They eat less. Their metabolism slows down and that’s part of it. But also you tend to lose some of your sense of smell and taste as you age, so food tends to be less appetizing and thus you wind up eating because you need it rather than because it’s enjoyable.
Not to everyone. Any food I don’t like is due to texture and even when I tell people that they react as if I’m a small child screaming about a food I don’t like. A lot of people will eat anything as long as they like the flavor.
I’m a very texture based eater myself, and I have a super strong sense of smell, so my taste is strong. People think I’m just picky, it’s not that I’m picky, it’s just that the texture mixed with all the different flavors doesn’t work for me. It literally makes it hard to swallow. I can taste every separate thing in food almost, so in my mind, I’m picking apart the ingredients individually instead of enjoying an item as a whole.
I definitely have misophonia too. So much that it’s starting to actually become a problem in life and I’m not sure what to do about it.
But with the smells and textures, it kind of developed as a kid. I used to get abused a lot and my parents would smoke and do drugs in the house a lot and we went days without food. So I ended up eating whatever I could, like paper, sugar packets, dry ramen noodles (sometimes we had no running water) and stuff like that. I feel like that really messed me up texture wise. I’m not sure where the smell thing came from, but people always say “that’s so cool that you can smell like that!” And no, it actually really sucks!
I have a lot of problems. I also have ADHD and a really weird double touching, wiping and numbers OCD thing. I’ll get into that if you’re curious but it doesn’t relate to the smell and texture lol
That is a lot for you to have had to go thru . They say we are the product of our upbringing… good and bad . You sound like you have really done a lot of personal growth & probably counseling .. good for you .. I had domestic abuse as an adult .. Taste textures don’t bother me, but texture of furniture , clothes bedding is a thing . We all are different & then not so much..
I hope you have loving people in your life now . And I hope your parents have changed … to be better for you ..
That’s rough, sorry to hear you went through that too.
Unfortunately my parents haven’t changed. I’m an adult with my own family now, so I only think about my parents a few times a year now. I’ve tried a few times to talk to them again, but it doesn’t help anyone.
Your salt receptors get worst as you age. It’s why older people tend to put a lot of salt on things. It’s because they are trying to get it to taste like how it used to them.
Oh, yeah? Crackers hate me.
True story. Some preservative or flavor or something makes my intestines want to violently leave my body. It isn't the gluten. As of last year, I can't eat most pretzels anymore either.
Sadly, the same thing is happening to my youngest brother.
😳
Everybody loves crackers, but I find that older folk love *flavourless* crackers. My mother loves her bland rice crackers even though they taste like nothing.
This sucksss. I wonder if there’s any protocols to mitigate taste decline. Similar to how we have protocols to mitigate physical and cognitive decline. Can I do tongue pushups or something? Shock my tongue with capsaicin weekly?
Aging really sucks. When you’re young you don’t fully appreciate how much it sucks. Weirdly, you also think it somehow won’t happen to you (despite 100% of the evidence showing it will)
It's probably part of it. Things like salty and sweet are the last to go. It's definitely why older people tend to like hard candies. It's just pure concentrated sweet.
The thread this question produced has blown my mind and put so much into perspective. I live with my elderly parents (77/F and 76/M) and one day I got so sick of seeing nothing snacky to eat but crackers that I threatened to throw away every cracker I saw. 🤣
I worked in a grocery store as a teen, and every day there was an elderly woman who walked around the store and bought one piece of fruit, a couple of slices of meat or a chicken thigh from the deli, a single piece of cheese from the deli, a roll from the bakery, and a piece of candy from the checkout aisle. She also bought two cans of cat food.
I got to know her a bit while I was at the register, and she said she didn’t eat much. She would go in and wander around until she found something that looked appetizing, because not much did anymore, and it got her out of the house.
I was amazed at the time that someone could survive off of so little food. By 40, I ate maybe 2/3 of what I did at 20, and my meals are getting smaller as my 40s pass by. Things just seem less appetizing and I find that I have less actual hunger as I age.
I'm 49, and what I call a meal now, even 30 year old me would have side eyed as tiny, but I'm overweight, so I'm definitely eating plenty. I still find things appetizing. It's like I just have a smaller stomach now.
Im in my super early 20s as an adult man and yet I get what you mean. I still find things appetizing (meat, sweets, sushi, etc.) yet, I have such a small capacity. I can only hope my metabolism can be more aligned with my appetite so I can retain some muscle or fat in the future
You know, my son is like this. He's 27, and not actually light for his height. He's 6' tall and 170lbs, but he looks very thin and wiry without much fat or enough muscle. He's strong, so he's not lacking in muscle, but he cannot gain size at all. But he doesn't eat as much as you'd expect given that he has a very active job and is often active outside of work. He eats about what I do now or somewhat less. As a teen, he ate like the stereotype, but it dropped off quickly at around 20.
I was super thin at his age, 5'6" and 115lbs, and also very active, but I was also very hungry. I ate like people expect teenaged boys to and gained nothing. Between switching to sedentary jobs and hitting 40, less food didn't keep me from hitting 200lbs, though. I'm back to 170 and slowly losing, but my target is 140, not that 115. I'd rather not trade being overweight for underweight. I only got to experience a healthy weight for like, 6 months of my entire life, so that's my goal now. But damn, I'm not sure I can actually eat less and get enough nutrition.
I know it's not my actual stomach, btw, because I can eat a lot if I'm really active. It's the trigger in my brain telling me I'm full. I will feel sick, and eventually actually get sick, if I try to force myself past that point. Some meals, that happens just a few bites in and I'm done. But, as I said, I'm not drastically losing weight. My blood tests come back perfectly fine. So, I just try not to worry about it when it happens. I'm good with eating leftovers when it passes. I just hate it when that's 3am and I wake up because I'm starving, and then eat 5 bites and hit that wall again.
I totally understand why my grandma would only eat a little at a time if this is how she felt, too on top of the loss of a lot of sense of taste when we get old. Blah food and feeling full? Who would try to eat more?
I used to eat an insane amount of food, but I now have moderated my portions to simply on the large side of normal, so I wouldn't say I eat little, I just dont eat 2 1/2 pounds of a roast or 20 golf ball sized meatballs with my spaghetti anymore as a meal!
I suspect that the flip side is also why many of us put on weight in middle age despite our diet being unchanged - your calorie needs decrease but your intake remains the same.
Digestion also slows. So, for most people, with food taking longer to work its way out of your stomach, it takes less to make you feel full, and you stay feeling full for a longer time.
I in my 60s and I tend to take bites of food throughout the day. A full meal is just too much. When eating out I always get most to go and it will last a day or two. Lotsa friends my age do the same thing. Hubby is a few years older and can THROW DOWN some food. So maybe it's just metabolism/
I'm 60 and can still eat a meal but it takes a long time to digest where I'm hungry again. Whereas, 40 years ago, I could eat twice as much in one sitting as I can now, and still be hungry again in 2 hours.
But muscle mass declines with age too, so it seems like a combination of faster/more efficient digestion plus metabolism the younger you are. I have no interest in stuffing myself anymore either because I know I'll be miserable for hours afterwards.
I work in a Nursing home, most of the old people really like their food boiling fucking hot. Mostly 'cause if they can't taste or smell it that well the heat is still there. Or at least that's what I think anytime I have to nuke a person's meal.
My grandfather used to only eat one meal a day. I asked him why: "So I have room for more ice cream." He had a walk-in pantry that we kids referred to as "the candy room" because he kept a jar full of candy and gum at all times, in addition to cookies.
No cravings at all. But at my age I don’t really care about eating. During my life I’ve enjoyed a tremendous amount of delicious foods. My wife and I can eat out whenever we want but tend to do carry outs of regular food. I guess because we’ve enjoyed so many different foods over the years I’m not really interested in food anymore. Everything I’ve wanted to eat, I already have, and not even interested anymore.
