Our septuagenarian mother (diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year) is currently eating one gallon of ice cream every 2 to 3 days. How have other families helped restrict / limit intake to reduce her risk of obesity, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, dental caries, etc? It is her one joy in life so we also don't want to take that away from her.
so without it, no joy? Then let her have her ice cream.
When my father was slowly dying, we tried to keep him healthy. I was filling him full of sprouted green, lentil soup. all in the hope he would recover. He didn't . he loved ice cream. we let him have it rarely because it is so unhealthy. I don't think that it would have made a spot of difference.. only that he would have been happy in some way. Maybe less angry and abusive at least.
I know it is hard, but her life is never going to come back so now, sit with her and have ice cream, find the tasty healthier ones if it makes you feel better but her freedom to choose her life is over now, this is all she can choose.
as long as she isn’t diabetic or has some other health issue where sugar and fat could be a problem.
if she is otherwise healthy then let her have ice cream. If you are concerned about the amount, then maybe try to control the portions. You can buy ice cream bars or portion out the ice cream. She may want more than 1 serving but I believe in the end she will eat Less.
Its very easy to eat a tub of ice cream that’s just staring at you in the freezer. All you need is a spoon and you can go to town and eat it all without thinking.
Let her have it. It what makes her happy and just don’t keep ice cream in half gallons. Portion it out.
Yes, I believe I would want my food restricted unless my checkout time was looming very near.
I know what it's like to have been morbidly obese. With mobility issues this is going to cause a lot more pain and suffering than a little dietary restriction.
I was a homecare worker for 25 years. Let me tell you thin people with mobility issues and incontinence who don't have dementia are hard enough to keep clean and dry. Even with the best and most frequent hygiene care they still get skin breakdown, fungal skin infections, incontinence sores, UTI's, and yeast infections.
Add obesity to the job and the odds of getting these conditions really increase and hygiene care becomes impossible in private residence. Many times size is rhe deciding factor of why a person gets placed in facility care versus being kept in their home.
So yes, I'd rather have calorie restriction and die in my beautiful home then be allowed to stuff myself with ice cream in a nursing home.
Start getting her the single-serving individual ice cream cups. They're small servings so if she had five or six a day it wouldn't equal anywhere near the amount she's eating now. Get lower sugar and low-fat varieties along with different kinds of ice cream. Try giving her a couple of Weight Watcher's brand chocolate fudge pops instead. They're low-cal and low sugar. They're also really good.
Don't take her ice cream away from her. Just add some moderation and common sense to the servings.
If you are really concerned you could switch to a "lower fat, lower sugar" ice cream but I think the fake stuff is worse than the sugar and fats in the real stuff.
You could try freezing containers of yogurt. and give her containers of frozen yogurt.
There is also a product called "YoNannas" and you freeze bananas and put them through this thing and you get a "soft serve consistency" ice cream like product.
the Ninja Ice cream maker product allows you to make smaller portions of "ice cream" and you can make it how you want.
But all that said let her eat what she wants. I think at this point with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's the high LDL and other things you are worried about really are not going to shorten her life and by restricting you are are not going to extend her life.
If she does gain weight and it makes it more difficult for you to safely care for her there is equipment that can make it easier and safer for you and mom.
My dad w/PDD ate ALOT of ice cream over a period of 4 years after my mom died. He would go through 2 or 3 half gallons every week. Then he stopped…..I am not sure if it was due to the dementia progression, moving him from his home to ours, being fed more nutritious food consistently or he just lost the taste for it. It is hard to understand, but seems par for the course in this dementia journey!! Hope you find answers that help!! Have a blessed day!
Can you determine if she is craving sweet, craving the milkfat, or craving ice?
Perhaps there is something else which will satisfy this craving. If she is not eating well during the day, maybe she really is hungry and filling her body's need for calories, and this has become her go-to habit.
Sorry, I don't have any suggestions for substitutes. But you seem to be a smart person and probably have connections, for instance consult with a dietician for ideas. From your name, it looks like you're a doctor? or a nurse?
I think her long-term prognosis is an important factor here. If she has Alzheimer's and her health is declining, how important is it to control her diet and her weight, or is she already in danger of serious complications from this indulgence? You'll have to weigh the benefits and risks to find a reasonable solution for her needs, while letting her have "her one joy in life".
So will she become alcoholic or she dies because of it? Maybe, she is close to 90, but healthy otherwise may live another 10 years. Does it matter if alcohol is probably not good for her as she eats so little? Probably, but she enjoys it now!
