Ways to Help Older Patients to Improve Appetite
Desire to Eat Wanes Among Elderly Due to Illness or Disability
Jun 20, 2009
Many elderly who have been diagnosed with serious illness, or who are confined by disability, age or stroke to their homes or nursing homes, find their appetites dwindling. The repercussions of a loss of appetite are several: loss of weight and muscle tone, thinning of bones, dry skin and loss of hair, fatigue, lethargy, and depression.
Special Diets are Not an Obstacle
The caregiver tasked with providing meals is often faced with additional challenges:
- Special diets such as low sodium, diabetic/sugar-free, low purine
- Poor dentition, either because of weakness or loss of teeth, or poorly fitting dentures
- Budget limitations
One of the significant ways to entice an older patient to eat, is to prepare "comfort" foods from that person's ethnic traditions. Many favorite recipes can be adapted to comply with the special dietary needs of the patient. There are substitutes, for example, for soy sauce that are salt-free and can make an Asian meal more appetizing. Mexican and Cuban seasoning is available without salt, as well.
Provide Easy to Chew Comfort Foods
If the patient is restricted to softer foods, it's still possible to add spices and herbs to make a palatable version of a favorite recipe, without turning it into "baby food." Using finely-ground meats can enable the meal preparer to prepare meatloaf, meat balls, American Goulash, and other ground-meat recipes that are easier to chew. If a table-top meat-grinder isn't available, ask one's butcher to double-grind the meat.
Most diets will allow several servings of fruit each day. Depending on the level of sugar and fiber allowed, no-sugar and "lite" canned fruits can be added to cottage cheese, yogurt, cooked cereal and gelatin for a boost of flavor and nutrition. Fresh fruit is also a treat for just about everyone: peel and section a navel orange, cube a ripe watermelon slice, dice a peeled ripe apple, or cut a ripe peach in half and remove the stone. Any of these in a cup tossed with fresh blueberries or strawberries and topped with fat-free whipped topping will delight the senses and add important antioxidants and vitamins to the daily menu.
Make sure that vegetables are well-cooked but not overcooked. Cooking greens until they are mushy isn't a good practice. Use a bit of fresh herbs or a salt-free spice blend to perk up the flavors of canned vegetables, especially if these are salt-free. Anyone can benefit from reducing the level of sodium in the diet.
Remember that the smell of good food cooking is often the best way to lure someone to eat. The smells of a bit of cooking garlic or onion, sofrito, fresh bread or a chicken roasting in the oven - all are invitations that are hard to resist!
Occasionally, ice cream or sherbet is a wonderful evening snack that is welcomed by nearly everyone. Look for flavors that don't have nuts or chips that need to be chewed (and are hard because they are frozen), and which correspond to the patient's favorites.
Serving other healthy snacks like sugar-free tapioca in individual serving cups, pudding cups made with milk, and single-serving cups of cottage cheese enables them to be held more easily. Provide a plastic spoon if the patient does not have good arm strength.
Share the Cooking Experience to Keep the Mind Sharp
If the elderly person has fond memories of meals from her family celebrations, or remembers favorite restaurants, try to acquire the recipes for these meals to prepare for special occasions. Perhaps she was an excellent cook herself, and would appreciate joining the caregiver in the kitchen, if that can be arranged. Conversations about cooking techniques, lessons from her own mother or grandmother, her travels and experiences surrounding food, enable both the patient and the caregiver to share while keeping the mind active and spirited.