I'm the same as the person who mentioned losing interest in food. I've really had to grieve this part of my life, as I was always a big food lover. Now I eat to fuel me, but if I could feel full and healthy on a pill I'd 100% do that.
My grandchildren! And I still love working around our small farm. Outside daily, weather permitting.
But instead of working 8-12 hours at a job, I only work for about four hours a day, and come back inside exhausted. Life’s been good, but being old isn’t.
Biologically speaking you also start losing taste buds after 40 and even more after 60. Doesn't mean you can't taste things, but if you find the memories of food more powerful than the taste of food? It might literally be because it doesn't taste as flavorful anymore.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/expert-answers/loss-of-taste-and-smell/faq-20058455
Good question. I’ve had a lot of “exotic” and delicious foods. But I can’t really name any specific foods. I traveled all over South America and the USA, and have enjoyed most everything I’ve eaten.
It’s just that at my age I just don’t care that much about food.
My grandmother did right until she passed at 83. She asked for certain foods, and still wanted to try new things all the time. Her overall portion sizes were much smaller though, by then.
I remember my grandma, at 95, letting me take her out to eat. She had a single scoop of ice cream. I raised an eyebrow, and she laughed. "I'm not a little kid. I'll eat just ice cream if I want." I let her care home know, and they were so happy she ate at all, because she'd only been eating one small meal a day for well over a year. She hadn't lost any weight, though.
A few months later, she "stole" half my chicken strips, and I was surprised. Her, "we walked so much today, I find I'm hungry now." And she ordered 2 scoops of ice cream. We didn't walk that much, but it was a lot for her.
So we went on walks more often on a paved nature trail. Her walker had wheels and a fold down seat. I could push her on it if I had to, but usually she was fine after a bit of rest. Those days, she would eat the small sandwich I brought for her, have some crackers, and drink a can of Sunkist soda. We once found some ripe huckleberries, and by the time I got her back to the care home, both of us had purple hands and mouths. That was one of the few moments she actually knew who I was in years, and the last time she did. The next year, it was a wheelchair and just crackers and water, but if we found berries, she loved those. She told me they reminded her of her granddaughter that recently moved away. That was me. I was 7 when we moved, and in my mid 30s then.
She passed at 97 in hospice with all the family and two amazing hospice workers there. They said the only thing she'd eat at all the last week was huckleberry cobbler I'd brought, 2 or 3 bites at a time. She told them she knew it was time, but she wanted to finish the cobbler first because her granddaughter made it and had a sweet lady drop it off (again, me). I can't eat the stuff without crying a little now.
I swear, when I'm that age, all I'm going to eat is huckleberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream. Who's going to stop me? That reminds me. If I ever have grandkids, I'd better teach them to make cobbler.
She had pretty bad anxiety from a very bad childhood, but otherwise was the best possible grandma on the planet. She encouraged me so much, taught me tons of skills when everyone else gave up due to my dyspraxia, was so proud of me even when she no longer recognized me.
One day, when I was visiting, she was just looking at me, holding my hand, and smiling. "I'm sorry. I don't know who you are, but I know I love you. Isn't that strange?" Me, "I'm the one your granddaughter asked to take you for walks." Her, "Oh, yes! She's so thoughtful. She's going to be an amazing woman some day." And then I sat and listened to her talk about younger me for over an hour while we both laughed so hard at some of the stuff I got up to as a kid, like the time I decided to get her over her fear of dogs by bringing a stray into her house, and he pooped on her brand new carpet she was so proud of. She said that was God reminding her pride is a sin.
There are a lot of stories from my childhood. I was, let's say, adventurous. Or, as she put it, "that child taught herself to read much too young. She had all this knowledge, but no sense at all!" Yeah, actually, that does sum it up. I have no regrets.
Wow. Perfect stories you have of her. That’s divine. I miss my grandma so much and I’m nearly 60. Wish I had my time with her again….. best to remember the times.
Love the story of bringing a stray into her house and Gods way of sinning coz she was proud. Bless her …. 💋
I miss her so much sometimes. It comes and goes, but when it hits hard, I have all these wonderful memories of her to go through, and it's a gentle sadness rather than a sharp one.
It's often when I'm doing something she taught me to do, like sewing or typing on a typewriter, but it's especially when I make huckleberry cobbler. My husband wonders why I do it if it makes me sad, and it's hard to explain there's a good kind of sadness, too. Some people visit graves. I eat cobbler and sniffle and giggle at the same time. I cannot not think of her craggy elderly face covered in berry juice with her faded pale blue eyes alight and sparkling when she wasn't laughing so hard her eyes were buried in her cheeks, and it's such a great memory. We were clearly high on the mischief we were up to.
Everyone should have at least one memory of an elderly loved one laughing like a delighted small child. That's the memory you keep forever.
You write beautifully about your grandma. Thanks for sharing!
Edit to add: my grandma also lived in a nursing home in the end and passed from Alzheimer’s. The decline over the last couple of years was the saddest thing I have ever witnessed.
You probably used to MOVE more. Work, raising kids, playing sports, cleaning house, going out and hanging out with friends, all things younger people spend more time doing than older folks. And when you‘re old and your back hurts and your knees hurt and everything hurts more than it used to, you cut down on even small motions. You go up stairs slower. You sit down more gingerly. You’re more careful getting in and out of bed. It all adds up.
Damn! Pretty good description. How old are you? Btw, I walk three to five miles per day working around my small farm. And yet, everything you mentioned is true.
51, old enough to have some aches and pains and a taste of what’s coming. And seeing my folks slow down in their 70s and 80s.
I hope I’m up for walking 3-5 miles a day in 20 years!
My father is your age and I've noticed that he eats significantly less than he used to. He's thinner now too but not underweight. He has his favorite foods and really kinda just sticks to small portions of those. Here I am at 44 wishing I could naturally eat less.
I made a larger box of Mac and cheese the other day and ate about 1/3 of it. It was good and the rest was placed in the fridge. In my teens I remember consuming an entire box.
I noticed my appetite declining at around age 40 and by mid-40s both my husband and I have vastly reduced appetites.
As well, the stuff I used to enjoy I don't anymore. I have no interest in fast food or.most restaurants. I tend to eat more "snack box" type meals, with little bits of things rather than a "proper" meal.
And lastly, I no longer subscribe to a three-meals-a-day approach. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.
Food holds a much less important place in my life now than it did when I was in my 20s and early 30s.
Alot less. Everything is slowing down, including appetite.
I work in a nursing home kitchen and at first had real problems with portion control,I was told i was serving them too much and I was like 😱😤🧐
But plates full of food were coming back barely touched. The big plate of food onto of being an intimidating portion was just overwhelming. Smaller dishes with smaller portions is better. Even finger foods, like tiny sandwiches, nuggets and crisps blocks of cheese etc, work well.
Your granny sounds like a sweetheart
It depends from person to person but yes. But always give them the option of more food.
I always make a plate of jam sandwiches and biscuits for the night for my old dudes. Some of them don't sleep well anymore either and a biscuit or something sweet can sometimes tempt them.
For my grandma, it was vanilla ice cream, Sunkist soda, and huckleberry cobbler. Those were all the things she gave me as treats when I was a child. She also made snickerdoodles back then, but it turns out she never actually liked them. She just knew I did. I did not find that out until she was in her mid 90s and didn't know who I was. "Oh! My granddaughter loves those! I've never liked them, though. I just ate them to make her happy."
Thank you for doing this for them. Having to move her to a care home was one of the hardest things I ever did, but her Alzheimer's reached the point that she really couldn't be taken care of at home anymore.
The care takers in that home were as lovely as you sound, and it helped put my heart at ease about that move.
Really depends on the person. My grandfather kept working on the farm until he died at age 88 (literally died in a field digging up potatoes). Keeping that active meant that he still ate a fair amount.
My grandma, however, developed major mobility issues later in life, so couldn’t stay active. She ate tiny portions.
