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My grandmother is not as healthy as she used to be and she can’t get around or make dinner for herself like she could in the past. She lives in a high-rise that provides meals once a day but she doesn’t always make use of that service. She complains of being too tired to go downstairs for meals or to make meals for herself in her apartment. I talked to her doctor and he’s worried that, unless she eats better, the substantial weight loss she’s already had is only going to continue. For that reason, he recommended meal replacement drinks for her that she can use between meals to boost her overall caloric intake.
You need to understand, though, that my grandma doesn’t take advice easily and has ideas of her own. Her husband took meal replacement drinks just before he died and she thinks they taste terrible and are only for the dying. I told her that there are many more kinds and varieties of replacement drinks nowadays, but she was still reluctant to try them.
Finally, another relative of ours found a way to trick her into trying these supplemental drinks. He knew she was always a fan of milkshakes but that she didn’t often get a chance to have one because her blood sugars aren’t great. So, he borrowed a cup from a nearby ice cream shop and filled it with her favorite flavor – strawberry. Only this time, it was the meal replacement drink. He mixed it up with some real strawberries and ice and gave it to my grandmother. Well, believe it or not, she drank the entire cupful and thanked him for his kindness. It was only after she drank it that he explained to her that she was drinking a meal replacement drink. She was sure riled up at first but then decided that drinking one of those drinks every day wasn’t such a bad idea. She asked where she could get more of the stuff – in her favorite flavor, of course.
In a short period of time, my grandmother has made great strides toward having more strength and physical energy. She had clearly undernourished before she started the supplements and was not taking her medications on a full stomach like she was supposed to. She’s getting better nutrition from these drinks and she feels much better, too. She’s branched out to different flavors so she doesn’t get sick of taking the same thing all the time and she’s up to two cans of supplement per day. Because she’s pre-diabetic, she’s made use of the newer supplements made specifically for diabetics that don’t allow for much blood sugar fluctuations. She’s even gained some weight.
Now, my husband was a bit confused by all of this. He thought that meal replacement drinks were only for people who want to lose weight. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are special weight-reduction drinks, that’s not the kind my grandmother uses. I found out that they make supplement bars as well that taste kind of like an energy bar or candy bar. My grandmother has tried these as well. The meal replacement bars are good for those who need supplementation but who want something solid in their stomach.
By: Claire Quaty -
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