My Mom is 78 diabetic and refuses to eat right. What can I do?

She has asthma and neuopothy in feet.. Sorry about spelling!! She uses a walker to get around. Maybe shes being lazy.. I dont really know. We are seeing a nuerologist in June to check for Demensia or Alzhimers. Those are great ideas for meals!! Thank you very much! She'll microwave stuff, maybe even fry an egg! Lol ya just never know with her.. Depends on her mood!

My mother lived alone and ate McDonalds and other places that would deliver, for every meal.

She was killing herself. (She is MUCH older than your mom) As soon as she went to the NH, and got on a good diet, her health improved 100%.

If you are buying the groceries, I would insist that the meal be healthy.

By the way, 78 doesn't have to be old.

Sugar free chocolates were about the only thing I could change in Mom's diet. That horse was out of the barn a long time ago though...

She can't do her laundry, clean house, or prepare her meals. Why? My mother was in that condition in her late 80s and the limiting factor was mobility problems due to severe arthritis and later dementia. Diabetes in itself does not seem to be an impairment that would keep her from doing laundry, for example. So if you can tell us a little more about Mother and why she needs help that might elicit more specific responses.

If you do Meals on Wheels for lunch and you prepare a meal for dinner, then breakfast would be your only concern -- is that right? Would she like hard boiled eggs (maybe devilled), a few crackers, and a piece of fruit? Think of easy things.

Is she on oral medication for diabetes? Insulin? Is she able to do any kind of exercise?

I think you are on the right path, for now. By providing some support such as doing her laundry and providing wholesome meals you may be giving Mom a few more years of living "on her own." Keep an eye on things and be prepared to step in more assertively if she becomes a danger to herself in ways you can't overcome while she is home.

I would definitely provide at least one meal a day, preparing it yourself, via meals on wheels, and/or a healthy frozen meal (if she can/will microwave it).

My bias is to let them age in place as long as they safely can.

She is living alone, i do her laundry, clean her house, and will be cooking at least one meal for her.. Dinner.. Or will do meals on wheels. She has a nurse doing her med management right now. Im more concerned about breakfast and lunch.. My sister says " shes an adult.. She knows she needs to eat". I say maybe she needs someone to prepare her meals for her to make sure she eats because she will just sit there and not get up to eat.. Saying shes not hungry when she just doesnt feel like fixing something. Which is the "right" way of handeling it?

Motivation can be far more handicapping than age is. Sprinkle in a little forgetfulness and you have a patient riding a sugar roller coaster. On the other hand if she is in an ALF, where meals are tailored to diabetics, she will have good balanced meals and fewer opportunities to spike the glucose levels. You don't mention why she cannot prepare her own meals, but usually if they can't cook, they can't maintain a house, bills, laundry or medications. Get the whole big picture of what she can and cannot do. Plan from there.