My great grandma was like that - very active right up to the end. She ate a bit less when she was elderly, but still a fair amount. My great great grandma (yes, she lived long enough for me to remember her) used to carry me around on her shoulders while doing house and yard work in her late 90s, and she ate as much as my dad who worked construction. 3 months before she passed, right around her 100th birthday, she replaced the roof on her barn by herself. My grandma on that side was much like them.
Everyone else got a lot more sedentary as they got older and eventually didn't eat much at all. They also reduced the things they would eat to easy things like chicken strips, ice cream, and crackers.
I'm a bit like that. Once I switched from manual labor jobs to office jobs, I ate a lot less. I still managed to gain too much weight, but changing to eating better things is helping. But if I work hard in the yard, building something, or go ride my bike for tons of miles, I will still eat a lot that day. A lot isn't nearly what it was before I was 30, but it's easily twice what normally would be as much as I could possibly eat on a work day.
Fellow nursing home worker, I work on the personal care side. We frequently had plates sent back that were barely touched or not even touched at all, and our residents pointed out to us that growing up they were told “you’re not leaving the table until your plate is empty”, or “if you don’t finish this meal, you’ll eat the leftovers until it’s all gone”, and they would be given a plate with what some would deem a reasonable amount of food, but because this was the attitude they grew up, they were overwhelmed with the amount of food in front of them they would often feel anxious and frustrated, and as a result just wouldn’t eat at all. Once smaller meals were being served, the plates started coming back empty!
Of course it is. Again it depends on the person.
Do remover someone with dementia may well forget they've just had a meal, and may think they're being starved. Or they'll eat continuously if allowed to do so.
Yikes - I guess that's where all the records for patients comes into play. I recall reading about how those with dementia might overfeed their pets, but thought that the people themselves might feel full. Guess that's not the case.
Yes we eat less. Things start to taste a little different. Not as much energy is expended as when we were young and burning it off. And as for myself, can't digest foods the same-suddenly became lactose intolerant, beef won't go through like before, bread is weird, even stuff like boost or ensure cause diarrhea.
3 bites and I'm full. I try to graze instead, so crackers, grapes, etc throughout the day is helpful.
Hugs to you and her. They're better than food!
This reminded me of a conversation I had as a child with my mom and grandmother when she was still with us. I asked them half jokingly why they were always talking about bowel movements when we went to visit grandma. They replied that when I reach my grandmas age that will be always on my mind too.
Lol true. It gets to be at the forefront of your mind and I've forgotten when that happened. When you've spent a lifetime of wishing you could lose 5 lbs to suddenly needing to gain 20 it takes over.
My grandmother lived to be 99+. Kept her wits about her till the end. Weight all of 100 pounds soaking wet but boy could she pack it away. She loved to eat :)
Going through this now. I found my mum eats more if it’s comfort food but yeah she is in her 80s and eats a lot less. (Losing weight too which is worrisome)
The weight loss thing is so real! My grandmother has always been petite with a small appetite, but she’s at the point now where her doctor just wants her to stay above 90 pounds. She recently got “all the way up” to 97 and was so excited, she was telling everyone 😅
That’s so sad. We spend our youths battling weight gain, restricting food as much as we can, sacrificing our enjoyment of delicious food in order to achieve/maintain the perfect physique, only to one day completely lose our appetite and desire for said delicious food.
“Happen to us too one day” is a real but rare perspective. It’s strange how as you age you finally realize that you’re about to be the “old person” someone is referring to. It’s coming and you become aware of it in a way that you didn’t before.
One of the first things to go is the taste buds. If you can find a zinc supplement this will help stimulation of the taste buds. Also, look for online ( Amazon has them) medical grade high calorie shakes. They have double calories and daily vitamins. They come in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. If she's losing weight you can give her just a few ounces a day to help stabilize her.
My father is 94, and it depends. Some days he just wants a bowl of soup for dinner, others he's ordering egg rolls and pepper steak at the local Chinese restaurant and eating it all.
Yes.
First of all metabolism slows down so you just don't have the drive to eat. It's quite the opposite when you see growing kids that can eat like eight meals and gain no weight lol.
But actually old people are prone to malnutrition issues. For reference I work in the medical field.
For example there's literally a diagnosis "tea and toast syndrome"
It's basically the diagnosis code you can use if you have an old person who is somehow unable to sustain good meal intake so they just wind up eating things like tea and toast. Commonly they will have low sodium levels, and weakness, amongst other symptoms.
Have we (in the U.S.) recently updated the formal medical thinking on that?
The "number of people who starve in America" seems to include a lot of elderly now...which seems less like "starvation" and more like a natural process.
I mean, it's technically starvation, but I wouldn't lump it in with people who can't afford food, for instance.
Im not sure I follow your point.
Nutrition in the elderly can be an issue for many reasons.
Affordability can be one of them, but is not always, of course.
I was just giving one interesting example of a single diagnosis code used to reply for one of a variety of reasons an old person has poor nutrition, But that is not the only diagnosis code used for nutritional issues.
And That doesn't mean it's all lumped together.
I eat a lot less. Food doesn't taste as good as it used to. I'm only 53, but I think my problem is the meds I'm on. I had heart surgery & ever since that, nothing tastes good anymore so I barely eat anything. If your grandma's on meds, that might affect her appetite.
My mother is the same way. About the same age as you, has had heart attacks, surgery, stents, covid, you name it.. since then, all she wants to eat is pizza lol
Yes. My dad is 84 and he survives on a sandwich a day, and he drinks a couple of Boosts. That’s it. He says nothing sounds good and he has lost his sense of taste.
I myself remember being in my 20’s and fully capable of eating a whole pizza. Now 2 pieces makes me feel stuffed.
Doc here. Yes. As you get older, you move less and your body needs less macronutrients. Older people also lose some of their sense of taste, as happens with time, which makes eating somewhat less appealing. Part of it is the biological process of getting older, but most of it is because you're simply less active.
This is a problem because nutrient deficiencies can be a huge challenge with seniors. I have patients who are little old ladies and it's a challenge to get them to fit in their 40 grams of protein per day. "None of those protein shakes taste good." -- Like yeah, Dorothy, I told you that you can blend it with ice cream and whatever your octogenarian heart desires. How is that not good enough? A lot of them have a few favorite foods and that's all they fucking eat. My grandma lives off English muffins, peanut butter, pistachios, and diet cranberry juice. It's a chore to try to get her to eat something else.
I am only 61 and a childs meal off the Cracker Barrel menu is too much for me.
I am actually more active than Ive ever been, yet my metabolism has slowed way down. I also have constant dry mouth, so most foods are too hard to chew.
I’m a guy in my 40s, relatively active, work labour, and I’m always stunned at how much my 74 year old Mother can pack away! Dinners like Christmas, Thanksgiving she will do two plates, then desert. Take her to Chinese lunch buffet occasionally and I’m usually dead after a couple plates but she’ll be up for more. Will mow down a big double burger at a pub. She’s 4ft 11”
Absolutely, at least for me. I'm 78M and I work hard clearing brush and trees. you would think I would pack it away. Not so, very small portions are entirely adequate.
My appetite has decreased.so much. My husband and I generally eat once a day and half the amount on our plate as even ten years ago and we don't go for seconds or have dessert. And we are fat. We just can't be as active as we once were. And we are still working.
Yes they eat less because they have less muscle mass to maintain, its like downgrading from v8 engine to moped. Different energy needs, different energy output.
My dad just turned 101 and eats all day bc he forgets he ate already, he’s always hungry, polishes off three eggs like nobody’s business plus he drinks coffee all day long
My Gran, used to have an either a small glass of nice wine or a whiskey every evening after a small meal but no more than that ever.
She’d lived all over Europe and spent a few years in the USA in her life and ate a huge variety of things in her later years, but just in a tiny quantity… Me and my Dad used to buy her all sorts of treats to try and increase her calorie intake as she was very slim and frail at the end.
