VIDA has a licensed nutritionist and dietician on staff who works one-on-one with abuelitos to create a personal nutrition plan that meets their chronic illness and weight management needs. Our nutrition services are tailored specifically to the prevention and control of priority chronic diseases of the Latino senior population.

When an abuelito first comes through our doors, their need for social services is evaluated by one of our social workers during an intake meeting. A thorough health and wellness assessment follows, during which the abuelito’s medical conditions are identified. Our licensed nutritionist then conducts a nutritional assessment and designs an individualized nutrition plan that takes the abuelito’s medical conditions into account. Together, the nutritionist and the abuelito establish short- and long-term nutrition goals. Vida’s nutritionist then monitors the abuelito’s diet. Every two months, abuelitos get a weight check and, every six months, a new nutrition assessment. For those with no major health conditions a new nutrition assessment is done every year.

Vida holds four nutrition education workshops a month, one of which is always a cooking demonstration of a nutritional meal abuelitos can prepare quickly and easily at home. The workshops are based on the needs of the abuelitos and range from how to read food labels to how to decrease sodium in their diet to increasing their calcium intake to how to prepare commodity food in healthy ways to food handling and hydration.