Food For A Senior Finicky Eater

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Oh my goodness, I've never dealt with such a fastidious, hard-to-please eater as my senior mother. In old age, it's her mind and not her inability to chew. Her doctors tell me this is common in patients like her as they lose the ability to taste food. I lower my expectations of her eating a varied diet and simply focus on pumping enough milk and Greek yogurt into her to make up for the meat and protein sources she'll no longer eat. Vegetables have gone by the wayside also. Sometimes she'll eat chicken nuggets or one bite of beef, but it's not enough protein in a steady diet.

Here's what I buy to counter her self-imposed limited diet:

1) low-fat milk - I drink skim, but bumped her up to 1%. She doesn't need to watch her weight.

2) vanilla Greek yogurt

3) multi-grain bread

4) crunchy peanut butter - Toast, pb, and a drizzle of honey every morning is her only daily meal of real food.

5) honey

6) 30-gram protein powder - that I add to milk if she refuses lunch. Sometimes I toss in fruit, or spinach, or walnuts. Sometimes I lose the battle and she refuses to drink it.

7) 20-gram protein bars - She is getting tired of these, so I cut them into 3 smaller pieces and give her one piece. It's better than nothing.

8) cheddar cheese - She'll only eat one bite of cheese but sometimes will eat a grilled cheese sandwich.

9) fruit - apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and berries

10) eggs - She'll only consume one egg for dinner about twice a week. I scramble 2 eggs and scrunch them up on a plate to look like one egg. She is suspicious but eats them.

11) coffee - My mother says coffee is number one. Lord save the caregiver if she is denied her morning coffee! She drinks coffee and about one cup of milk with her breakfast. Great!

12) ice cream and dark chocolate - as treats and for calories.  She only wants a serving. I toss dark chocolate chips on her ice cream for its anti-oxidants. I hear dark chocolate is good for the brain.

I am closer to having an understanding of what it must be like to care for an anorexic child. It's a daily struggle to keep them healthy. I dislike having to put so much thought into the daily necessity of eating. I, myself, have always been a healthy eater and never a problem eater. 

As long as mom looks healthy and is of normal weight I shake off over worrying and just do the best I can by making food available. I always offer her a bite of my meals but don't push her if she refuses a taste. However I'm strict on 2 points -- I do nudge her to have a small taste, and once in her mouth, I tell her she can't spit out such a small morsel of food, as it's not poison, but to please swallow it. I'm nipping a bad habit before it begins!

I'm sure the best nursing homes can't cater to seniors the way families inevitably do at home because it's time-consuming so when seniors become bad eaters they just go downhill.

Life's challenges! If you feed an undereater and have ideas that work feel free to share them.

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