Cooking Almond Crusted Salmon with Avocado Sauce for My Grandparents -My Life as a Carer

This week on CareBlair, we’re sharing a simple, nutritious recipe we’ve recently discovered and learned how to make because not only is it a super tasty, brain-healthy meal for us and those we care for, cooking is a skill that will stay with us as our responsibilities as carers change over time.

By Kyle Wilson | March 2023

Did you know that 1 in 5 Brits — more than 10 million people – are unpaid caregivers? Almost 1 million of these unpaid carers live in Scotland.

Unpaid carers in the UK save the state over £130 billion every single year – enough to fund the entire NHS.

And that number includes us.

For the modern caregiver, life is fundamentally different from our non-caregiving peers. It requires a different kind of planning, patience, and care and we live in a world that is continuously adapting to include the full spectrum of human ability, from children and adults who have autism, dyslexia, downs-syndrome, ADDHD, and a whole host of intellectual and physical differences.

And we’re doing the same to engage and adapt with and to the minds and bodies of those who are aging into differently able seniors and elderly adults who have dementia, alzheimers, Parkinson’s, diabetes, visual and hearing impairments, cardiovascular disease, and more.

Even as the years pass by, we can still feel like we’re on a journey of discovery; learning and applying in our own lives as carers the knowledge we’ve gathered around nutrition, health, fitness, and balance in life.

Sharing is caring

Whether we realise it or not, advocating for the dietary and lifestyle needs of those we care for is one of the most important (but often overlooked/underappreciated) and impactful choices we make as a caregiver.

When we take on a caring role, no matter how small, we naturally become more sensitive to the impacts, both positive and negative, of the role diet and lifestyle play in shaping and sustaining the health of those in our care.

As we learn more about the food we choose to eat and share with others, we’re becoming more knowledgable and better able to share this information with others in our community to help other carers like us to mediate the risk for those they care for from developing (or controlling) Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even neurological diseases such as Alzheimers, Dementia, and more.

The longer we’re in our caring role, however, the more we begin to notice the need to find time for ourselves to care for our own physical and mental needs. This too is a learning curve, it’s not always obvious when we’re knee deep in fulfilling the needs of others.

As a caregiver, we’re constantly reminded by friends, family, and the wider community to look after ourselves, stay fit, eat a healthy diet, and take regular breaks away from our caring role to recharge our batteries.

Since August 2022, Kyle has been able to spend some of his free time collaborating with one of his local market gardens, Taybank Growers Cooperative, to learn and discover more about their cooperative approach to farming and their chemical-free practice of growing fruit and vegetables in healthy, nutritious soil for the benefit of their neigbours and surrounding communities.

To them, healthy food is not about data and statistics, its about having a good heart and actively helping others to sustain a good quality of life.

Got a question, a thought, or an idea that you think might help Kyle and other carers? Share it with our community on social media or email us and we’ll do our best to get back to you.

And until next time, remember, sharing is caring.

Kyle Discovers is a mini docu-series by CareBlair that shares Kyle’s own journey of learning more about nutrition, health, fitness, and balance in life. He is sharing what he knows as he learns and applies it in his own life because he is a carer for two elderly and disabled family members.

Discover your communities local food strategy and how you can get involved!