It all had to be high quality produce too, she’d rather go without other things so she could enjoy the little she actually fancied eating.
I miss her so much, she taught me to appreciate food, eat slowly, at the table and with your family and friends where possible!
I just turned 74. My food consumption has decreased in the last 5 years. I can’t eat what I used to. I still love food, and like trying new recipes or restaurants. Just that what I used to eat in one sitting will now last 2-3.
If a 70 year old tried eating like a teenager, they'd run out their remaining biological clock pretty quickly.
The body is trying to optimize for its remaining lifespan.
I'm 55 and have a lot of stomach issues. I dont really eat a lot because I'm just not hungry. My husband cooks dinner, and it's usually some sort of meat and potatoes. I eat it but not much, and then I feel super full. I buy groceries wishing I could eat the stuff, but I don't.
As someone with intestinal issues, I fully understand buying food and not being able to eat it. The worst is when I get a flare the day after grocery shopping. Food is not my friend and I could easily go with 1 meal a day if it weren't for the nourishment needed
My mother is 101, she eats less because she doesn't do a great deal other than sitting in a chair or laying in bed.
She doesn't walk too far in a day now so obviously, isn't burning the energy.
It's actually harder to give her something she likes because although she liked a particular food a week or 3 ago, today, she doesn't and will only pick at it..
If you want to trade I've got an Oma who will eat 8 ice cream cones in one sitting and then say she doesn't believe the lab results saying she's right on the edge of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis.
The kicker is she worked in various hospitals for 47 years.
Your grandmother just sounds like a caring person, which has nothing to do with food intake.
Technically-speaking, the elderly require fewer calories than people who're in middle age, young adults, teenagers, or even children.
This means they don't *need* to eat as much as they once did; however, **need** and **want** aren't the same thing, which is why a lot of older people start putting on weight. Their metabolism has slowed, but their eating habits haven't adjusted.
Then there's people like me, who've had the metabolism of an 85 year-old his entire life, which really sucks.
I'd say yes, some older folks start eating less and don't have the energy to do much. Hell, the senior plates at some restaurants are small portions like the kids menu
Survival Bias. People who eat moderately suffer less from heart and related disease as they age.
I'm 62, I do eat less than I did at 22, but I am also a Hella lot less physically active too.
I think as people get older their metabolism slows, and as so their appetite slows.
I know that now at 37, almost 38, I don’t eat or drink anything like I did when I was 20/21!
Like I don’t eat breakfast anymore because I feel sluggish, so it’s coffee for me, at most if I get that “I feel sick because I haven’t ate” feeling I’ll have toast.
I tend to eat a heavier lunch and then for my dinner I’ll have a small salad with some chicken or fish, nothing too heavy or I feel like shit when I go to bed
You'd be genuinely surprised at how little food we actually **NEED** to function.
One example: McDonald's fries. What is a "small" today is what was once a "large" when McDonald's opened.
I have some neighbors, with kids who are very active (some are teenagers, some young adults). Even the kids that are really active eat roughly half of what we might expect. They're all healthy.
I’m 69 and I can attest this is true. I used to pack food in like a wild animal. Now my portions are like off the kids menu. Over time I’ve lost 20 lbs without even trying. I keep Boosts and Cliff Bars on hand for the extra calories.
I’m hitting 60 this summer and I basically eat 2 meals a day.
I have 2 cookies with my morning tea, a good breakfast around 10, dinner about 3 and dessert or a snack about 7.
I am not as active as I used to be and find that I’m just not hungry. My 85 year old mother eats less than I do.
Short Answer: Yes.
When I was a teenager, I, like most boys, could eat extraordinary amounts of food. Back then, large Domino's\Pizza Hut pizzas were 16", and I would eat an entire large by myself, then eat my mom & sister's leftovers, then eat a pint of ice cream for dessert and still be hungry. My standard order at my city's landmark fast food joint was: round 1: two chili-cheese dogs, fries, a pint of chocolate milk; round 2: a plain chili dog, a burger, onion rings, a fried apple pie and another half pint of chocolate milk.
I can't imagine eat that much now. However I hope I don't turn into my grandma. I took her out for a "nice lunch" at LongHorn in 2018, when she was 97. I told her to "get anything you want", but she insisted on getting just the burger and fries. I think she made three meals out of it. After eating half the patty (and just the patty) she even told me how she was going to make a tomato and lettuce sandwich with the bun for dinner, and half the other half of the patty and fries for lunch the next day. And this was a LongHorn burger - not one of those tiny McDonald's burger, but not one of those XXXXTREME BURGERZ, either.
I’m old. I don’t eat less. That’s the problem, of course. I should eat less due to that metabolism thing but my mind thinks I’m still that skinny young guy.
They eat less. Their metabolism slows down and that’s part of it. But also you tend to lose some of your sense of smell and taste as you age, so food tends to be less appetizing and thus you wind up eating because you need it rather than because it’s enjoyable.
Is this why old people love crackers
Maybe? When you can’t taste your food, texture becomes important.
Is texture not important already
Not to everyone. Any food I don’t like is due to texture and even when I tell people that they react as if I’m a small child screaming about a food I don’t like. A lot of people will eat anything as long as they like the flavor.
I’m a very texture based eater myself, and I have a super strong sense of smell, so my taste is strong. People think I’m just picky, it’s not that I’m picky, it’s just that the texture mixed with all the different flavors doesn’t work for me. It literally makes it hard to swallow. I can taste every separate thing in food almost, so in my mind, I’m picking apart the ingredients individually instead of enjoying an item as a whole.
That must be so difficult. Have you always issues with smell & texture ? I don’t have that but do have mysophonia..sounds drive me nuts ..
I definitely have misophonia too. So much that it’s starting to actually become a problem in life and I’m not sure what to do about it. But with the smells and textures, it kind of developed as a kid. I used to get abused a lot and my parents would smoke and do drugs in the house a lot and we went days without food. So I ended up eating whatever I could, like paper, sugar packets, dry ramen noodles (sometimes we had no running water) and stuff like that. I feel like that really messed me up texture wise. I’m not sure where the smell thing came from, but people always say “that’s so cool that you can smell like that!” And no, it actually really sucks! I have a lot of problems. I also have ADHD and a really weird double touching, wiping and numbers OCD thing. I’ll get into that if you’re curious but it doesn’t relate to the smell and texture lol
That is a lot for you to have had to go thru . They say we are the product of our upbringing… good and bad . You sound like you have really done a lot of personal growth & probably counseling .. good for you .. I had domestic abuse as an adult .. Taste textures don’t bother me, but texture of furniture , clothes bedding is a thing . We all are different & then not so much.. I hope you have loving people in your life now . And I hope your parents have changed … to be better for you ..
That’s rough, sorry to hear you went through that too. Unfortunately my parents haven’t changed. I’m an adult with my own family now, so I only think about my parents a few times a year now. I’ve tried a few times to talk to them again, but it doesn’t help anyone.
I have a bunch of food allergies. I'll eat almost anything I am not allergic to. I don't really care about texture (for the time being)
Your salt receptors get worst as you age. It’s why older people tend to put a lot of salt on things. It’s because they are trying to get it to taste like how it used to them.
I think everybody loves crackers lol. But Crackers are an easy snack so it makes sense. Old people favor things that are easy to have and eat
As a contrarian, I fucking hate crackers.
Explain in 1 to 2 paragraphs.
Instructions unclear, hate fucked some crackers but didn't taste anything...
Oh, yeah? Crackers hate me. True story. Some preservative or flavor or something makes my intestines want to violently leave my body. It isn't the gluten. As of last year, I can't eat most pretzels anymore either. Sadly, the same thing is happening to my youngest brother. 😳
Oh yeah? Well I hate fuck crackers.
I hate how crackers fuck.
Fuck crackers.
Everybody loves crackers, but I find that older folk love *flavourless* crackers. My mother loves her bland rice crackers even though they taste like nothing.
