Sis gave Mom an early salad dinner tonight so when I sat down to eat a few hours later, Mom joined me at the table.   When asked if she was hungry,  she pronounced herself starving.

I poured her some orange juice and grabbed a handful of nuts.  Mom has put on a lot of weight recently so we are trying to be thoughtful about healthier choices.  Mom finished everything and I asked whether she wanted more.

Her response, “No, I am healthy.”  Which in Mom talk means that she is trying to be careful of how much she eats. 

In spite of increasingly advanced dementia, Mom still shows awareness that she should be careful of what she eats and weighs.  Given how many issues no longer concern her, the occasional attention to her weight stands out.  It turns out to be one of those deeper lifetime habits. 

It is not quite enough to stop the ice cream snacks but in her seventies with dementia Mom still thinks she should be trying to stay slim.