- Offer most of the food when the person is most hungry.
- Encourage the person to eat food with the fingers if it increases intake.
- Add non-fat powdered milk to any food with liquid in it, such as desserts, soups, gravy, and cereal.
- Add butter, whipped cream, or sour cream to foods.
- Add cottage cheese or ricotta cheese to casseroles, scrambled eggs, and desserts.
- Grate hard cheeses on bread, meats, vegetables, eggs, and casseroles.
- Use instant breakfast powder in milk drinks and desserts.
- Add nuts, seeds, and wheat germ to breads, cereal, casseroles, and desserts.
- Add beaten eggs to mashed potatoes, sauces, vegetable purees, and cooked puddings.
- Add honey, jam, or sugar to bread, milk drinks, fruit, and yogurt desserts.
- Add mayonnaise to salads and sandwiches.
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I am already doing some of these things. I have noticed if I leave a non perishable out on the counter, nuts, applesauce, cereal she nibbles at it , she loves baked things.
Another great way to boost caloric intake is by adding a high-calorie, high-fat ice cream to nutritional shakes (Ensure, Boost, etc.). I take care of my 85-year old grandmother and she's always been a very petite person (well under 5' tall and normally weighs 88-90lbs). Last year, she lost her appetite and could hardly eat anything. She lost down to 76lbs and I was terrified that she was going to die from lack of nutrition...I was terrified! Her doctor finally admitted her to the hospital due to mild dehydration and to start her on an appetite stimulant drug. Thankfully, the drug eventually worked but getting her back up to her 'normal' weight took almost two months and it wasn't easy. A very sweet nurse noticed that she could always drink a Vanilla BOOST even if she couldn't get a bite of solid food down. So she went down to the gift shop and bought a pint of ice cream then mixed it in with two of the Boost drinks. Nanny drank both of them within a few hours of the nurse making them. I went to the grocery store that night and bought about $30 worth of Haagen Dazs ice cream and fed her BOOST Milkshakes for over two months....and they helped save her life!
My mother has been a life-long anorexic. She has lived in my home for 8 years. She has recently had a stroke and is very weak. She refuses most of the meals I prepare for her - all of her favorites - and I am at my wit's end trying to get her to eat! She now weighs about 78 lbs. I noticed she ate when she was at the rehab unit, food I could never get her to eat at home. I am ready to give up, the stress is too much for me! I have decided to stop begging her to eat. She can starve herself to death if that is what she wants. I have always had an issue with food myself, I am overweight and am always denying myself the fattening food I urge my mother to eat. I have spent a lifetime hearing my parents tell me not to "eat this or that" and I can't help but feel that god is playing a cruel joke on me!