My mother also used to turn away from vegetables. When she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the age of 82 (it hadn’t been lingering, it just suddenly appeared…old age, I think) she was loathe to change her eating habits. Her doctor gave her a choice about whether to treat it with meds and diet, telling her that, at her age, it wouldn’t make much difference. She chose the meds and talked about changing her dietary habits. However, she was a sugar, deli meat, butter, Miracle Whip, white bread, cheese and chip addict. All of those things are very hard to give up.

By that time I was doing all the cooking. I decided not to overtly interfere in her preferences, nor did I hound her about them. I prepared two meals, whatever she wanted and what I wanted. Mine were always some combination of vegetables and lean meats, hearty salads, soups loaded with vegetables, savory stir fries, etc. We’d eat together. It didn’t take long for her to notice that my meals “showed” better than hers: More colorful, fresher, more fragrant, and I seemed to her to be enjoying my meals more than she enjoyed hers. Pretty soon she was asking me to make her whatever I made for myself.

Some of her favorites remain on the menu: Gooey Mac & Cheese, Beans & Ham, Hamburger Sandwiches. But I put vegetables in everything, now, including the Mac & Cheese (which also gets meat) and make sure the onions, peppers, celery, garlic, sun dried tomatoes and olives are sauteed before addition because the aroma heightens her desire for these foods. She even salivates over Cobb Dinner Salads that incorporate everything but the kitchen sink. I didn’t think she’d ever do that! She continues to demand standard breakfast fare, breakfast meat (which is treacherous with fat) and eggs, and her cholesterol runs wild most of the time, but, what the hell, she’s 89 and still chugging, so I’m circumspect in my attempts to reign her in too much.

The hardest way to encourage someone to change their diet, I think, is to harass, threaten, constantly hint or force them. The easiest way is to do what they should be doing for yourself until they notice that your food is obviously more desirable than theirs!

Didn’t mean to write a post, here, Marty, but I wanted you to know, old cats (my mother is a Leo) can learn new tricks, as long as they’re given enough choice so that they think the trick is their idea.