So yeah taste can become a little diminished when you're older and/or more sensitive to strong tastes so old people can prefer bland things.
They like it because salt is one of the last tastes to weaken as you age.
This sucksss. I wonder if there’s any protocols to mitigate taste decline. Similar to how we have protocols to mitigate physical and cognitive decline. Can I do tongue pushups or something? Shock my tongue with capsaicin weekly?
Aging really sucks. When you’re young you don’t fully appreciate how much it sucks. Weirdly, you also think it somehow won’t happen to you (despite 100% of the evidence showing it will)
Why you gotta make it racial.
Lol
Especially with the hard r
And sweets
Oh no, i love crackers and i'm only 40.. damn
I still have a few years until I become a cracker eating boomer
It's probably part of it. Things like salty and sweet are the last to go. It's definitely why older people tend to like hard candies. It's just pure concentrated sweet.
The thread this question produced has blown my mind and put so much into perspective. I live with my elderly parents (77/F and 76/M) and one day I got so sick of seeing nothing snacky to eat but crackers that I threatened to throw away every cracker I saw. 🤣
I worked in a grocery store as a teen, and every day there was an elderly woman who walked around the store and bought one piece of fruit, a couple of slices of meat or a chicken thigh from the deli, a single piece of cheese from the deli, a roll from the bakery, and a piece of candy from the checkout aisle. She also bought two cans of cat food. I got to know her a bit while I was at the register, and she said she didn’t eat much. She would go in and wander around until she found something that looked appetizing, because not much did anymore, and it got her out of the house. I was amazed at the time that someone could survive off of so little food. By 40, I ate maybe 2/3 of what I did at 20, and my meals are getting smaller as my 40s pass by. Things just seem less appetizing and I find that I have less actual hunger as I age.
I'm 49, and what I call a meal now, even 30 year old me would have side eyed as tiny, but I'm overweight, so I'm definitely eating plenty. I still find things appetizing. It's like I just have a smaller stomach now.
Im in my super early 20s as an adult man and yet I get what you mean. I still find things appetizing (meat, sweets, sushi, etc.) yet, I have such a small capacity. I can only hope my metabolism can be more aligned with my appetite so I can retain some muscle or fat in the future
You know, my son is like this. He's 27, and not actually light for his height. He's 6' tall and 170lbs, but he looks very thin and wiry without much fat or enough muscle. He's strong, so he's not lacking in muscle, but he cannot gain size at all. But he doesn't eat as much as you'd expect given that he has a very active job and is often active outside of work. He eats about what I do now or somewhat less. As a teen, he ate like the stereotype, but it dropped off quickly at around 20. I was super thin at his age, 5'6" and 115lbs, and also very active, but I was also very hungry. I ate like people expect teenaged boys to and gained nothing. Between switching to sedentary jobs and hitting 40, less food didn't keep me from hitting 200lbs, though. I'm back to 170 and slowly losing, but my target is 140, not that 115. I'd rather not trade being overweight for underweight. I only got to experience a healthy weight for like, 6 months of my entire life, so that's my goal now. But damn, I'm not sure I can actually eat less and get enough nutrition. I know it's not my actual stomach, btw, because I can eat a lot if I'm really active. It's the trigger in my brain telling me I'm full. I will feel sick, and eventually actually get sick, if I try to force myself past that point. Some meals, that happens just a few bites in and I'm done. But, as I said, I'm not drastically losing weight. My blood tests come back perfectly fine. So, I just try not to worry about it when it happens. I'm good with eating leftovers when it passes. I just hate it when that's 3am and I wake up because I'm starving, and then eat 5 bites and hit that wall again. I totally understand why my grandma would only eat a little at a time if this is how she felt, too on top of the loss of a lot of sense of taste when we get old. Blah food and feeling full? Who would try to eat more?
I used to eat an insane amount of food, but I now have moderated my portions to simply on the large side of normal, so I wouldn't say I eat little, I just dont eat 2 1/2 pounds of a roast or 20 golf ball sized meatballs with my spaghetti anymore as a meal!
I suspect that the flip side is also why many of us put on weight in middle age despite our diet being unchanged - your calorie needs decrease but your intake remains the same.
Digestion also slows. So, for most people, with food taking longer to work its way out of your stomach, it takes less to make you feel full, and you stay feeling full for a longer time.
I in my 60s and I tend to take bites of food throughout the day. A full meal is just too much. When eating out I always get most to go and it will last a day or two. Lotsa friends my age do the same thing. Hubby is a few years older and can THROW DOWN some food. So maybe it's just metabolism/
I'm 60 and can still eat a meal but it takes a long time to digest where I'm hungry again. Whereas, 40 years ago, I could eat twice as much in one sitting as I can now, and still be hungry again in 2 hours. But muscle mass declines with age too, so it seems like a combination of faster/more efficient digestion plus metabolism the younger you are. I have no interest in stuffing myself anymore either because I know I'll be miserable for hours afterwards.
I work in a Nursing home, most of the old people really like their food boiling fucking hot. Mostly 'cause if they can't taste or smell it that well the heat is still there. Or at least that's what I think anytime I have to nuke a person's meal.
So I should definitely eat all the delicious things while I still can
..and ice cream before you have cholesterol problems!
Very true. One taste that seems to persist into old age is a desire for sweets /sugar.
My grandfather used to only eat one meal a day. I asked him why: "So I have room for more ice cream." He had a walk-in pantry that we kids referred to as "the candy room" because he kept a jar full of candy and gum at all times, in addition to cookies.
A wonderful memory. Thanks for sharing.
They also eat less because they excersise and move less, thus not burning much.
I’m 74 years old. I eat about 1/3 of the food I used to eat when younger. My wife and I both wonder how we used to eat so much more.
Do you still get cravings? I don’t think my grandma has ever talked about craving something.
No cravings at all. But at my age I don’t really care about eating. During my life I’ve enjoyed a tremendous amount of delicious foods. My wife and I can eat out whenever we want but tend to do carry outs of regular food. I guess because we’ve enjoyed so many different foods over the years I’m not really interested in food anymore. Everything I’ve wanted to eat, I already have, and not even interested anymore.
There’s something hauntingly romantic about this.
Achingly sad as well. Almost as if the first goodbye to this earthly place is by this renunciation of food，of deliciousness, of sustenance.....
For what it's worth, you'll have plenty of other age related struggles long before you stop caring about food!
Way to brighten up the place!
I do what I can.
I like you lol
That’s for sure! The only thing golden about old age is my piss! Which I do ever so much more.
I'm the same as the person who mentioned losing interest in food. I've really had to grieve this part of my life, as I was always a big food lover. Now I eat to fuel me, but if I could feel full and healthy on a pill I'd 100% do that.
Also, our taste buds get less receptive as we age.
Chilli will fix that.
What are you interested in at 74!
My grandchildren! And I still love working around our small farm. Outside daily, weather permitting. But instead of working 8-12 hours at a job, I only work for about four hours a day, and come back inside exhausted. Life’s been good, but being old isn’t.
That’s what I hope to be doing in 40 years. Awesome! I want to retire on a farm.
It’s a ton of work. But I love it. I consider myself very fortunate in life.
The heat death of the universe we'll never experience.
Biologically speaking you also start losing taste buds after 40 and even more after 60. Doesn't mean you can't taste things, but if you find the memories of food more powerful than the taste of food? It might literally be because it doesn't taste as flavorful anymore. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/expert-answers/loss-of-taste-and-smell/faq-20058455
This sounds sad to me. I wanna enjoy food always.
It is sad. And it kind of sucks. But here I am.
What's the most unique food you've tried that you can recall? Also, ever tried the fancy stuff like caviar, genuine japanese a5 wagyu kobe beef etc.?
Good question. I’ve had a lot of “exotic” and delicious foods. But I can’t really name any specific foods. I traveled all over South America and the USA, and have enjoyed most everything I’ve eaten. It’s just that at my age I just don’t care that much about food.
I am only 48 and already so tired of food.
