My Gramma is 100 and is a very healthy, energetic woman. She still lives alone and my mom has taken over cooking for her because she started eating simple, such as canned soup.
Her diet is very healthy, but I don't think she gets enough fat and/or calories and she is losing weight. Winter is coming up and I would like to see my gram put some weight on.
If there are any nutritionists out there, or anyone with some suggestions please help. It would be great if you have a menu you could email me.
I have searched the internet, but, we seem to think weight LOSS, when we say the word diet and I came up with nothing.
She has no health problems. The first time she ever went to the hospital(except birthing her children) was removing her gall bladder 2 years ago. I want to be like her when I grow up!
I know others here have weight gain problems from our disease, so hopefully this will reach them too.
I thought of a few ideas: french toast made w/ half and half. Add cheese to eggs. She does have a hard time chewing meat, so roasted chicken/veal with a broth/flour gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, baked butternut squash,biscuits.
Dipping bread into olive oil. Add a scoop of ice cream to milk. What fat/calories can I add to smoothies?
Thank you all so much. foggedup
Posted by just don (Member # 1129) on :
best and easiest way might be to get her started drinking 'ensure' morning noon and night. It tastes so good. And has some calories to keep them going. Small cans so small amount to drink, packed with punch!!
Posted by foggedup (Member # 7415) on :
Wonderful idea just Don!
Thank you so much for your idea.
Foggedup
Posted by cootiegirl (Member # 3216) on :
First off, God bless to your Grammy for being 100 years young and spry. My Gram is 'only' 94 and starting to show her age - much more needy which is hard on my parents.
My one lymekid was losing a lot of weight so I did some research on weight gain as well. Now in his case he had to deal with potential yeasty beasties, but the immediate need was getting meat back on his bones (believe me a 6 ft tall boy looks like heck when he weighs only 125 lbs)and then fighting off the beasts. I also had to deal with a finicky eater.
We did nutritional supplements and found Boost to be the most flavorful. He preferred the chocolate flavors but there are many. There are a lot of varieties such as extra protein, extra calories, etc. Smoothies with lots of fresh fruit, yogurt (to attack those beasties)weren't high in calories, but certainly an extra source of some good nutrition.
One of my son's all time favorites was a high powered milkshake i concocted. Warning....you can gain weight just reading the following.....I used whole milk, heavy cream, chocolate hagen daz ice cream (highest fat content ice cream i could find around here), and cream of coconut. I tried a tiny taste and it was like drinking a Mounds bar.
Other options for your Gram....creamed soups. I know recipes will call for milk, so add the whole m ilk or even use a combo of whole milk and some heavy cream. While you want Grammy to eat healthy, I don't think that at age 100 she has too much to worry about.
i also think that protein in her diet is very important. Dr. J recommended a cereal that is very high in protein and for the life of me can't think of it offhand. It comes in a jar and I would add a few spoonfuls of that to the smoothies....lyme moment....it will come to me..wheat germ????? I think that's it! .Whey protein is also a good source - my kids tolerate that better than soy protein and again comes as a powder that can be added to shakes, soups and smoothies. cootiegirl
Posted by northstar (Member # 7911) on :
***Enzymes with meals. Older people do not produce as many digestive enzymes, so the food is not as available to the body.
Homemade lasagna freezes well in serving size portions.
Nut butters.
Butter on veggies.
Slice of bread and butter, or rolls with butter, for every meal (unless sandwich).
Grated cheeses as condiments on salads, meats, veggies. (cheese sauces if one really likes to cook..it has cream, flour, butter, and grated cheese in it).
Ice cream, brownies, eclairs, cheesecake, etc. for dessert.
Bananas for fruit.
Dried coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds (trail mix) for snack. Other dried but chewable fruits (apricots, prunes)
High carb beans ( kidneys, limas, garbanzo's on salad). Three bean salad. Other bean salads.
Chili. (obviously with minimal spice)
Sour cream on baked potatoes.
Cream cheese on crackers for snacks.
This is my wish list!
North
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
All very good ideas!! Tell Gram hello for all of us!!
I was thinking nuts would be good if her tummy can tolerate them!
I agree....Boost is much better tasting than Ensure! {personally, I wouldn't drink either one...too much sugar}
I happen to know because my mother refused to drink Ensure, but loved Boost!
Posted by foggedup (Member # 7415) on :
Amazing, all of you.
These ideas will be great to use. I would love to add a few of these ingredients into my diet...yikes, I am big enough!
Thank you for taking the time to help us out!
foggedup
Posted by lymemomtooo (Member # 5396) on :
This is making me hungry. Thanks for the post. My 92 year old mother just moved in with us. I think she is 80 lbs wet, if that much.
I have done some of the above but got a few new ideas from the postings. I also try to sneak cheese and eggs into everything possible.
One thing I have had to do it get her on a regular routine and add snacks so she is wanting more food. She did not have a healthy appetitie. After just a week, she is now waiting for most meals and yesterday asked me to get her some donuts for a snack.
I also have gotten her to eat some ice cream before bedtime most nights.
Now I hope I do not cause her cholesterol to go off of the charts..
Good luck..lmt
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
I really agree with Too about the excessive sugar in boost and in ensure.
You may be able to make her a nutritious shake wtih yogurt, fresh fruit, with some added protein powder. You could go to a place like whole foods or the Vitamin Shoppe and ask them for suggestions they might have.
Another thought I have is creamy peanut butter (you can buy a natural peanut butter that has less sugar than others) on a whole wheat or whole grain toast.
Your grandmother sounds awesome! Good for her...and for you, too.
Andie
Posted by cootiegirl (Member # 3216) on :
While I definitely agree with people that Boost and ensure may have a fair amount of sugar,I almost don't see it as an issue for a reasonable healthy 100 year old woman. I take it she isn't a lymie on abx, so you don't have to worry about yeastie beasties.
Too much sugar isn't good for anyone and if she is amenable to other smoothies with protein powder, that would be a better option. But to have some ready made supplements on hand that she could help herself to, the prepared ones would seem to be just fine. cootiegirl
Posted by lymednva (Member # 9098) on :
I agree with cootiegirl. My mom was 95 when she died and was very thin, after being heavy most of my life.
At that age you don't worry about sugar or cholesterol. You just want to keep the pounds on them.
Her last caregiver tried every trick in the book to get her to eat more and higher calorie foods. She was a pro at it!
