More on hospital food
Well, after my post last week on hospital food, I was asked to take part in a short interview on the subject on Shelagh Rogers’ show, Sounds Like Canada on CBC radio. What a thrilling opportunity to discuss real food! The interview was fast-paced and over before I knew it. Here is some of what I did not have an opportunity to say:
Healthy people replace 2 million cells a second, and those that are sick, injured or recovering from surgery probably replace substantially more than that. The raw material that those new cells are made of is our food. If the food does not have the nutrition needed, the body takes the required materials from other parts of the body, like our muscle, if we don’t eat enough protein, and our bones, if we don’t get enough minerals in our food. So, we frequently see patients with muscle wasting, people losing weight, and probably if we checked, we would find bone degradation as well. No matter how hard our body may try, it can’t make tissue from drugs. So, I ask you. Why is the food budget in hospitals so low, when people really can’t get better without quality food? There needs to be a MASSIVE shift in priorities.
So, therein lies the problem. According to the hospital-food series running all week on CBC radio, the food budget per person is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5-$8 per day. That is completely insufficient to provide the nutrition needed for people to heal. I’m not sure exactly what would be sufficient – probably triple that amount at least – but in my mind, a hospital should be providing the bare necessities for healing, and those hospitals with such low food budgets are actually doing more harm than good to their patients, as their bodies have to eat themselves to get the nutrition they are not getting from food. Reallocate the resources – take from where it is less necessary now to fix what is broken, but ultimately the whole body-system is degraded.
So, what do we do??? We need a completely different model for food services. (Personally, I think the name, “food services” has to go. It says “institution” through and through.) How about changing the name to “Nourishing Services”? Maybe then those involved will remember their key function. I was suggesting more hospitals adopt the hotel room-service model that some hospitals in Oregon are using, or at least use the idea as a jumping-off point for brainstorming. Patients should not pay for their food ever, but if the food is good enough, maybe family and friends that are visiting will order food from the menu rather than going downstairs to the McDonalds Restaurant or StarBucks in the hospital foyer. In this way, food bought by those visiting the hospital can subsidize the meals the patients receive. Having a varied menu would address the special diet issue as well as the cultural and food preferences aspect. The patient could order a meal when it is convenient so it would be tasty, fresh and hot – it doesn’t arrive just as he/she is being wheeled down for X-Rays. Nourishing food just might shorten hospital stays too, so there may be some cost savings there.
Each hospital needs a creative chef that understands how to prepare nourishing food in the tastiest of ways – knows about the healing powers of bone broths, fermented foods, sea vegetables, organ meats, raw foods, and the necessity of soaking grains before cooking them, the absolute need for good-quality saturated fats for the body, and the increased nutrition found in free-range rather than factory-farmed beef, poultry, dairy and eggs. The food needs to be prepared on site with local ingredients as much as possible, as they would be the freshest, not to mention the least expensive.
Here are some menu ideas (please note – I am NOT a chef!):
Breakfast
a) Fresh free-range eggs cooked to order served with steamed spinach, sprouted-grain toast and butter
b) Fermented oatmeal, whole milk or plain whole yogurt, chopped fresh fruit and raw nuts, soft-boiled egg optional
c) Half grapefruit, beef patty (made with a combo of ground beef and ground beef heart – can’t taste the difference) served with steamed kale and shallots, sprouted-grain toast and butter.
Lunch
a) Baked salmon, mixed salad, steamed zucchini, wild rice cooked in broth
b) Ham and split pea soup cooked with broth, grated raw cheese, raw veggie sticks
c) Chili con carn, wakame salad, crusty sourdough full-grain sprouted bread and butter.
Dinner
a) Liver and onions, REAL mashed potatoes, tomato boccachini salad with olive oil, balsamic vinegar dressing
b) Roast chicken, steamed collard greens with butter, brown rice cooked in chicken broth, raw carrot sticks
c) Baked cod, baked yam, creamed spinach or steamed broccoli
Some healthy Drink Options
a) Kombucha – a fermented black tea
b) REAL ginger ale made from ginger root
c) REAL apple cidre made from fresh organic apples
d) Lemon ginger honey tea
e) REAL rice milk – only healthy ingredients here!
f) Kvass – a fermented drink made from fruit
I am teaching Diane Lee and LJ Lee's Connecting to Your Core course in Vancouver BC at the end of the month. If you have low-back pain, hip pain or pelvic pain, click here for more info and how to register.
Related tips
Hospital food – an opportunity waiting?
Fallon, Sally Nourishing Traditions New Trends Publishing, Washington DC. 2001.
Nancy Chanda, DC said,
January 13, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
If I ever have to go to the hospital, I want to go to the one that has your menu.
I appreciate your newsletter.
Nancy Chanda, DC
Wellness said,
January 27, 2008 @ 5:34 am
Here in Germany the food in hospitals is for the patients for free (it is paid by the injurancy of the patients). It is not the best food but it is ok and delivering all the nutritions needed.
Vreni said,
January 27, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
In Canada food is free for patients as well. I just didn’t want anyone to think that I thought that patients should pay for the cost of better quality food.
Thanks for your comment!
Kate said,
August 12, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
I have just read that the food in Vancouver hospitals is shipped from Calgary ?
Why did they stop making it in Vancouver ? I was in hospital in Vancouver a long time ago , the food kitchen was near my room . The food was Ok and lots of it .However after having a back operation and being unable to move, and not eating for about 4 days and then a very large dinner was dropped off
at the end of my bed . It looked great and I could`nt wait to eat it However , I was not able to get up and get it .So I asked the person who was still there if she would`nt mind putting the dinner closer to me on the side table .She said …….NO .. its not my job description … SO a wasted meal there and a hungry patient ,as well.Enjoyed your news letter thank you .
Kate in the southern Interior