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More Veggies and Fruit, Please!

/in /by The Arc

fruitObesity has been a large problem in our country for several years now, and affects both people with and without intellectual disabilities (ID). Through The Arc’s HealthMeet project, which has conducted health assessments on over 1,000 individuals with ID in its first two years, 35% were in the obese category and 11% were in the extremely obese category.

According to ChooseMyPlate.Gov, half of your meals should be fruits and vegetables. While this sounds easy, many people do not meet these goals in their daily eating habits. Fruits and vegetables provide a lot of vitamins and nutrients—vitamin A, C, potassium, and iron to name a few—that our bodies need daily. They are also naturally low in fat and will help to fill you up without all the additional calories, so feel free to eat as much of them as you’d like! Just be careful about extra toppings that you may add on. For example, make sure not to add an excessive amount of butter or cheese to things like broccoli or brussels sprouts, and use salt sparingly.

Below are a few easy ways to help increase your fruit and vegetable consumption throughout the day.

  1. Smoothies. make them in the morning for breakfast or as an after-dinner treat. You can use a variety of fruit and even add in some vegetables as well. Add a little kale or another green leafy vegetable in a smoothie to help increase nutrients even more.
  2. Fruit/Veggie Appetizers. most people come to the dinner table ready to eat. Have some cut up carrots, peppers and hummus out for individuals to snack on when waiting for dinner. Having some time to snack on the appetizer will allow that food to digest in their bodies before dinner and will help to fill them up on healthier options so that they will be less likely to go back for seconds once they have finished their plate. When individuals eat too fast their bodies don’t have time to realize that they are full. Spreading the meal out with a healthy appetizer of vegetables in the beginning allows for more time for the body to recognize it’s getting full and send these signals to the brain.
  3. Disguise them! Add slices of fruits and vegetables to items you wouldn’t usually add them in or just haven’t before. Finely chop zucchini, squash, or eggplant and add to spaghetti sauce – they won’t even notice! Salads and sandwiches can be enriched with slices of apples, grapes, kale, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, and more.
  4. Drink them. Fruit juice can be a great way to get easily add in some extra fruits. However, make sure that it is “100% fruit juice” as other juice drinks can use a lot of extra sugars to sweeten and flavor them.

Making sure to offer a variety of fruit and vegetables to choose from will help determine what kind of foods individuals like. Buying fruit fresh is a great idea, but fruit that is frozen or canned will still provide a lot of needed vitamins and may be easier to store and prepare. Make sure canned/frozen fruit doesn’t use any extra sugars or syrups added to preserve it, as that can add a lot of extra calories. Try cooking vegetables in an array of different ways – raw, steamed, baked, grilled, etc. An individual might not like carrots because they are too hard to chew, but if you steam them and make them softer it could be something that they enjoy eating.

Check out The Arc’s HealthMeet webinars for more information about nutrition and eating healthy.

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Who Should Be the Trustee of a Special Needs Trust?

/in , /by The Arc

By Rebecca A. Hajosy, J.D., Special Needs Alliance

Providing long- term financial support or supplementation to a loved one with disabilities requires careful planning. One commonly used tool is the special needs trust (SNT), created to protect assets, while maintaining eligibility for means-tested government benefits. A critically important part of the trust process is selection of a trustee, who will make decisions regarding the investments, distributions and all other aspects of managing the trust for the benefit of an individual with disabilities.

Of course, the selected trustee should be honest, dependable and organized, but typically, someone is needed to play more than a purely administrative role. Parents should write a separate “letter of intent” to help guide the trustee in understanding how the SNT should enhance their son’s or daughter’s quality of life. It should describe the beneficiary’s goals, needs, routines, and preferences for current and future support. It should also include advice about interacting with, and advocating for, the individual. It’s usually a good idea to choose someone located nearby to facilitate the trustee’s active involvement.

Family members are often chosen for the trustee role, but before making a selection, the following should be factored in:

  • This is a long-term commitment, and the trustee should be willing and able to serve for years to come. If an older relative is being considered, it would be wise to also appoint a younger “successor” trustee so that the trust can be administered without interruption.
  • Government entitlement programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid and HUD Housing, have detailed requirements regarding SNT distributions. The trustee must be familiar with the rules pertaining to the programs in which the beneficiary participates. A wrong move can disqualify them for benefits, result in overpayments or even expose the trustee to legal liability. In order to advocate for the benefits to which the beneficiary is entitled, the trustee must be knowledgeable concerning a wide range of often-changing laws and regulations.
  • The trustee has a fiduciary responsibility to manage the trust’s assets in the best interests of beneficiaries. The trustee should either have investing experience or hire someone who does, since improper handling could, again, lead to legal liability.
  • In some situations, having a family member serve as trustee could change─ and even damage –the individual’s relationship with the beneficiary.
  • Even when a family member serves as trustee, it’s common for them to be paid a fee, given the amount of work involved. Family members usually charge less, though, than corporate trustees, banks, accountants and lawyers.

Due to the complexity of administering an SNT, family members may prefer to act as co-trustees, alongside professionals. While appointing co-trustees has advantages, in most cases, they must agree on all actions to be undertaken, including the signing of checks. This can become burdensome, and even result in gridlock. If a family member acts as sole trustee, they may choose to regularly consult a special needs attorney or financial advisor to supplement their own skills.

Another way to involve family members is to name one or more of them as “trust protector.” In that capacity, while not managing the trust, they can require accountings and investigate actions. They also usually have the authority to remove and appoint trustees.

There’s a lot to consider when managing an SNT, and the degree to which it contributes to an individual’s well-being rests largely with the trustee. Choose carefully.

The Special Needs Alliance (SNA) is a national non-profit comprised of attorneys who assist individuals with special needs, their families and the professionals who serve them. SNA is partnering with The Arc to provide educational resources, build public awareness, and advocate for policies on behalf of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities and their families.