Food plays an important part in people’s lives but people living with dementia may face several challenges in the food experience as the dementia journey progresses. There are many reasons for this and may include but not limited to poor appetite, medications, difficulty in swallowing or decreased sense of smell and taste.
To create an enjoyable food experience is important to any holistic approach to care. By ensuring a calm and comfortable environment, keeping table settings simple and colour appropriate is a simple way of working towards supporting a person’s journey with dementia. Let’s also not forget to undertake temperature checking to ensure food is not too hot to eat and importantly you should never be rushed to finish a meal.
Encouragement for families and carers to sit and eat with a person experiencing dementia is an important element of continued social life experiences. Remember to keep an engaging dining experience, and follow the person’s wishes as much as possible. I am sure we would all agree sitting on your own eating can be a lonely, unenjoyable experience. Sometimes there may be experiences with swallowing difficulties. It is good to have a someone present whilst eating or drinking.
Like most of us when we cook, we are looking for ideas to add variety in the dining experience. Encourage individuals to have choice and control over their diets. Listen to family and carers if your support a person with their dementia journey and ask them to talk about what foods are important to the person, especially if the person is unable to verbalise their choices.
I have purchased two cookbooks which is focused on healthy nutrition for people living with Dementia. These cookbooks have great photographs to assist people with food choices and provide inspiration to carers who provide freshly home cooked foods in the homes to meet the clients’ dietary requirements.
‘Don’t give me eggs that bounce’ – which includes delicious 118 recipes
(Authors -Peter Morgan-Jones, Emily Colombage, Danielle McIntosh and Prudence Ellis)
and
‘It’s all about the food not the fork!’ – which includes 107 easy to eat recipes
(Authors -Peter Morgan-Jones, Lisa Greedy, Prudence Ellis and Danielle McIntosh)
