Help with care home diet

[angelstephen]

Hi, my son has type 2 and can't prepare his own meals due to physical disability. He lives in a nursing home. Meals are high carb and mostly processed foods. I buy in fresh food for him, cold meat, salad etc as the home won't cook his own food. Does anyone else have experience of this situation?

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi, my son has type 2 and can't prepare his own meals due to physical disability. He lives in a nursing home. Meals are high carb and mostly processed foods. I buy in fresh food for him, cold meat, salad etc as the home won't cook his own food. Does anyone else have experience of this situation?

Sorry to hear you are in this situation but the nursing home should have procedures in place to provide suitable meals for people with different dietary requirements as in gluten free or other allergies. It may be they don't appreciate that somebody with Type 2 will need to be mindful of carb intake.
How well is his blood glucose managed with the foods he is eating and is he taking any medication as that may determine what tack you need to pursue.
You could have a word with the Diabetes UK help line on Monday for some advise as to what you might expect from the nursing home.
Have a look at this link as it may help you with your approach to them re your son's diet. You will have to go down to page 37 to find the relevant pages. https://nwknowledgenow.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Nutrition-in-Care-Homes-Guidance.pdf
What will be suitable will depend on your son's HbA1C and medication.
The diet suggested however is based on the NHS Eat Well plate which many find still too high is carbs but may be better than what he is having at the moment.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @angelstephen 🙂 Is your son on any meds for the Type 2? I find there are a lot of misconceptions about diabetes, so it might be that you have to spell out his requirements to them simply and clearly.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi, my son has type 2 and can't prepare his own meals due to physical disability. He lives in a nursing home. Meals are high carb and mostly processed foods. I buy in fresh food for him, cold meat, salad etc as the home won't cook his own food. Does anyone else have experience of this situation?

Welcome to the forum @angelstephen

Sorry to hear about your worries over your son’s meals at the nursing home.

How is his diabetes doing? Do you know his most recent HbA1c? Reducing the amount of highly processed foods does generally seem to be better for people with diabetes (and without to be honest!), but if you are hoping the home will adjust his menu for health reasons, it might be helpful to be able to show that his current meals aren’t helping him manage his condition?