I believe that anyone has the right to eat whatever they want, and I think that a person with a life-limiting disease shouldn't be dissuaded from eating even the most unhealthiest of foods.
However, such a high quantity of calorie dense food will cause major problems for both the person with Alzheimer's and whoever is caring for them due to weight related mobility issues.
If possible, try and swap the real stuff for the low sugar, low fat versions of ice-cream. Don't worry about any long-term effects of additives; there really isn't any point at this stage. However, do check for potential short-term ill-effects such as diarrhoea, which was mentioned in another reply.
If your mother will not be satisfied with the fake ice-cream, then you will have to limit your mother's access to ice-cream. This can only be done if you have POA, or if you have control another way.
I wouldn't stop serving ice-cream, but only do so at certain times and be stricter with portion control.
If your mum likes bananas, cooked apples, or tinned pairs, or any other soft fruit, I would serve this with the ice-cream to make it a big treat, but healthier.
If you do not have control over your Mum's food choices, then you need to try and get this as soon as you can.
Wishing you all the best.
I'm assuming you have a good relationship with your Mom and want her to stay alive as long as possible. That's commendable, but focus on other things. Average age of death is 79 in the U.S. - if she's in her 70s now, whatever you do will not extend her lifespan much.
I am 82. If I want to eat an entire bag of Trader Joe's Original Potato Chips OR an ENTIRE box of ice cream sandwiches, that is up to ME.
PUH-LEEZE.
Am I not of an age? To decide WHAT I EAT and when? To decide how much?
Are you now the parent who will dole out the sweets?
Please kill me first.
I have to say, having thought long and hard on this one, having seem the "youngsters" now in their 60s trying to control our diets so we can live another 1/23 decade in misery? Why? What for?
l just ask you.
THINK ABOUT IT.
Please. I beg you. Please.
My LO shops, buys, serves own icecream in own home. So her biz too. At home.
However, when out at a regular function where moring tea was served to many, this became a situation that needed 'food policing'. My LO would sit next to the shared biscuit plate & keep eating with no impuse control. There was a young man with TBI that would do same. Staff would never be harsh but would manage this discretely by serving individual portions to these people, then moving the plate out of reach & view of them. Requests for more would need delay & distract tactics.
My mother and my father-in-law both preferred sweets as they got older. The big issue with my Mom was constipation and trying to get fiber and water down her. She forgot how little she drank.
Let her have the ice cream but maybe try making some shakes with milk or soy or nut or coconut milk added to the ice cream? Also, make some ice cream pops with some chopped frozen fruit added? Could be made with a lowfat yogurt as well. I fool myself with "banana nice cream" and "cherry nice cream"- puree chopped frozen fruit, and add avocados or nut butters for fat, some plain greek yogurt etc... Possibilities are endless, tasty and healthier. Best eaten right after made or frozen in smaller batches to set out and soften before eating. Make a batch and swap out between regular ice cream. Does she like sherbets, sorbets or gelato? Also often lower in calories. How about snow cones with flavored syrup?
They have just publicized that the artificial sweetener erythritol is causing blood clots so I personally would stay away from consumption of the sugar alcohols. Bless you both on this hard journey.
In any event, buy pint size tubs of ice cream once a week and call it a day. If she cries for more, either deal with it or buy more.
Fwiw, I used to pray daily for God to take my mother who suffered from dementia. I'd bring her bags of chocolate and cookies at her Memory Care ALF because she loved sweets and had spent her whole life dieting. She ordered ice cream 2x a day, for lunch and dinner dessert. In her old age, she gained about 50 lbs. at least. So I bought her pretty clothes in bigger sizes.
knowing what she wanted for later life might help you with this decision
can you switch it to lower fat, sugar free ice cream as a compro mise?
My Mom had ice cream, Little Debbies, Hostess, a pie, chocolate chip muffins, anyway you get the picture. Yes, she had other food items on the list but it seemed she lived on sweets because she could still taste the sweetness. She lived to be 98. And, of course, my Dad was more than happy with the deserts :)
This yogurt tastes like cake frosting. So yummy!
You need to let it sit out about 15 minutes for the yogurt to soften before eating.
My husband is diabetic. He loves it.
Is she going out still and buying it for herself? Not much you can do except try to counsel her about it.
If someone is enabling her, stop it. There's a few good suggestions here about limiting her without taking it away. She SHOULD be able to enjoy it if she wants. I love ice cream. If I was dying and someone took it away I'd probably throw my diaper against the wall until I got it back.
If she's declining quickly and you believe she's going to pass away relatively soon I'd just let her have it. Hospice will enter the scene eventually and none of the other issues will matter anyway.