Eating cakes etc instead of proper meals

[March56]

sweet things

Hi, My mum has started eating sweet things which she has never really done when she was well. She was diagnosed about 18 months ago. When we go shopping its almost as if she's grabbing all the cake, biscuits and sweet stuff off the shelves and thats all she seems to eat all the time. On Saturday morning we bought a tub of grapes, a piece of fruit cake and a box of dates and they were all gone by Saturday night. Consequently when the carers come to do her dinners she tells them she's not hungry. I suspected she was eating between meals but when I ask her she insists she doesn't. I saw the carer this morning as I had to go round to her flat for an appointment and she said some days she goes in and there's all sorts of food out that she's had and not cleared away. She has Wiltshire Farm Food dinners but won't eat them because she's been eating all day and isnt hungry. She won't wait for the carers to come and do her dinner (its not that they come late, 1230 and 5 pm) and she goes and gets cake or bread and jam. She can't remember when she's eaten things either. Do dementia sufferers lose the ability to know whether they are hungry or not? I'm going to have to stop buying cake and biscuits in the hope that she won't eat in between meals as I realise now that she doesn't eat them a bit at a time. Although she'll probably find something else to eat..... QUOTE=Richierich;1151400]

My mum has started eating lots of cakes, crisps and generally sweet things instead of proper meals... Is this somehow related to her dementia or her tablets?

Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Talking Point[/QUOTE]

 

[Pear trees]

My mum is definetely not obsessed with use by dates. We find out of date or half eaten meals all round the house, even her bed drawers. If she sees us try to throw them out she snatches them out of our hands insisting its tonight's dinner - even when it's obviously off!
There's never any half eaten or out of date cakes though.

 

[beverrino]

ah but with those foods in the fridge.... anything else - 'oh that will be fine' biscuits, cakes, crisps - things over a year old she insists will be fine! cupboards and cupboards full of the stuff!. sometimes she even tries to take the mould off the bread - I have to make her throw it away

 

[Suzanna1969]

my Mum is obsessed with dates!. if a ready meal has a date on that's not in the next day or so, she wont eat it - has to wait until its about ready to run out of date. Infuriating - now I have to try and find meals with close dates on so she will eat them.

Just over the past few days though, she has started eating a sandwich for lunch and then a sandwich for her tea - ham being the choice nearly always. Before this she had always had something that resembled a meal (ready meal, pie or pizza) - yes perhaps not so healthy.

I only know what she has for lunch as she writes it in her diary now - stops me having to rummage through the bin!

The way I look at it - is at least she is eating (although she insists she is never hungry)

Buy yourself a date stamp and ink pad and put the date of your choice over the supermarket one, which is usually quite faint anyway!

Dad has lost all his sense of smell and most of his taste. He was never a fan of sweet things, even as a boy he used to pick a stick of RAW rhubarb in his dad's garden and eat it as it was , so now he can only taste sweet he complains that the cakes I buy are too sweet and nothing else has any flavour. He doesn't have dementia (although I am getting him tested next week for minor cognitive impairment) but Mum does and just eats what Dad has, not sure she would eat anything if not for him and certainly not a proper meal.

They always ate very bland things but now I prepare meals for them and fill up their freezer once a fortnight with foil containers of meatballs, casseroles, fricassee etc and sneak in some turmeric, chilli powder, paprika etc to try and add a bit of flavour and depth to their food. The chilli helps with Dad's constipation too...!

 

[Beate]

He was never a fan of sweet things, even as a boy he used to pick a stick of RAW rhubarb in his dad's garden and eat it as it was :eek.

Can I just say that if you have never tasted raw rhubarb dipped into sugar, you have missed out on life. We had a plant in the garden when I was a kid and used to eat it like that all the time! Yum.

 

[patsy56]

Can I just say that if you have never tasted raw rhubarb dipped into sugar, you have missed out on life. We had a plant in the garden when I was a kid and used to eat it like that all the time! Yum.

Ditto

 

[Suzanna1969]

Ditto

Yes but... he didn't dip it in sugar! Not even a tiny sprinkle! Just ate it raw AND UNSWEETENED!!!

 

[Richierich]

Thank you everyone for your advice... As ever, very helpful and comforting to know we aren't alone with this particular problem


Sent from my iPhone using Talking Point

 

[Amy in the US]

Richie, you are definitely not alone. At one stage, I am fairly sure all my mother was eating was sweets, ice cream, and biscuits!

It's so much better, now that she is in a care home and has regular meals. She's gained back all the weight she lost and put a bit on as well. Although, she seems oblivious to this and accuses the carers of "shrinking her clothes in the wash." Well, no, mum, the clothes are the same size, but you aren't!

I hope you're able to get some nutrition into your mother.

 

[Chuggalug]

Hi

My mum has started eating lots of cakes, crisps and generally sweet things instead of proper meals... Is this somehow related to her dementia or her tablets?

Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Talking Point

My husband was exactly the same, Richierich. Since moving into full time care, he now eats everything put in front of him. I don't know what the difference is between living here with just me to care for him, and living where he does now, except there are many more eyes and ears to keep watch over him. I thank God for them all.

Must read through the rest of this to see what everyone else has said; although I did still cook for him and he would mostly eat his food. But he loved bread and jam whenever he could get it.

Fruit might work. Have you tried a fruit salad?

 

[LOULOU05]

Maybe as well as having the sweet tooth, as one previous post indicate, it is partly to do with cognition and processing - in that they start to forget how to cook a proper meal and go for the easiest option as well.

My mum lived on cheese and toast for weeks before she went into care - becasue she simply could not remember what else to "cook" fo heself. She has never had a sweet tooth, and has always been a faddy eater in respect of mising meals beacuse she was putting on weight (she was a Stewardess for BOAC in teh 60's ), but interestingly now she does love chocolates and biscuits.

Louise

 

[MrsTerryN]

I am just grateful if mum eats. Though currently her favorite thing is tomato sauce crisps. We have to buy them from a speciality Indian shop. She can eat 4 or 5 packs a day. Mum lives in a nursing home.

 

[1mindy]

What's not to like about tomatoe sauce crisps.