For St. Patty’s Day, There’s More Than Corned Beef and Cabbage

Are you looking for St. Patrick’s Day foods that are easy to make and not the typical corned beef and cabbage? Here are some of the most classic and delicious Irish recipes to try out when you celebrate your heritage, from memory care specialists in South Jersey.

Irish stew

Unlike corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew is actually Irish! It’s easy to make – especially if you have a slow cooker – utterly delicious, and perfect when the weather’s still a bit nippy outside. You can substitute the lamb for a chuck roast if you prefer, but all the rest of the ingredients are easy to find and seasonal too. Originally a peasant dish, the recipe dates all the way back to 1800 and uses widely available ingredients and cheaper cuts of meat that are ideal for slow cooking. It’s tender, nutritious, and hearty – and you won’t be able to stop yourself from going back for seconds.

Irish Fifteens

For anyone with a sweet tooth, no-bake Irish Fifteens are a favorite! They’re a great option for dessert or with coffee, and the grandkids can help make them too. They’re called fifteens because they need fifteen of each ingredient, which includes graham crackers, marshmallows, glace cherries, condensed milk, and desiccated coconut. You can also add in additional sweets like chocolate chips or Maltesers – British malted milk candies that have recently made their way to the U.S.!

Potato cakes/Potato Farl

It doesn’t get more traditional than this Irish recipe for potato farl, the perfect side dish to any breakfast fry up or toasted for snack time. It’s a common food in any Irish supermarket but it’s also easy to make at home, which makes it perfect for St. Paddy’s celebrations in the USA. This potato bread is cut into triangles and baked, which is where it gets its name – in Irish, farl is any triangular baked product. Using cooked potatoes, salt, butter, and flour, this simple bread is light, fluffy, and tasty, especially when finished off on a griddle or frying pan.

Irish champ

Another wonderful traditional Irish food for St. Patrick’s Day is Irish champ. It’s a great side dish for family dinners and a wonderful crowd-pleaser for kids and adults alike. Made with mashed potatoes, milk, cheese, butter, and young green scallions, it’s rich, filling, creamy, and delicious as well as easy to make! Potato dishes are integral to many different Irish recipes, dating back to the English conquest of Ireland. The conquest impoverished the country and made potatoes one of the only food steadily available for common folks to eat. Despite this sobering history, dishes like Irish champ show just how wonderful the humble potato can be.

Irish soda bread

Soda bread is a no-yeast bread that is quick and easy to make, so you can enjoy freshly baked bread every day – even on St. Patrick’s Day! It’s the perfect staple for sandwiches, breakfast fry-ups, and soups, and it has a dense, soft inside with a deliciously crisp and crunchy crust. It’s made with cold butter, buttermilk, flour, egg, baking soda, and a little salt, giving it a crumbly, flaky texture and a uniquely flavorful taste.

Yellow man

Yellow man is another fun Irish recipe that’s great for kids (and adults!) to make and enjoy. This sweet treat is essentially a honeycomb made by mixing butter, syrup, or honey and sugar with baking soda and vinegar. This creates a mix of bubbling sugary foam that sets to a hard candy you then break up with a hammer once it’s completely cooled. A delicious and affordable sweet snack that melts on your tongue, yellow man can be stored in an airtight container away from moisture for up to one month, after which it becomes chewier rather than melt-in-the-mouth.

At The Shores, a United Methodist Communities assisted living community

We offer a beautiful, active residential “neighborhood” for seniors with dementia conditions. Our memory care specialists in South Jersey aim to create a safe, compassionate, and enjoyable space for seniors with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, where the quality of life is a priority. To find out more about memory care in Cape May County, contact us today or visit our website at https://theshores.umcommunities.org/

Original blog posted on https://theshores.umcommunities.org/the-shores/for-st-pattys-day-theres-more-than-corned-beef-and-cabbage/

Understanding Terminology Related to Dementia

When you’re becoming familiar with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, certain terms pop up that may be confusing at first. It’s important to become aware of common terminology if your loved one has been recently diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. In this article, our memory care specialists in South Jersey will go over dementia terminology like risk factors, links, and causes, as well as what they actually mean for your loved one. 

What is dementia?

It’s important to know that dementia is not a specific disease. Instead, it’s the name given to a category of health conditions that cause a decline in mental ability. Alzheimer’s is one of the most common causes of dementia, but there are other types including vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia.

Causes of dementia

Determining the cause of any disease is very difficult. For example, alcohol consumption can cause liver disease, but not all drinkers will get liver disease. For dementia conditions, it’s still not completely clear what causes diseases like Alzheimer’s, but some things make people more likely than others to get these diseases. That’s why it’s more useful to focus on risk factors rather than causes.

Risk factors for dementia

These are factors in both our everyday lives and our genetic makeup that increase the likelihood of dementia. Risk factors are determined by researchers who look for links and common areas between individuals suffering from this condition. The more risk factors you have, the higher the chance is of being diagnosed with dementia. Common risk factors include a family history of dementia, poor diet, lack of exercise, advanced age, smoking and alcohol use, presence of plasma homocysteine, and even head trauma.

Factors linked to or associated with dementia

These are usually weaker risk factors that are still being researched, are often disputed, and are not necessarily accurate. They can still be helpful to follow as the science becomes more rigorous, however, especially if you are looking to reduce your risk factors. Just remember that it’s more helpful to focus on proven risk factors rather than factors that are linked to a disease.

