on Friday morning to teach the elderly how to
hydrate themselves through healthy eating.
“Older people are more at risk for dehydration because the
body metabolism is fighting against hydration storage,” said Raulon VanTassell,
a senior in the dietetics program at USU.
VanTassell made the senior citizens a salad containing
lettuce, spinach and strawberries making it high in water content. Lettuce is
95 percent water and strawberries are 92 percent.
“Eating different foods is another way to hydrate, rather than just drinking
water,” VanTassell said.
The senior citizens enjoyed the salad, but not the homemade
olive oil dressing.
“I would add a little more zing to it,” said Ed Merrill, a
senior citizen who attended the event. “Don’t get me
wrong, it was good but it
just didn't have the right vocabulary so to speak.”
Merrill has attended the class the past two weeks and plans
on attending next week.
“I’m the head chef in my house these days, and I can always
use new recipes,” Merrill said.
The weekly class started in the middle of October and will
end next Friday.
The same four dietetic students have attended each week to
educate and share recipes.
“This is simply an education course to teach the senior
citizens healthy eating,” VanTassell said.
The student’s
volunteer time will go toward their internship hours.
“This is good for our hours but we enjoy it,” said Laura
Watkins, a senior in the dietetics program. “We've
met a lot of cool people.”
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