angel_bear

There comes a time in your affected loved ones life where food is NOT going to be a priority. They will reject anything/everything, and leave YOU the caregiver feeling guilty (they're not eating .. what will I do?) and frustrated (but they liked this food LAST week .. what's wrong with it now?) and angry (just eat darn it .. just eat!!).

As we progress through out life, affected with AD or not, we lose taste senation in our mouth. However, our SWEET sense stays strong, and in our AD victim, is actually enhanced!!

There has been trials done, and proven that giving your loved one something sweet BEFORE dinner can actually enhance their appetite! This DOESN'T mean they fill up on sweets of course, but a small (and I mean small) bowl of something sweet 30 minutes before 'dinner' won't go astray and may help them want to eat more.

Cutlery becomes a bit too much for them, and although they know they are supposed to use cutlery, when it becomes frustrating for them they will cease using it and cease eating it .. so finger foods come in handy then. You could try using 2 spoons, but from personal experience, our loved ones KNOW they don't eat chicken parmigana with spoons so that can have some drawbacks ...

As our loved ones progress even further, you can try:

• mashed potato and gravy in a cup.
• Pureed fruit & juice in a cup
• Custard

Here are some sweets that work for me ~

• Jam Sandwich (USA call it Jelly I think?)
• Bowl of custard
• Pureed fruit & Yoghurt
• Cream biscuit

And finger foods:

• Oven baked anythings
• Fish Fingers
• Mini pies & quiches
• Hot Chips (French fries but fatter)

I hope this helps some of our members, and if you have any ideas to jot them down here too.

Thanks~ Cheers
Sally