ADLs

When suffering from dementia conditions, the focus for caregivers is on ADLs – Activities of Daily Living. This includes assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, making meals, and eating. It can also cover medication management and any areas where forgetfulness interferes with normal daily routines. If you are looking for a caregiver or assisted living community, ADLs will be discussed in detail to help ensure that your loved one is getting all the right care they need, while still supporting their level of independence.

Stages of dementia

Like other medical conditions, dementia progresses through different stages. As there is no cure for this condition, patients and their loved ones need to understand these stages so that they can prepare for dementia progression. This will also help caregivers and assisted living communities to manage care more effectively and scale up as dementia moves into the more advanced stages. 

For example, an early-stage resident may be physically fit and simply need help with keeping track of medications, keeping appointments, remembering familiar places or people, scheduling their day, and managing transportation. An advanced or late-stage resident would likely need assistance with eating and swallowing daily grooming and personal care, and more medical care as they are more vulnerable to infections.

Professional memory care

Memory care is a multidisciplinary healthcare practice that focuses on providing quality of life care to people with dementia. It can involve several different teams and specialists, including clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, nursing, supervisory caregivers, and therapists trained to work with people who have memory disorders. The aim is to create a safe, structured environment that helps to stimulate the senses and memory, keeping people with dementia engaged on a day-to-day basis. Professional memory care is designed to help people more easily navigate their lives at every stage of this condition.

Leading dementia care and memory care options in Cape May County

If you are looking for professionals to help you care for your loved one, either on a temporary or permanent basis, UMC at The Shores’ Tapestries memory care team is here to help. 

To find out more about what we do, please visit our website, call our memory care specialists in South Jersey, and have an online consultation. It’s no obligation, of course, and you’ll quickly see how we can fit into your caregiving team to provide your loved ones with the fulfilling life they deserve, whether it’s temporary respite or full-time memory care in Cape May County.

Visit us online at: https://theshores.umcommunities.org/

Original blog posted on https://theshores.umcommunities.org/the-shores/understanding-terminology-related-to-dementia/

What is Vascular Dementia?

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia. Even though it’s common, it’s important to note that the causes, risk factors, and symptoms of vascular dementia are somewhat different from Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. In this article, our team of memory care specialists in Cape May County will cover the causes, symptoms, and the difference between vascular dementia and other types of dementia.

Vascular dementia causes and symptoms

VaD is caused by reduced blood flow through the capillaries. When the brain can’t get enough oxygen and nutrients through the blood, cognitive function starts to decline. Risk factors for this type of dementia include anything that may compromise this blood flow, such as:

• Stroke – A stroke can cause a blockage to lodge in capillaries or arteries in the brain, reducing blood flow.
• Brain hemorrhage – Bleeding can occur in the brain for several reasons, diverting oxygen and nutrients away from affected parts of the organ. Common reasons include the vessels weakening over time (more common in people with high blood pressure), aneurysm (a weak section of a vessel that eventually bursts or leaks), or trauma.
• Narrow blood vessels – This is commonly associated with aging, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (a build-up of fatty tissue in the vessels), diabetes, and a buildup of plaque in the vessels from high cholesterol.
• Diabetes – This health condition causes the blood vessels to lose elasticity, making it more difficult for blood to flow through them.
• Unhealthy lifestyle – Including limited physical activity, poor diet, carrying additional weight, smoking, and the over-use of alcohol.
• Age – With age, our blood vessels can start to wear out, creating weaknesses and losing elasticity, making them less effective.
• Atrial fibrillation – This is an abnormal heart rhythm, where the upper chambers beat rapidly and are out of sync with the lower chambers. This impacts how effectively the heart can move blood to the brain, and it can also cause blood clots in the vessels, increasing stroke risks.

The symptoms of VaD can differ from person to person because they depend on what parts of the brain are being deprived of oxygen and how badly. Sometimes the symptoms of VaD look very similar to Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia, and other times they are very distinct. In general, people with VaD tend to have the following symptoms:

• Disorientation
• Confusion
• Difficulty walking or balancing
• Difficulty expressing themselves verbally
• Dramatic mood swings, including depression or apathy
• Difficulty focusing or solving a problem
• Memory problems
• Difficulty organizing thoughts, analyzing a situation or communicating a plan
• Slower thinking process
• Restlessness
• Urinary incontinence

What is the difference between VaD and Alzheimer’s?

Alzheimer’s disease is thought to be caused by the build-up of proteins around brain cells, making it increasingly difficult for the cells to communicate with one another. No one is quite sure why this build-up happens. In contrast, we know that vascular dementia is due to a problem in the blood vessels of the brain itself, where a physical leak or blockage causes the brain to be deprived of oxygen.

While the most noticeable, common sign of Alzheimer’s is memory loss, people with VaD instead often see changes in personality or decision-making where the memory is not usually affected.

Caring for seniors with VaD – Memory care specialists in South Jersey

As with other forms of dementia, seniors with VaD often need additional care throughout their daily life, especially if they also have Alzheimer’s. 

UMC at The Shores is an assisted living community in Ocean City, NJ, that’s committed to providing professional, compassionate support to seniors. With our Tapestries memory care program specifically designed to maximize the quality of life for seniors living with different dementia conditions, our team of memory care specialists in South Jersey is trained and qualified to give families and loved ones the support and space they need to enjoy quality time with one another.

If you are seeking assistance as a caregiver of a loved one with dementia, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team, or visit our website at: https://theshores.umcommunities.org/

Original content posted on https://theshores.umcommunities.org/the-shores/what-is-vascular-dementia/