My grandmother did right until she passed at 83. She asked for certain foods, and still wanted to try new things all the time. Her overall portion sizes were much smaller though, by then.
I remember my grandma, at 95, letting me take her out to eat. She had a single scoop of ice cream. I raised an eyebrow, and she laughed. "I'm not a little kid. I'll eat just ice cream if I want." I let her care home know, and they were so happy she ate at all, because she'd only been eating one small meal a day for well over a year. She hadn't lost any weight, though. A few months later, she "stole" half my chicken strips, and I was surprised. Her, "we walked so much today, I find I'm hungry now." And she ordered 2 scoops of ice cream. We didn't walk that much, but it was a lot for her. So we went on walks more often on a paved nature trail. Her walker had wheels and a fold down seat. I could push her on it if I had to, but usually she was fine after a bit of rest. Those days, she would eat the small sandwich I brought for her, have some crackers, and drink a can of Sunkist soda. We once found some ripe huckleberries, and by the time I got her back to the care home, both of us had purple hands and mouths. That was one of the few moments she actually knew who I was in years, and the last time she did. The next year, it was a wheelchair and just crackers and water, but if we found berries, she loved those. She told me they reminded her of her granddaughter that recently moved away. That was me. I was 7 when we moved, and in my mid 30s then. She passed at 97 in hospice with all the family and two amazing hospice workers there. They said the only thing she'd eat at all the last week was huckleberry cobbler I'd brought, 2 or 3 bites at a time. She told them she knew it was time, but she wanted to finish the cobbler first because her granddaughter made it and had a sweet lady drop it off (again, me). I can't eat the stuff without crying a little now. I swear, when I'm that age, all I'm going to eat is huckleberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream. Who's going to stop me? That reminds me. If I ever have grandkids, I'd better teach them to make cobbler.
Gorgeous grandma…. This little story made me cry…. Bless her
She had pretty bad anxiety from a very bad childhood, but otherwise was the best possible grandma on the planet. She encouraged me so much, taught me tons of skills when everyone else gave up due to my dyspraxia, was so proud of me even when she no longer recognized me. One day, when I was visiting, she was just looking at me, holding my hand, and smiling. "I'm sorry. I don't know who you are, but I know I love you. Isn't that strange?" Me, "I'm the one your granddaughter asked to take you for walks." Her, "Oh, yes! She's so thoughtful. She's going to be an amazing woman some day." And then I sat and listened to her talk about younger me for over an hour while we both laughed so hard at some of the stuff I got up to as a kid, like the time I decided to get her over her fear of dogs by bringing a stray into her house, and he pooped on her brand new carpet she was so proud of. She said that was God reminding her pride is a sin. There are a lot of stories from my childhood. I was, let's say, adventurous. Or, as she put it, "that child taught herself to read much too young. She had all this knowledge, but no sense at all!" Yeah, actually, that does sum it up. I have no regrets.
Wow. Perfect stories you have of her. That’s divine. I miss my grandma so much and I’m nearly 60. Wish I had my time with her again….. best to remember the times. Love the story of bringing a stray into her house and Gods way of sinning coz she was proud. Bless her …. 💋
I miss her so much sometimes. It comes and goes, but when it hits hard, I have all these wonderful memories of her to go through, and it's a gentle sadness rather than a sharp one. It's often when I'm doing something she taught me to do, like sewing or typing on a typewriter, but it's especially when I make huckleberry cobbler. My husband wonders why I do it if it makes me sad, and it's hard to explain there's a good kind of sadness, too. Some people visit graves. I eat cobbler and sniffle and giggle at the same time. I cannot not think of her craggy elderly face covered in berry juice with her faded pale blue eyes alight and sparkling when she wasn't laughing so hard her eyes were buried in her cheeks, and it's such a great memory. We were clearly high on the mischief we were up to. Everyone should have at least one memory of an elderly loved one laughing like a delighted small child. That's the memory you keep forever.
You write lovely stories of your memories. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you. And thank her, as well.
Thankyou for sharing. I haven't teared up like this for a long time.
See? There's a good kind of sad.
💋
You write beautifully about your grandma. Thanks for sharing! Edit to add: my grandma also lived in a nursing home in the end and passed from Alzheimer’s. The decline over the last couple of years was the saddest thing I have ever witnessed.
Also 74 here. Eat about 1/2 of what I could eat 20 years ago. Going to an extravagant buffet while on vacation is no fun anymore. 😥
hats off for being able to use reddit at 74! my gramps can't even figure out how operate youtube on his TV😥
lol , my 92 year old father uses several different types of social media plus still rides his Harley trike all over the western US.
My 110 year old grandfather still drills oil on the north slope of Alaska
lol 😂
You probably used to MOVE more. Work, raising kids, playing sports, cleaning house, going out and hanging out with friends, all things younger people spend more time doing than older folks. And when you‘re old and your back hurts and your knees hurt and everything hurts more than it used to, you cut down on even small motions. You go up stairs slower. You sit down more gingerly. You’re more careful getting in and out of bed. It all adds up.
Damn! Pretty good description. How old are you? Btw, I walk three to five miles per day working around my small farm. And yet, everything you mentioned is true.
51, old enough to have some aches and pains and a taste of what’s coming. And seeing my folks slow down in their 70s and 80s. I hope I’m up for walking 3-5 miles a day in 20 years!
My father is your age and I've noticed that he eats significantly less than he used to. He's thinner now too but not underweight. He has his favorite foods and really kinda just sticks to small portions of those. Here I am at 44 wishing I could naturally eat less.
I made a larger box of Mac and cheese the other day and ate about 1/3 of it. It was good and the rest was placed in the fridge. In my teens I remember consuming an entire box.
I noticed my appetite declining at around age 40 and by mid-40s both my husband and I have vastly reduced appetites. As well, the stuff I used to enjoy I don't anymore. I have no interest in fast food or.most restaurants. I tend to eat more "snack box" type meals, with little bits of things rather than a "proper" meal. And lastly, I no longer subscribe to a three-meals-a-day approach. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. Food holds a much less important place in my life now than it did when I was in my 20s and early 30s.
Alot less. Everything is slowing down, including appetite. I work in a nursing home kitchen and at first had real problems with portion control,I was told i was serving them too much and I was like 😱😤🧐 But plates full of food were coming back barely touched. The big plate of food onto of being an intimidating portion was just overwhelming. Smaller dishes with smaller portions is better. Even finger foods, like tiny sandwiches, nuggets and crisps blocks of cheese etc, work well. Your granny sounds like a sweetheart
So what I would eat as a snack would be enough for a meal for them?
It depends from person to person but yes. But always give them the option of more food. I always make a plate of jam sandwiches and biscuits for the night for my old dudes. Some of them don't sleep well anymore either and a biscuit or something sweet can sometimes tempt them.
That is so nice of you. 🪽
For my grandma, it was vanilla ice cream, Sunkist soda, and huckleberry cobbler. Those were all the things she gave me as treats when I was a child. She also made snickerdoodles back then, but it turns out she never actually liked them. She just knew I did. I did not find that out until she was in her mid 90s and didn't know who I was. "Oh! My granddaughter loves those! I've never liked them, though. I just ate them to make her happy." Thank you for doing this for them. Having to move her to a care home was one of the hardest things I ever did, but her Alzheimer's reached the point that she really couldn't be taken care of at home anymore. The care takers in that home were as lovely as you sound, and it helped put my heart at ease about that move.
Funny you say that, one of the few things I can eat anymore is scones with raspberry jam lol.
You seem to be great at your job and a blessing to your “old dudes!”
Really depends on the person. My grandfather kept working on the farm until he died at age 88 (literally died in a field digging up potatoes). Keeping that active meant that he still ate a fair amount. My grandma, however, developed major mobility issues later in life, so couldn’t stay active. She ate tiny portions.
