Not eating

Clairabell

New member
Jun 28, 2020
1
0
My mum had dementia and Alzeimers ,caused by sepsis ,she’s 2 years in now, she won’t eat,she will only eat ice cream and cake! The problem is she has Diabetes,I cooked her a Sunday dinner and she won’t eat it because I cooked it she wants her own food,anyone else got this problem?
 

Cat27

Registered User
Feb 27, 2015
13,057
0
Merseyside
Welcome to DTP @Clairabell
Sadly, only wanting sweet things is very common with dementia. Theta lose their sense of taste & often like very sweet or very spicy food.
Please keep posting as you’ll get lots of support here.
 

Fiona F

Registered User
Apr 12, 2020
43
0
59
Southampton
My mum (90 with AD) lives on cakes & biscuits, & even more cakes & biscuits!! & the odd mini jam sponge pudding & custard or mini trifle - basically it's all sweet stuff. We're long way past the time when she would eat anything I'd consider a proper nutritious meal. They only occasional other thing she'll eat is a very tiny fish finger or chipolata sandwich. She has 2 Aymes Complete Nutrition drinks a day, prescribed by her GP. They're like little bottles of flavoured milkshake so she loves those. The GP & dietician are now happy to just let her eat what she fancies, as long as I try to make sure everything is as high a calorie count as poss - e.g. full fat milk, biscuits with a cream filling, choc chip biscuits, not the low-fat versions of things. Also they said to mix in powdered skimmed milk with food where possible (surprisingly calorific) - that's not so easy because for example if she had soup I could mix it in - but she rarely fancies soup, or other food which I could mix it with.
So with your mum - just let her eat what she fancies - as long as she's eating & drinking that's the main thing.
 

Bunpoots

Volunteer Host
Apr 1, 2016
7,342
0
Nottinghamshire
Welcome to DTP @Clairabell

My mum was just the same! She had type 2 diabetes and, although she'd been very careful with her diet before, once the dementia took hold she would only eat sweet stuff and very little of that. She did have some fortisip drinks prescribed by her GP but still lost lots of weight.

I suppose homemade carrot cake or something similar - I've seen recipes for courgette and beetroot cakes too - might improve her diet slightly.
 

Rosettastone57

Registered User
Oct 27, 2016
1,839
0
My mother in law used to take out cakes straight from the freezer and nibble at them. Then get annoyed that no one else wanted to eat them as well . ?
 

Fiona F

Registered User
Apr 12, 2020
43
0
59
Southampton
Welcome to DTP @Clairabell

My mum was just the same! She had type 2 diabetes and, although she'd been very careful with her diet before, once the dementia took hold she would only eat sweet stuff and very little of that. She did have some fortisip drinks prescribed by her GP but still lost lots of weight.

I suppose homemade carrot cake or something similar - I've seen recipes for courgette and beetroot cakes too - might improve her diet slightly.

It's strange isn't it, I wonder why they seem to only want sweet things? My mum's only 6 stone - tiny! Despite living on cakes & biscuits she never puts on any weight.
 

GillPJ

Registered User
Jun 2, 2020
80
0
My mum seems to be heading that way, gradually eating less of the savoury stuff in favour of sweeter things, though she always has had a sweet tooth. She needs a high protein diet though, so I'm trying to find ways of adding fruit to the main course (things like fish with grapes, curry with fruit, chicken satay - not fruity but sweetish). It's a bit soul destroying when you think you're cooking up something nice and she only eats half because its "boring". I asked her what she'd prefer, and all she could think of was fruit. I haven't tried them yet, I'll let you know if they work. She has diabetes too so it's a tough call.
 

imthedaughter

Registered User
Apr 3, 2019
944
0
My mum seems to be heading that way, gradually eating less of the savoury stuff in favour of sweeter things, though she always has had a sweet tooth. She needs a high protein diet though, so I'm trying to find ways of adding fruit to the main course (things like fish with grapes, curry with fruit, chicken satay - not fruity but sweetish). It's a bit soul destroying when you think you're cooking up something nice and she only eats half because its "boring". I asked her what she'd prefer, and all she could think of was fruit. I haven't tried them yet, I'll let you know if they work. She has diabetes too so it's a tough call.
You can make a homemade sweet and sour sauce with pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, a little bit of soy sauce and some cornflour to thicken, and pour it over almost any type of protein (and rice or quinoa for extra protein). You could make it quite strongly flavoured and she may enjoy it then. Also you can add chunks of pineapple to the sauce. It's very tasty actually! Most savory food tastes bland to PWD unfortunately.
 

GillPJ

Registered User
Jun 2, 2020
80
0
You can make a homemade sweet and sour sauce with pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, a little bit of soy sauce and some cornflour to thicken, and pour it over almost any type of protein (and rice or quinoa for extra protein). You could make it quite strongly flavoured and she may enjoy it then. Also you can add chunks of pineapple to the sauce. It's very tasty actually! Most savory food tastes bland to PWD unfortunately.
Another excellent idea. Thanks :)
 

GillPJ

Registered User
Jun 2, 2020
80
0
Just to update, two things that have gone down well are chicken satay (ready made) and sole in a lemon butter sauce (well, this is France) with grapes and broccoli puree. Very quick to make since I buy frozen purée, frozen fish, a packet of sauce mix and grapes. I expect plaice would go down just as well - a nice soft fish. I also bought a ready made sausage meat stuffed cabbage leaf with chopped provençale style tomatoes, that seems OK if chopped up well.