My husband is still in the early stage of Alzheimer’s but there are many more changes like losing things more frequently. He loves ice cream but finds cereal and main meal dinners with meat/fish and vegetables “too sweet”. These are meals he has eaten previously and loved. I need to know what to cook since he has lost weight. Is this a common thing? Thank you.
It's trial & error to figure out what he likes to eat now. Most people do best with small meals that are eaten more frequently rather than 3 larger meals a day. Try giving him 6 small meals with finger foods and easy-to-eat items added in. Try a smoothie or cut up fruit, cheese & crackers, yoghurt, etc. Textures matter too; he may not like the texture of soft/smooth things like yoghurt and mashed potatoes, and prefer crackers b/c they're crunchy and hard. That's the trial & error piece of the puzzle. And, those tastes are likely to change with time, too, so that makes it even harder to stick to a 'menu'.
Here is a link to the Alzheimer's site discussing food and eating, with lots of good tips on the subject:
https://www.alz.org/help-support/caregiving/daily-care/food-eating
I think once you figure out what he DOES like to eat, and are able to get more food into him, DH should stop losing weight. If not, consult with his doctor for more advice on the matter.
Best of luck with a tough situation.
I know when my husband was in his final 2 years of his life(and had vascular dementia)he became enamored with eating fish. Any kind of fish. And he wanted it often. The funny thing about that was he never ate fish before that; in fact he disliked fish with a passion. I found it so odd and funny truth be told, as the man who at one time would order the only chicken dish at Red Lobster, was now wanting to eat fish all the time.
So hopefully you will be able to figure out what he now likes sooner than later and just keep giving him that. And in the meantime perhaps he will at least drink an Ensure or 2/day so that he will get some much needed calories and nutrition.
Hang in there. You're doing a great job!
BOOST VHC nutritional drinks are the highest calorie BOOST® drink with 530 nutrient-rich calories per 8 fl oz serving. This nutrient-packed drink combines high calories with 22 g high-quality protein to help gain or maintain weight, plus 26 vitamins and minerals.
You can get them on Amazon here:
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If the doctor prescribes it & you get it at the hospital pharmacy, it tends to be very inexpensive like $22 a case (was what I found).
You can also make DH a smoothie or a shake & add the protein powder into it, if he's agreeable & likes shakes.
She no longer has any clue about how things actually taste.
My husband eats anything and everything I give to him. Now I have to cut back on his intake because he’s gaining weight.
My 100-yr old Aunt with advanced dementia now mostly only eats Campbell's Chicken and Rice soup -- but we enhance it by cooking an egg in it, and adding other steamed vegetables, like carrots and peas. Also we'll add brown rice (and cooked to softness due to her lacking in teeth). Many times she'll eat this twice a day and say "yum!" every time like it's the first time she's ever eaten it.
We had trouble getting her to drink enough (constipation is a problem) so the soup helps in this department. For many years she'd only drink a little Cran-Mango juice but recently started to reject it so I tried Vitamin Water (Mango flavored) and she loves it -- for now. We also buy Kozy Shack Tapioca Pudding and she'll eat a few bites of that after dinner.
Keep "easy" but nutritious things on hand: yogurt, peanut butter, bananas, grapes, breads like zucchini or pumpkin or banana, eggs, Steamers veggies (add butter if it helps him to eat it), cheeses, etc. "Nutritious" will be a relative thing, so try not to stress over it and just expect it to be an ongoing guessing game. I wish you all the best!
Both my partner and I are in our mid-70's and food items we liked 5-10 years ago we just don't care for anymore. This summer we both had bad colds, and the cough medicine caused many things to taste strange.
Brushing one's teeth or using a mouth wash an hour or so before eating can make food taste weird.
Just food for thought.