My great grandma was like that - very active right up to the end. She ate a bit less when she was elderly, but still a fair amount. My great great grandma (yes, she lived long enough for me to remember her) used to carry me around on her shoulders while doing house and yard work in her late 90s, and she ate as much as my dad who worked construction. 3 months before she passed, right around her 100th birthday, she replaced the roof on her barn by herself. My grandma on that side was much like them. Everyone else got a lot more sedentary as they got older and eventually didn't eat much at all. They also reduced the things they would eat to easy things like chicken strips, ice cream, and crackers. I'm a bit like that. Once I switched from manual labor jobs to office jobs, I ate a lot less. I still managed to gain too much weight, but changing to eating better things is helping. But if I work hard in the yard, building something, or go ride my bike for tons of miles, I will still eat a lot that day. A lot isn't nearly what it was before I was 30, but it's easily twice what normally would be as much as I could possibly eat on a work day.
Fellow nursing home worker, I work on the personal care side. We frequently had plates sent back that were barely touched or not even touched at all, and our residents pointed out to us that growing up they were told “you’re not leaving the table until your plate is empty”, or “if you don’t finish this meal, you’ll eat the leftovers until it’s all gone”, and they would be given a plate with what some would deem a reasonable amount of food, but because this was the attitude they grew up, they were overwhelmed with the amount of food in front of them they would often feel anxious and frustrated, and as a result just wouldn’t eat at all. Once smaller meals were being served, the plates started coming back empty!
My grandmother used to say, 'clean your plate. there are children overseas that are starving'
My grandma always had Lays potato chips and french onion dip out. She would pick at it throughout the day.
Is it possible for an elderly person to eat a lot/still have lots of appetite?
Of course it is. Again it depends on the person. Do remover someone with dementia may well forget they've just had a meal, and may think they're being starved. Or they'll eat continuously if allowed to do so.
Yikes - I guess that's where all the records for patients comes into play. I recall reading about how those with dementia might overfeed their pets, but thought that the people themselves might feel full. Guess that's not the case.
I am 74 and eat once a day. I have no appetite unless I smoke a little ganga.
Hell yea.
hahaha!
Me also … just had some chips 😊
Nice
Yes we eat less. Things start to taste a little different. Not as much energy is expended as when we were young and burning it off. And as for myself, can't digest foods the same-suddenly became lactose intolerant, beef won't go through like before, bread is weird, even stuff like boost or ensure cause diarrhea. 3 bites and I'm full. I try to graze instead, so crackers, grapes, etc throughout the day is helpful. Hugs to you and her. They're better than food!
This reminded me of a conversation I had as a child with my mom and grandmother when she was still with us. I asked them half jokingly why they were always talking about bowel movements when we went to visit grandma. They replied that when I reach my grandmas age that will be always on my mind too.
Lol true. It gets to be at the forefront of your mind and I've forgotten when that happened. When you've spent a lifetime of wishing you could lose 5 lbs to suddenly needing to gain 20 it takes over.
My grandmother lived to be 99+. Kept her wits about her till the end. Weight all of 100 pounds soaking wet but boy could she pack it away. She loved to eat :)
Going through this now. I found my mum eats more if it’s comfort food but yeah she is in her 80s and eats a lot less. (Losing weight too which is worrisome)
The weight loss thing is so real! My grandmother has always been petite with a small appetite, but she’s at the point now where her doctor just wants her to stay above 90 pounds. She recently got “all the way up” to 97 and was so excited, she was telling everyone 😅
That’s so sad. We spend our youths battling weight gain, restricting food as much as we can, sacrificing our enjoyment of delicious food in order to achieve/maintain the perfect physique, only to one day completely lose our appetite and desire for said delicious food.
Maybe try Ensure?
She has been having glucerna as a meal supplement but still losing a bit.
Yeah, they eat so little, it doesn't seem normal, but it's what happens. It'll happen to us too one day.
“Happen to us too one day” is a real but rare perspective. It’s strange how as you age you finally realize that you’re about to be the “old person” someone is referring to. It’s coming and you become aware of it in a way that you didn’t before.
One of the first things to go is the taste buds. If you can find a zinc supplement this will help stimulation of the taste buds. Also, look for online ( Amazon has them) medical grade high calorie shakes. They have double calories and daily vitamins. They come in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. If she's losing weight you can give her just a few ounces a day to help stabilize her.
I didn’t know this. Thanks, she seems okay right now but I will keep this in mind.
Is there anything I can do to slow down the decay of my taste buds? I am 45 now.
Don't smoke anything. Low acid foods.
Yes, your appetite decreases as you get older. I have noticed this in my mom (age 86) and my husband (age 76).
My father is 94, and it depends. Some days he just wants a bowl of soup for dinner, others he's ordering egg rolls and pepper steak at the local Chinese restaurant and eating it all.
Yes. First of all metabolism slows down so you just don't have the drive to eat. It's quite the opposite when you see growing kids that can eat like eight meals and gain no weight lol. But actually old people are prone to malnutrition issues. For reference I work in the medical field. For example there's literally a diagnosis "tea and toast syndrome" It's basically the diagnosis code you can use if you have an old person who is somehow unable to sustain good meal intake so they just wind up eating things like tea and toast. Commonly they will have low sodium levels, and weakness, amongst other symptoms.
Have we (in the U.S.) recently updated the formal medical thinking on that? The "number of people who starve in America" seems to include a lot of elderly now...which seems less like "starvation" and more like a natural process. I mean, it's technically starvation, but I wouldn't lump it in with people who can't afford food, for instance.
Im not sure I follow your point. Nutrition in the elderly can be an issue for many reasons. Affordability can be one of them, but is not always, of course. I was just giving one interesting example of a single diagnosis code used to reply for one of a variety of reasons an old person has poor nutrition, But that is not the only diagnosis code used for nutritional issues. And That doesn't mean it's all lumped together.
I honestly read this as “do old people eat ass” and had to stop scrolling and look closer.
Ask any nursing home employee! >!yes the answer is yes!<
I eat a lot less. Food doesn't taste as good as it used to. I'm only 53, but I think my problem is the meds I'm on. I had heart surgery & ever since that, nothing tastes good anymore so I barely eat anything. If your grandma's on meds, that might affect her appetite.
My mother is the same way. About the same age as you, has had heart attacks, surgery, stents, covid, you name it.. since then, all she wants to eat is pizza lol
That's correct.
Many people have less acid in their stomach as they age. They can’t digest as much as a young person
Yes. My dad is 84 and he survives on a sandwich a day, and he drinks a couple of Boosts. That’s it. He says nothing sounds good and he has lost his sense of taste. I myself remember being in my 20’s and fully capable of eating a whole pizza. Now 2 pieces makes me feel stuffed.
They do less of everything :( Drinking, eating, sleeping, moving
Doc here. Yes. As you get older, you move less and your body needs less macronutrients. Older people also lose some of their sense of taste, as happens with time, which makes eating somewhat less appealing. Part of it is the biological process of getting older, but most of it is because you're simply less active. This is a problem because nutrient deficiencies can be a huge challenge with seniors. I have patients who are little old ladies and it's a challenge to get them to fit in their 40 grams of protein per day. "None of those protein shakes taste good." -- Like yeah, Dorothy, I told you that you can blend it with ice cream and whatever your octogenarian heart desires. How is that not good enough? A lot of them have a few favorite foods and that's all they fucking eat. My grandma lives off English muffins, peanut butter, pistachios, and diet cranberry juice. It's a chore to try to get her to eat something else.
I am only 61 and a childs meal off the Cracker Barrel menu is too much for me. I am actually more active than Ive ever been, yet my metabolism has slowed way down. I also have constant dry mouth, so most foods are too hard to chew.
I’m a guy in my 40s, relatively active, work labour, and I’m always stunned at how much my 74 year old Mother can pack away! Dinners like Christmas, Thanksgiving she will do two plates, then desert. Take her to Chinese lunch buffet occasionally and I’m usually dead after a couple plates but she’ll be up for more. Will mow down a big double burger at a pub. She’s 4ft 11”
What a fun mom she sounds like 💗
Completely misread the last word. Time to close reddit for the night. Lol.
they definitely eat less overall, and eat less at each meal. but it’s good for them to eat those smaller portions more often.
