How to Increase Calories In a Senior Citizen Diet
As we age, our bodies require less nutrients to exist and our appetites tend to decrease. Getting the elderly to eat is sometimes a bit of a challenge. But, they must eat a nutritious, calorie rich diet in order to keep weight on and keep up their strength. Follow the tips I've finally figured out in this eHow to see how I 'trick' my elderly Mom into ingesting more calories in her daily diet.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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My elderly mom, at 92, is slowing up a bit. Getting her to eat and keep enough calories in her system has proven to be a bit of a challenge. I try to feed her foods that are nutritious and packed with vitamins such as fresh vegetables, but, push come to shove, I just try to get calories into her. One of my favorite ways to sneak calories into her diet is to add a bit of olive oil to foods as I prepare them. Beware though, there's a very fine line between adding additional oil to an elderly person's food and having them suffer the consequences. Keep Imodium on hand just in case!
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Another trick I use is to buy Jumbo eggs. That way, when Mom requests 'just one egg' for breakfast, she actually gets the equivalent of 1.5 eggs since I use the biggest eggs I can find. She really can't complain about 'just one egg' and there have been times I've had to show her the shell as she's convinced it's two eggs (well, one jumbo egg is huge!). But, once her mind knows it's 'just one egg,' she'll almost always eat it all.
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Use meal supplements, such as Ensure, to add extra calories to the diet. The Ensure Plus adds even more and, if they're going to drink 6 ounces of the stuff, you might as well get the most nutritious one you can. The vanilla seems to be my Mom's favorite but this is strictly a matter of taste (pun intended..)
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Serve up a delicious ice cream float like they used to have in the good old days. Make it with seltzer, chocolate syrup and a dollop of ice cream. Purchase one of those old fashion ice cream glasses and finish with a straw and a long handled spoon. Mom also loves banana splits so we always have the makings for that around. Neither treat may be nutritious but they add in much needed calories.
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Serve up some old fashioned cookies. Ask the elderly what their favorite cookie of yore was and then make them. Oatmeal raisin cookies are almost always somewhere near the top of the list as are snicker doodles and ginger snaps. Hand your senior citizen a small glass of cold milk to go with the treat or sit down and have coffee as they reminisce about the good old days.
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Tips & Warnings
Make SURE you know of any dietary restrictions before preparing any kind of food for the elderly. The last thing you need to do is make them sick!
