How to thicken liquids with natual products?

Gel thickener available as well as powder
Different people prefer powder vs gel

You can use instant mashed potatoes to thicken soups. Gelatin is good for some foods and instant pudding if there is no worry about excess sugar.

Dang, I tried the gelatin in her drink, but guess it won't work in cold things.

I use tapioca, boiled, and sweetened with anything. Makes a pudding like consistency with the box directions, but more like chia if you water it down, without the fiber.

Chia may irritate diverticulitis because of its size.

I use arrowroot powder for thickening everything, from gravy to juice. It's a starch from the casava root, more common in tropical communities. Bob's Red Mill is a brand, or you can buy it in the spice section. I go to an international grocery.

Gelatin requires some enzyme action on the part of an elder's stomach, so all that protein may not be digested. Gelatin is made from beef cartiledge - white stuff on the ends of bones, ears, noses, etc. So I have two reasons I'm not in favor of gelatin. Your mileage may vary!

10 lbs lasts her about 3 months. And we only use it in her drinks... hardly ever has more than 3 drinks a day. Doesn't save much but sure saves running to the store, or begging others to run errands. And we do have a pond out back :-)

Chia seeds... well, occasionally she might need the chia seed, but more than that, she needs a way to put a stop to it. Recently, she went through a bout of diarrhea due to having been put on the wrong antibiotic ... gotta love 'em ... I was told that since she had the diarrhea as a result of her body trying to get rid of the antibiotic, that I should allow her to go... so to speak. However, by that same token, she may get dehydrated. So, I learned that you should not give meds like Imodium... instead, use Pepto Bismo... which will allow you to go but not be so severely. I also learned about BRAT ... to stop the diarrhea give them banannas, rice, applesauce & toast. I may have to start a thread on skin care products.

10 lb? that would gel a pond. i put some chia seeds in the soup around here too. its a great natural laxative. learned that from a forum of junkies online. i figured they knew a lot about constipation. the digestive proccess takes huge amounts of energy. if the elder isnt eating easily digestible foods it can require more energy to proccess the food than is produced by the food. 80 yr old people arent big on energy so the digestive system nearly stalls.

Thanks for that info. I googled all over the place for the different types of thickeners and settled on Thicket II ... which is a version of Thicket, but it has no dextrose in it. (She's diabetic) I order hers online, 10 lbs at a time for $105 ... gelatin... how about that. And good for digestion, too.

ive been reading today about foods more easily digested for the elderly and found that gelatin is great for the digestive system. i plan to use it to thicken soups. plan to throw some rice into the soup too. rice is high energy for the effort required to digest it. so ill be gellin like a felon come tomorrow..