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My name is Jo. What can a diabetic 84 year old do when she has no control over meals?

Jojorgenson
Jojorgenson Posts: 2 Member
in Introduce Yourself
I live in an assisted living home and we get 3 meals a day, prepared by kitchen chefs. The serving amounts vary. For instance, we may get a half cup of pasta one time, 3/4 of a cup the next and 1 very full cup the next. I am insulin dependent so I never can bolus before meals. Snacks are available and dessert is served at lunch and dinner. If I stick to a calorie regimen I usually reach my caloric limit by the end of lunch. Dinner is actually served about 5pm and is usually the lightest meal of the day. Breakfast is served about 8am. I usually have to be sure I have enough carbs on board to last those 12 hours between meals. We do get a lot of varied vegetables. I have over 100 pounds to lose and I am gaining weight beautifully. Exercise is limited due to health issues. HELP!

Replies

  • Kim_Johan
    Kim_Johan Posts: 1 Member
    If I were in your position I might do the following:
    Could you get a set of measuring cups and spoons?
    Then you would be able to measure out different foods from your plate and place them on your own plate or on your bread plate.
    Then you will be able to eat exactly what you need from each food group, and enter the measured amount into the table for each meal. The food that you don’t want, leave on their kitchen plate for them to remove at the end of the meal.
    For example, pasta is a carb so you might measure 1/2 a cup of that, you might measure 1/2 a cup of green beans, and 1/2 a cup of pumpkin, etc, and you might do some research and find out that a medium chicken drumstick (protein) might weigh about 31g.

    *As for the desserts, if you really like them, eat only half or a quarter. If they are not your favourites, don’t eat them!

    The above are just random amounts, but you will soon get used to entering your food.

    Aim to keep your carbs low, fats medium, and protein quite high. Also, try to eliminate a lot of the sugar!*

    An extra piece of advice is that you should never starve yourself. Find a kcal overall amount you are comfortable with.

    If you don’t start losing slowly, then drop to Kcal amount a little every couple of weeks until you are losing at a slow pace.

    Wishing you all the best!
  • CharlotteMountain
    CharlotteMountain Posts: 1 Member
    You may find that that you stay feeling full longer if you eat the protein portions earlier in the day and avoid the carbs that may actually be causing your blood sugar to fluctuate.
    In assisted living can you ask for a diet that meets your medical needs? I would speak to the director of the facility to assist you in maintaining your diet, especially if your doctor has a prescribed meal plan for you.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,122 Member
    Are there no dietitians? generally they are in assisted living to ensure certain guidelines are followed and also to adjust for individual needs, that's pretty basic, or at least in my neck of the woods which is Ontario in Canada.

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