I came up with this milk shake because he only ate a half baked potato with cheese and bacon that I buy frozen at Safeway, with 2 strips of bacon. I was desperate because he was losing weight, so I make a milk shake with vanilla ice cream, banana, peanut butter, half and half, and milk and he loves it. It is loaded with calories and calcium, potassium and protein. Lots of orange juice also. Can he survive on this diet if he really likes it?
I make my mom a similar shake, I also use ensure vanilla in there. She doesn’t know it. I use a natural peanut butter which does require stirring and is more expensive than regular peanut butter. However, it doesn’t have all the extra added ingredients that are in most peanut butter’s that she does not need.
He was losing weight slowly but steadily, but despite everything we tried and everything the doctor urged, he kept rejecting more. We tried all the protein shakes, boost, ensure, muscle milk, yogurt or milk and fruit smoothies, green smoothies, eggs, pancakes, etc etc. He would not consume them. He stopped eating dinner completely, then my mom discovered he was throwing his lunch out into the front yard or even hiding the food in his bedding or closet.
I think with dementia, there is no convincing anyone of anything.
By six months before his death, all he would eat was one small bowl of vanilla ice cream and maybe 2-3 ounces of orange juice per day, early in the morning. I would guess no more than 250- 350 calories per day. His weight loss escalated. He was totally skeletal. Less than 100 lbs. He had massive swings in blood pressure and would get dizzy and faint at times. This led to lots of falls. He eventually became very weak due to muscle mass loss and his skin also started to break down. But he did live surprisingly long on a terrible diet and tiny caloric intake. I think a part of the issue was swallowing difficulties.
good luck.
So I say since your husband now has dementia, let him eat whatever the heck he wants, as it may be the only pleasure he gets out of a day.
I suspect he could do fine on that for quite while.
You would be surprised, when we attempt with VSED (voluntarily stopping eating and drinking) to avail ourselves of a final exit, how little we can live on. VERY LITTLE.
You don't tell us your hubby's age. I am 82 and really only eat a meal a day at this point. My partner at 84 is even worse. Terrible GERD and eats like a bird (hey, I am rhyming?). Weighs nothing. Yet when recently he fell ill of sudden incident all were all compliments about his health, no plaque on vessels they scammed, perfect balance with eyes closed and on one foot, no edema, low pressure and on and on until I got sick of hearing it.
Facts faced, both partner and I are well beyond our sell-by dates and someday SOMETHING is gonna get us. I would like a chocolate shake (you can beef it up with high protein ensure if you like) and a strip of bacon in my hand when the time comes.
Take care.