My 85 year old Mom suffers from many ailments - the worst being congestive heart failure. She is on many meds, and puffers as well. She says she's lost her sense of taste and eats so little, it's scaring me. She's lost weight as well. Her dietician told her to eat small meals during the day. She takes Ensure also. She says the problem is - she repeately chews the food and it won't go down. She swallows her pills and oatmeal and fruits, but foods such as chicken, steak etc. pose a problem. She is going to the ENT this week so maybe she can get an answer to this problem. Her husband has tried everything to entice her to eat more, but it's so difficult.
Good luck and keep us posted. I hope you get answers soon. Cattails.
In addition to/instead of Ensure, Carnation Breakfast Essentials mixed in whole milk provides nutrients. My husband likes it heated as a hot chocolate drink. I also add an envelope when I make him a milk shake.
I'd respect her views of what she can and cannot swallow, and try hard to provide a range of items of the consistency she is comfortable with.
Here is a tip: some people find foods that we expect to find soft and creamy more appealing that firm food pureed. For example cream of chicken soup, perhaps with extra chicken and smoothed in a blender, may seem more "natural" and appealing than a scoop of plain pureed chicken.
Good luck!