Linda loves her food.
The days when she was fussy, picky or otherwise difficult to feed – those symptoms of Williams Syndrome are long passed.
Now she is on the See-Food diet – see food and eat it!
I can’t quite understand why but Linda has always eaten quickly. I promise you, there’s no competition. It’s not as if there’s a threat from a hungry brother who will take her food if she doesn’t eat ot first, it just seems to get eaten as if there’s a race. We find it so difficult to not constantly tell her “Slow down!”.
Linda never or very rarely seems to be satisfied with the quantiy of food she eats – and we do try to bulk it out with more vegetables but surely, if she gets used to a heaped plateful it’s only a marginal benefit if that’s a plate full of vegetables. How do you work towards better portion control? All suggestions welcome!!
For the last two years we’ve been really working towards a better understanding of a healthy diet and healthy foods. As I know so many adults with Williams Syndrome are prone to diabetes, I think it’s important that we learn these lessons now.
In fairness, I think Linda is understanding the theory a little better but maybe, like so many of us, is less able to follow through with healthy choices.
I suspect this is a challenge faced by many people who care for adults or children with learning difficulties and not just Williams Syndrome.
Linda has been out with different Support Workers this week and has returned home with bags of sweets… Now I know we all like a treat every now and then but Linda can’t stop and when the sweets are taken away is very ingenious in being able to find them and eat more…
I so don’t want to be like a wicked step-mom banning sweets, always saying no… but what do you do when someone you love seems unable to make better choices.
How do you help them learn this process of making better choices for themselves without constantly letting them fail?