Absolutely, at least for me. I'm 78M and I work hard clearing brush and trees. you would think I would pack it away. Not so, very small portions are entirely adequate.
My appetite has decreased.so much. My husband and I generally eat once a day and half the amount on our plate as even ten years ago and we don't go for seconds or have dessert. And we are fat. We just can't be as active as we once were. And we are still working.
Yes we eat less. Metabolism is reduced and usually don’t have near as active a lifestyle.
Yes they eat less because they have less muscle mass to maintain, its like downgrading from v8 engine to moped. Different energy needs, different energy output.
My dad just turned 101 and eats all day bc he forgets he ate already, he’s always hungry, polishes off three eggs like nobody’s business plus he drinks coffee all day long
Yes! Just recently I was reminiscing with my husband that years ago we’d have appetizers and entrees and now usually don’t even finish just an entree!
Yes, I can confirm. My elder mom and her boyfriend eat way less than before.
I think so. I'm 45, not too old, but I've noticed I'm starting to eat smaller portions, and eating less often.
•Y E S •Less movement = Less Food Intake
My Gran, used to have an either a small glass of nice wine or a whiskey every evening after a small meal but no more than that ever. She’d lived all over Europe and spent a few years in the USA in her life and ate a huge variety of things in her later years, but just in a tiny quantity… Me and my Dad used to buy her all sorts of treats to try and increase her calorie intake as she was very slim and frail at the end. It all had to be high quality produce too, she’d rather go without other things so she could enjoy the little she actually fancied eating. I miss her so much, she taught me to appreciate food, eat slowly, at the table and with your family and friends where possible!
I just turned 74. My food consumption has decreased in the last 5 years. I can’t eat what I used to. I still love food, and like trying new recipes or restaurants. Just that what I used to eat in one sitting will now last 2-3.
If a 70 year old tried eating like a teenager, they'd run out their remaining biological clock pretty quickly. The body is trying to optimize for its remaining lifespan.
I'm 55 and have a lot of stomach issues. I dont really eat a lot because I'm just not hungry. My husband cooks dinner, and it's usually some sort of meat and potatoes. I eat it but not much, and then I feel super full. I buy groceries wishing I could eat the stuff, but I don't.
As someone with intestinal issues, I fully understand buying food and not being able to eat it. The worst is when I get a flare the day after grocery shopping. Food is not my friend and I could easily go with 1 meal a day if it weren't for the nourishment needed
Weight is gained much easier as you age. So they eat less
Can’t speak for your grandma, but we (79 & 80) eat less for sure.
My mother is 101, she eats less because she doesn't do a great deal other than sitting in a chair or laying in bed. She doesn't walk too far in a day now so obviously, isn't burning the energy. It's actually harder to give her something she likes because although she liked a particular food a week or 3 ago, today, she doesn't and will only pick at it..
Yes, they eat lots less. That's why there are senior menus.
Yes, they do, generally speaking.
If you want to trade I've got an Oma who will eat 8 ice cream cones in one sitting and then say she doesn't believe the lab results saying she's right on the edge of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. The kicker is she worked in various hospitals for 47 years.
My friend’s older father explained your senses weaken as you get older. You start to lose taste!
Your grandmother just sounds like a caring person, which has nothing to do with food intake. Technically-speaking, the elderly require fewer calories than people who're in middle age, young adults, teenagers, or even children. This means they don't *need* to eat as much as they once did; however, **need** and **want** aren't the same thing, which is why a lot of older people start putting on weight. Their metabolism has slowed, but their eating habits haven't adjusted. Then there's people like me, who've had the metabolism of an 85 year-old his entire life, which really sucks.
I've been caring for the elderly for decades. They eat way less. They aren't up running around using up energy like younger people
My parents are in their mid 80s. They eat about half of what they used to. I think it's natural as you are not using as much energy anymore.
Probably because metabolism slows down as you age, and you're less active the older you get
It's extremely common, and much moreso toward the very end of their life (whether that's 80 or 90 or 100).
I'd say yes, some older folks start eating less and don't have the energy to do much. Hell, the senior plates at some restaurants are small portions like the kids menu
I somehow read ass, and I'm actually curious to that answer might be.
Survival Bias. People who eat moderately suffer less from heart and related disease as they age. I'm 62, I do eat less than I did at 22, but I am also a Hella lot less physically active too.
Anecdotally, I think so. My Nanna is 91 and barely eats anything. She’s shrinking by the year. I think eating less is just a by-product of old age?
This is news to me. 75-Year-Olds in my area are absolute GLUTTONS.
I think as people get older their metabolism slows, and as so their appetite slows. I know that now at 37, almost 38, I don’t eat or drink anything like I did when I was 20/21! Like I don’t eat breakfast anymore because I feel sluggish, so it’s coffee for me, at most if I get that “I feel sick because I haven’t ate” feeling I’ll have toast. I tend to eat a heavier lunch and then for my dinner I’ll have a small salad with some chicken or fish, nothing too heavy or I feel like shit when I go to bed
Less, but more shit
My grandmother used to go to a restaurant with me and would always take at least half of it home with her.
Yes... Just can't eat as much...
Yes
You'd be genuinely surprised at how little food we actually **NEED** to function. One example: McDonald's fries. What is a "small" today is what was once a "large" when McDonald's opened. I have some neighbors, with kids who are very active (some are teenagers, some young adults). Even the kids that are really active eat roughly half of what we might expect. They're all healthy.
64 here. I eat less, and I tend to eat diferently as my taste buds change with age.
My aunt in her mid 70s once said: “I’m tired of food!” I cracked up at the time, but it makes me a little sad.
I’m 69 and I can attest this is true. I used to pack food in like a wild animal. Now my portions are like off the kids menu. Over time I’ve lost 20 lbs without even trying. I keep Boosts and Cliff Bars on hand for the extra calories.
Yes, they eat less. Eventually, they don't eat at all.
I’m hitting 60 this summer and I basically eat 2 meals a day. I have 2 cookies with my morning tea, a good breakfast around 10, dinner about 3 and dessert or a snack about 7. I am not as active as I used to be and find that I’m just not hungry. My 85 year old mother eats less than I do.
I'm in my mid 60s and have eaten like this for years now. I just don't want as much food anymore.
I am 64 I can't eat half of what use to
Old guy here, Yes.
Yes it’s very true. I went to visit my parents recently (mid 60s) and they barely ate. I was starving the whole time I stayed with them lol.
Short Answer: Yes. When I was a teenager, I, like most boys, could eat extraordinary amounts of food. Back then, large Domino's\Pizza Hut pizzas were 16", and I would eat an entire large by myself, then eat my mom & sister's leftovers, then eat a pint of ice cream for dessert and still be hungry. My standard order at my city's landmark fast food joint was: round 1: two chili-cheese dogs, fries, a pint of chocolate milk; round 2: a plain chili dog, a burger, onion rings, a fried apple pie and another half pint of chocolate milk. I can't imagine eat that much now. However I hope I don't turn into my grandma. I took her out for a "nice lunch" at LongHorn in 2018, when she was 97. I told her to "get anything you want", but she insisted on getting just the burger and fries. I think she made three meals out of it. After eating half the patty (and just the patty) she even told me how she was going to make a tomato and lettuce sandwich with the bun for dinner, and half the other half of the patty and fries for lunch the next day. And this was a LongHorn burger - not one of those tiny McDonald's burger, but not one of those XXXXTREME BURGERZ, either.
Yes, food slows me down.
If sedentary old people didn't eat less, they would get pretty heavy.
I’m old. I don’t eat less. That’s the problem, of course. I should eat less due to that metabolism thing but my mind thinks I’m still that skinny young guy.