This is what I am up against in the hospital food debate.
‘These choices are recommended for individuals with heart disease and DIABETES’
Sugar laden jellies such as jellied peaches, custards, fruit yoghurts, ice cream, sponge cake, fruit loaf, apple crumble and sultana pudding are just a few options from the current hospital menu for inpatients. At least a daily serving of these foods appear with a healthy heart symbol and a recommendation for these to be consumed by diabetics.
The same menu includes ‘cake of the day’ at 2.30pm and ‘sweet biscuits’ for morning tea. I see them doled out to Diabetic patients all the time and the patients think that it must be ‘fine’ to have them as the hospital is supplying them.
The Nutrition Department continues to abide by these recommendations for Diabetic patients. I am at a complete loss to understand this stand. It appears to be getting a little heated at present as I disagree with them!
I remain in correspondence with them and yesterday requested the development of a specific menu option for my patients. It will be along the line of reduced carbohydrate and unrestricted fat consumption. Let us see how long that will take to happen.
I remain steadfast with the premise that we should be promoting the consumption of ‘real’ food that has not gone through processing which generally involves the addition of sugar, the removal of fibre from carbohydrate and the replacement of naturally available saturated fat with highly processed polyunsaturated seed oils.
The current hospital menu is a far stretch from ‘real’ food.
Why it is a problem at http://www.nofructose.com/introduction/other-stuff/hospital-food/
What is it about diabetes and carbohydrate metabolism that hospital dieticians don’t get? I have Type 1 diabetes and celiac, and I choose not to eat a lot of carbs (mostly no grains), very little fruit (definitely not every day, maybe once a week) and only coconut or olive oil. People with diabetes, and especially those with Type 2 neither need fruit, nor do they need desserts or any other high carb food. If I ever have to go to hospital to stay, I know I will starve. There is no way I would want to eat anything on their menus! I’m positive hospital food would make me sicker and severely deplete the supply of insulin in my pump! Unfortunately, it’s all about politics and money – how much does it cost per meal and how many packets of highly processed food can we open to get there? It’s certainly not about keeping people healthy or helping their recovery.