Follow
Share
I really do think this can be a common occurrence. I know of 3 elderly people who - during their younger years - limited their amount of sweets (including my aunt who practically bragged about "not eating sweets"). Now, all 3 practically live on junk food. I can guarantee you, if I live to be an elderly person, I will eat hot fudge sundaes every day!
(1)
Report

My dad was diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia in his mid-70s. He refused first vegetables, then other foods. He started having difficulty swallowing. We tried Everything. Shakes, yogurt, pudding, custard, smoothies, energy drinks, thick-it, creamed or pureed soups, ensure, jello, pedialyte popsicles. He wouldn’t eat any of it. He was hiding food in drawers and under his bed and throwing whole plates with food and silverware in the front yard.

Two years before he died, he was eating only one piece of bread with cheese or peanut butter, one small piece of fruit (half a banana, a few grapes, half an apple) and one bowl of vanilla ice cream per day. Losing more weight every month. Then he gradually eliminated the peanut butter, cheese, bread and fruit. The last six months of his life he ate nothing but one small bowl of vanilla ice cream and a few ounces of orange juice per day. Very little water. He went from his normal adult weight of 175 to around 100 lbs at around 5’10”. Totally skin and bones.

By then, he had not only dementia but was in hospice and also believed to have several terminal illnesses too (metastasized skin cancer, bowel cancer, chronic kidney failure) so as time went on, the last thing my mom or I wanted to do was argue with him about food. There were plenty of other health and safety issues we had to enforce that he didn’t like.
(0)
Report

If they aren't 300 lbs and gaining, if they aren't diabetic, and if the junk food isn't causing constipation or diarrhea or any other adverse reaction, then let them eat whatever they want.
(4)
Report

When someone is elderly really what else is there other than eating and/or complaining? Let the old people eat whatever they want. Especially if they're in facility care.
(3)
Report

Good for her! What are YOU feeling guilty for? Let mom live her life as she sees fit. My mother ate nothing but junk the last 5 yrs of her life and lived to 95, dying with a smile on her face.
(6)
Report

You betcha. At 83 I can guarantee that. Trader Joe's Original potato chips. The occasional coke.
Because, what can it do? KILL me?
(5)
Report

In my dad’s last years he ate ice cream almost daily, often making the dog a bowl of his own too. Dad ate chips and candy. He died of CHF. Right now, I’m quite careful with my diet, trying to head off issues. None of us are getting out of here alive and I hope in my last years I get to have the foods I enjoy.
(4)
Report

It may be somewhat helpful to know that as we enter our advanced years, our tastebuds in our tongue stop functioning properly. Normally we have zones that sense sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami (and possibly fatty). Towards our later years the only 2 left functioning are sweet and salty -- and junk food mostly fills this bill.

You don't say how old your Mom is (from your profile it is your Mom)? This only matters because if she is extremely elderly (like 90s) and maybe even has dementia -- then I would be less worried about what she eats.

More details would be helpful.
(1)
Report

I can't understand this double posting!!!
(0)
Report

It's almost a miracle if we can get Mom to eat something other than toast with jelly, dry Cheerios, or ice cream. :/ Sometimes, my dh doesn't ask, he just fills a plate and hands it to her. That wouldn't wash if I tried to do it, lol, but he can get a way with it sometimes.
(3)
Report

Most people eat at least some junk food. Even I like icecream, which is probably as junky as I go. As long as you make sure that M has other healthy food available, you are probably doing the best you can. Welcome to the site! Give us some more details, and we may be able to help more.
(1)
Report

Most people eat at least some junk food. Even I like icecream, which is probably as junky as I go. As long as you make sure that M has other healthy food available, you are probably doing the best you can.
(0)
Report

Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter