My dad is 80 years old and basically in great health except for his diabetes. He is very active, volunteers part time, takes care of my parents’ 3-acre property, does chair caning and makes stained glass windows. He has had no complications from the disease but has never been able to stabilize his blood sugar levels regardless of how consistent he tries to be with his diet. The real problem is that he needs to gain some weight (he is only 114 pounds and 5’5″). Everytime he gets a cold or a bug, he loses more weight and can never put it back on. The lack of weight makes him lose energy and he just can’t seem to “fight off” colds as well.

What can he eat that will help him put on weight without raising his blood sugar? There must be something! Dietitians cannot seem to help him – they have tried. He needs to put on weight somehow!

I understand that your father’s inability to gain weight is a frustration. However, what needs to happen, so that his physician knows what is going on, is that they need to know the calorie intake for your father. What is he eating? Knowing that, you have a place to start. What happens if he eats more than usual? Does he stop on his own? Is he limited by blood sugar elevation? Theoretically, there is the potential to increase medication for the increase in calorie intake he may need to gain weight. It is not good form to withhold calories from him for the purpose of keeping the sugar down if he is losing weight into a range that is not healthy. There are variety of supplements that can be used to increase the number of calories he takes. It would be important to make sure he doesn’t have an undiagnosed problem where he loses calories through his urine or gut and to make sure he doesn’t have a thyroid problem.

JTL