Eating well

[Felicity Carers UK]

EATING WELL

1. Do you have any practical suggestions for increasing variety in your diet? How do you achieve this balance?

2. Are you concerned about your own nutrition and healthy eating?

3. What tips do you have to help make mealtimes less of a challenge?

4. Do you have any easy/fast/cheap/healthy snack or meal ideas that you can share?

5. How do you ensure you and your loved one both drink enough water and fluids each day?

[Lazydaisy]

Me too Audrey. I HATE Diabetes, because even when you think you have got everything right, a high or low blood sugar appears out of nowhere.You don't mind if you can account for it,but at 2am when you are dropping with exhaustion and blood sugar has hit another low,then you have to be alert and with it, ensuring you get enough into your caree without overdoing it if possible.
24/7, thoughts have to be on food.We once had forgotten to put emergency fast acting sugar in the car and one of my carees had a hypo, I had to drive fast to get to a shop quickly,and was given a speeding fine for doing so. ( and worse than that, had 3 points put on my licence).My sister told me to appeal because of the reason, but I have always said that if someone is caught speeding then they deserve the fine, so I could hardly change my mind just for me, could I?
Thankfully my son, who has Downs Syndrome as well as diabetes, eats virtually everything(except dumplings with casserole, which he hates). He would eat salad three times a day if it was an option. He trusts his family and Care Staff to make the decisions for him with his diet. Not ideal, but he is very apprehensive about it,himself.

[Booksey]

Like Audrey I've started to hate food, whilst my hubby is also diabetic (insulin controlled ) because of other problems he doesn't have a diabetic diet. Trying to find things he will eat is a nightmare.
I also have a finiky eater and a veggie in the house to try and feed.
this is one of the reasons I wanted respite sits 10-2 to get me away from it for a while . Then I discover that carers can only reheat not cook so I still have to sort it out before I go out

[Melly1]

Caring for some with autism means we are ruled by routine and so regular meals are part of our day. S eats best if we sit at the table and eat together ... so that is what we do. I tend to eat what he likes unless he is having something I don't like and then I tend to have jacket potato, beans and cheese as having cooked for S I can't be bothered to cook something different for me.

1. Do you have any practical suggestions for increasing variety in your diet? How do you achieve this balance?
I do get bored of our meals. We are limited by S's IBS and acid reflux. However we do eat balanced meals.
2. Are you concerned about your own nutrition and healthy eating?
If I wasn't caring for S I'd eat more beans and pulses and less cheese and sauces. I'd have less treats in the house, for me to share.
3. What tips do you have to help make mealtimes less of a challenge?

4. Do you have any easy/fast/cheap/healthy snack or meal ideas that you can share?
We eat lots of pasta meals.
5. How do you ensure you and your loved one both drink enough water and fluids each day?
S suffers from constipation so have to ensure he drinks plenty, this is tied into his routine and in this way I manage to ensure he drinks 2 litres a day. I have a drink when he does and in between times if I'm thirsty (as mine tend to be smaller than his.)

[Nilla]

I cook 3 different meals most nights to accomodate Sarahs perseverant eating disorder, Pauls small appetite anda meal for myself. We all like different things its a nightmare! I should eat healthier but when busy I just eat anything thats quick.

[Simon Turner]

Do any carers actually eat well?

I know that with a busy day, day in day out that I often forget lunch, I cant eat breakfast as I cant stomach food early in the day (coffee is my breakfast) so I dont eat a proper meal until 7pm ish on a daily basis, occaisionally I will remember to make myself a sandwich but normally im busy and plain forget.

[no1mum]

I usually have a nibbly snack about 2 then on a normal day don't eat until 11 at night. Usually cook 4 different main meals a day.

[no1mum]

OH dear, Felicity. No tips forthcoming yet then, just confessions really!
Which shows we have a problem. It doesnt show any solutions though.

Very true Audrey.

[Lazydaisy]

eating well means different things at different times.
I have had an awful week with my son, really horrible.He has got bruises in his mouth and a hole half an inch deep on his tongue from biting it, presumably during a convulsion when his blood sugar suddenly dropped for no reason.
He can only eat soft foods, his blood sugar at the moment is lowish so he is trying to eat, cannot even cope with a banana.
Hospital could give me no advice at all, discharged a diabetic from A and E with no consultation with any of the Diabetes team,even though I asked for some advice.(he had been brought in unconscious by ambulance,four days later I am still calling him every two minutes to ensure he is still breathing.)Food is a nightmare,with him living on tomato soup and pasta, as everything else is going into the hole in his tongue. (hospitals apparently don't stitch tongues anymore). He still has to have insulin, has to test blood and has to eat,as well as obsessive oral hygiene so that his tongue does not become infected.
When I saw my son, I thought he was dead.I was hysterical,could only scream for my husband, who thankfully had enough conscious thought to phone 999,even though he also believed our son had died. B. had been out of our sight for precisely two minutes when this happened. Diabetes is all about the diet, exercise, blood testing and stress, and there is sometimes no explanation of how they manipulate the body at all. I have never seen one of my diabetic family members like this before, and I hope never to, again.
Audrey, you have my utmost admiration for coping with your husband, as I know you have had a few concerns as emergencies with his diabetes. xx
Food is essential to life, but what a nightmare to try and manage it, at times.

[Scally]

Lazydaisy, that sounds really epic, dreadful. So sorry for you.
I'm glad to say that we eat three normal square meals a day here in the Scally household, mostly with fresh ingredients where possible. We have been known to phone for a curry or pick up a fish supper. But there is a lot of fun in cooking, it doesnt take long if you are in a hurry, and it is much cheaper and healthier than using pre-made meals.
My tip: always make twice as much as you need and freeze the left-overs for another day.