Healthy Choices in Hospital Cafeterias? You Must Be Joking!
What never fails to amaze me are the contradictions in medical facilities, hospitals and nursing homes. On the one hand, we see state of the art medical devices, technologies and pharmacologies. On the other hand, when it comes to nutrition, we remain in the 1950s when bleached white bread that you could roll up in a small ball and throw at your peers was a "wonder." Don't laugh. I've seen such non nutritious white bread and faux butter (or margarine that is the equivalent of plastic in your stomach) on the plates of the elderly in nursing homes, of course, untouched. Who, but they, are in need of excellent nutrition; who, but they, rarely receive it.
I have been enraged about this for a long while, having direct experience visiting friends and relatives in hospitals and nursing homes, noting the straw meals they're served. I have even overheard doctors commenting that the patient food in the facility is lousy. Figuring it might be better in the cafeteria, since patients often have diets restricted by their conditions, I've stopped by the hot and cold food lines in hospital cafeterias for a bite.
What I found was a bummer. Not only were their few choices equivalent to the hot lunches served at public schools (notoriously unappetizing) but they were mega carb heavy as well, or embodied the worst of spooky fruits and vegetables; nothing looked fresh (eight week old apples and wilted iceberg lettuce).
Now a study has reaffirmed what most of us in the culture who have had experience with it, recognized: hospital food is yucky. But wait, there's more. Add to that this hypocrisy: the facility which is supposed to be "delivering us from evil" to health, is sending us right into the den of toxins and metabolic excesses: high carbs, high saturated fats, sugars, preservatives and artificial colorings. Welcome to your friendly hospital cafeteria. After you're done with a few meals there, be ready to go to the emergency room. If you didn't have high blood pressure and high cholesterol beforehand, surely your numbers have crept up after their noxious offering of junk. Am I exaggerating? Of course! But for a good cause, your body's health.
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