Again, tonight, she didn't finish her meal, although she ate a good deal...
...about ¾'s of what she was served. I don't think, this time, it's illness affecting her appetite. I think her body is refusing carbs, especially grain types. So, for a few days, we'll have meals that don't include a lot of refined carbs. Potatoes, for instance, are okay, so potato soup would be good...but nothing with pasta. Cobb salad would be good. Maybe we'll have that tomorrow night. Hers will be on the small side, and if she eats it all we'll be doing good.
    You may think my 'meal planning' is pretty random, but it's not. It has been helpful for me to record the nutritional contents of my mother's days. I can look backward and forward as I plan what she will be eating from day to day, sometimes from hour to hour...what her body will need, what it won't need. I keep a little bit of something handy in our cupboards for every contingency, including nausea (the metaclopramide certainly helps), as her appetite and her nutritional needs, especially minerals, can change on a dime.
    It helps to have a lot of experience with semi-convenience foods: I.e., using something like Classico Tomato & Basil as a base for a marinara; using Schilling's Brown Gravy Mix as a base for stews and thick soups.
    Just a few days ago I figured out how to thicken and "potato up" a delicious but creamy to a fault potato salad. To 2¾ cups of potato salad I mixed in 3 Tbl mashed potato flakes. These particular flakes happened to be flavored with "garlic and herb". I let that gel in the refrigerator overnight, added some dill relish and lots of minced onion and we were set.
    In case you're wondering about the funny colored phrases that pop up every once in awhile, those are targets from the Table of Contents for Recipes over to the right at the bottom of the floating menu.
    It looks as though some of my writing about Mom's appetite will be transferred over here, as I think of it. I'll mention it over at Mom & Me Too, but keep this in mind.
    I like the idea of sectioning of various aspects of my mother's and my life together. It helps me think more clearly about these aspects in detail, thus it's easier for me to regrasp the bigger picture when necessary. I hope this is the last apologia I write, for awhile.

Labels: handling loss of appetite, journaling technique, meal planning, metaclopramide, semi-convenience foods, thickening potato salad

- posted by Gail Rae @ 22:16   email...this post