Is there something addictive in Ensure or Boost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ensure has at least 18 grams of sugar in each, that is almost five teaspoons of sugar per container. Unless she's not eating much I highly doubt her doctors are on board. Don't feed her that garbage.

Depends on the person, their priorities, and the doctor. My grandmother was very healthy and ate well all her life despite having a sweet tooth. She had a swift decline and died at 98. The last couple of months she ate a ton of sugar. She wasn’t eating much but what she did eat was mostly dessert in some form. She’d lasted that long in her own home, on her own terms, and she had zero interest in extending her life in AL or SNF. She was straightforward with her doctor that her priority was her comfort and her doctor respected her wishes. So if she wanted cookies and only cookies for dinner, wtf not? She said she was taking back her fair share given up during WWII rationing.

This is not about you... and It's like you didn't even bother to read the op, "she ate 3 normal sized, very well-balanced meals a day, plus healthy snacks the last two weeks"
Read the the room.

Ummm I think the point is, trying to control what a woman eats who is old/infirm enough to need all her meals prepared for her is the disordered thing here.

+1
I feel bad for op's mom. She didn't have a doctor telling her to restrict her calories. She doesn't have a clotting disorder and isn't on the meds mentioned as a contraindication (at least not that the op has noted). Ensure is comforting like a hot chocolate or your daily coffee. The vitamins give her a boost and she feels the absence of it enough to get cranky over it. Do you look for other things to needlessly fight with her over? Maybe you have some nervous energy and are just looking for issues? Tell her your concerns, lay it out and except her decision as this one is benign.

[Anonymous]

I’m looking at my Ensure original. 10g sugar. Doesn’t seem that bad. Ensure Plus has much more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ensure has at least 18 grams of sugar in each, that is almost five teaspoons of sugar per container. Unless she's not eating much I highly doubt her doctors are on board. Don't feed her that garbage.

Depends on the person, their priorities, and the doctor. My grandmother was very healthy and ate well all her life despite having a sweet tooth. She had a swift decline and died at 98. The last couple of months she ate a ton of sugar. She wasn’t eating much but what she did eat was mostly dessert in some form. She’d lasted that long in her own home, on her own terms, and she had zero interest in extending her life in AL or SNF. She was straightforward with her doctor that her priority was her comfort and her doctor respected her wishes. So if she wanted cookies and only cookies for dinner, wtf not? She said she was taking back her fair share given up during WWII rationing.

This is not about you... and It's like you didn't even bother to read the op, "she ate 3 normal sized, very well-balanced meals a day, plus healthy snacks the last two weeks"
Read the the room.

Ummm I think the point is, trying to control what a woman eats who is old/infirm enough to need all her meals prepared for her is the disordered thing here.

+1
I feel bad for op's mom. She didn't have a doctor telling her to restrict her calories. She doesn't have a clotting disorder and isn't on the meds mentioned as a contraindication (at least not that the op has noted). Ensure is comforting like a hot chocolate or your daily coffee. The vitamins give her a boost and she feels the absence of it enough to get cranky over it. Do you look for other things to needlessly fight with her over? Maybe you have some nervous energy and are just looking for issues? Tell her your concerns, lay it out and except her decision as this one is benign.

She said her mom stopped eating food and lived on ensure, losing 48 pounds. That’s disordered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:high sugar content!!!

How many grams do you consider high? It’s nothing compared to a coke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ensure has at least 18 grams of sugar in each, that is almost five teaspoons of sugar per container. Unless she's not eating much I highly doubt her doctors are on board. Don't feed her that garbage.

Depends on the person, their priorities, and the doctor. My grandmother was very healthy and ate well all her life despite having a sweet tooth. She had a swift decline and died at 98. The last couple of months she ate a ton of sugar. She wasn’t eating much but what she did eat was mostly dessert in some form. She’d lasted that long in her own home, on her own terms, and she had zero interest in extending her life in AL or SNF. She was straightforward with her doctor that her priority was her comfort and her doctor respected her wishes. So if she wanted cookies and only cookies for dinner, wtf not? She said she was taking back her fair share given up during WWII rationing.

This is not about you... and It's like you didn't even bother to read the op, "she ate 3 normal sized, very well-balanced meals a day, plus healthy snacks the last two weeks"
Read the the room.

If you read the room, you might notice that thus discussion has evolved from being solely about OP’s mother to the larger issue of when it’s appropriate to back off with the controlling behaviors around what your elderly loved one is eating.

Take note Frito lady, future wine in the ensure bottle consumers, and other people without steel rods in posterior places, choose your doctors and your healthcare POAs wisely!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:90-something friend of my mom’s brought an Ensure bottle with her to every dinner without fail.

Plot twist: it was filled with wine. 😄

My dad who was exclusively tube fed for the last two years of his life mixed his Ensure with wine when he went out to dinner (socially only - like I said he was tube fed) - it did the trick, gave him calories and a little buzz from the wine.