Retirement Food

What does one do when reaching the place of being single, older and living alone? My mother has been widowed nearly 2 years now and is over 80, living alone and not interested in cooking. Should she continue struggling with feeding herself, feeling guilty when she doesn't do it well, spending money on take out food and eating nutrition pool frozen meals? What have others done when their parents or elderly relatives reach this critical point? If your senior doesn't live with you they face the challenge of grocery shopping and cooking. Too many low income seniors are living on canned soup, cheap meat like pork and probably not eating enough fresh fruit or vegetables because of expense. If your senior is not low income, they are still probably not eating organic and hormone free choices. With their choices decided by habits formed over the years, their nutrition and health are already in a compromised state. Should we ignore the poor choices our beloved seniors make, knowing it contributes to the fragile mental state we have already noticed? I don't know that we have any say in what our precious seniors eat or drink. My siblings and I have tried to encourage Mom to take some supplements and to drink more water. We have hoped she would eat a little breakfast each morning to stimulate her metabolism which might encourage her body to burn those excess pounds that contribute to her inactivity. We have hoped that by encouraging her to make a few healthy choices, the quality of her life will be improved and her years ahead greater in number. We want her to stay with us but with quality in her days. She has made a choice to leave her independent living and join the ranks of a retirement facility. Meals are provided and plentiful and it has only taken a few weeks to get programed to the meal schedule. Granted she is eating regularly but probably too much and too often. The up side of retirement living is the social component. There is something to be said for not living too solitary a life in our later years. Be patient with your seniors who continue to say "I'm doing fine" even when we know they are not.