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Hospital Menu for diabetic person

I guess it depends on what you believe the healthcare system owes you, and why you believe you deserve it.

To some , apparently it should be the best experience of their lives, with everything they want catered for, and an individual program for their benefit, but at no cost, because we have a care system, that doesn't need to have private healthcare.
Then again, I've seen other systems that will let you die if you can't pay, then charge the relatives for storing the body.

Me, I'm in the middle.

The thing I've noticed, whenever I've been in, there are always people worse off than me, so I go in, if I come out in a better condition than I went in, I'm good with that.
 
Recently had 4 stays in hospital. There is a lack of understanding of the needs for people who low carb. The menu is basically comfort food - probably not a bad idea - their heart is in the right place, just misguided. My wife brought my food in and sometimes we would go to the staff cafeteria for a big plate of eggs and bacon.
 
My local hospital has an M and S food on the premises, it's a great business strategy by M and S although not great for those watching the pennies.

I just ended up getting salads and lovely fresh food from there when I was in hospital but it could cost a fortune for anything longer than a very short stay!
 
Catlady19 said:
Yes, but it is a hospital not a restaurant, they can't cater for everyone's individual dietary requirements. Unless you were in for a very long stay I think you could survive on that menu without dying or having limbs chopped off.
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Sure they could.
 
Sometimes i think I need a "talking rubbish" icon for some posts.
 
This has been brewing in me since this thread started - tried to keep it to myself but probably to my detriment I can't keep my mouth shut any longer

My best friend died in her 30s because NHS wouldn't authorise the use of a drug that was too expensive- she had cancer and it was terminal but this drug could have given another 5 years with her 6 year old daughter, instead she had just over 7 weeks so listening to people winge about the food the totally bankrupt NHS isn't providing really gets on my ****

There I've said it
 
The way one looks at this discussion depends on whether one agrees that what we eat affects our healthy blood sugar levels, or not.

A special diet is provided for religious reasons, or for personal moral decisions (like for vegans and vegetarians), and people dont seem to have a problem with their dietary requests being catered for.

Some people read this thread and think "oh, people are being so unreasonable and demanding" because they appear to not accept how vital low carbing is to some on here. And that some of us do not have relatives and friends to bring in food either.

others read this thread and think "Yes, being able to have the diet which controls my blood sugar levels and makes me heal quicker and need less medical intervention is saving the NHS time and money" because they know the importance of diet on their own blood sugars.

It all depends on your point of view on this subject.

I also think, up to a point, that the NHS is being ideologically starved of money, as we appear to have a bottomless pit of money to spend on war, HS2 etc. and making it possible to avoid complications and speed healing by addressing our dietary needs saves money.

As someone who has worked and paid NI and taxes for 39 years, I am not going to apologise for using the service, nor am I going to apologise or feel guilty for wanting access to a diet which is part of my medical treatment, and just as vital to my health as any medicine I need.
 

Not disagreeing with any of that - I low carb myself and also wouldn't have someone to bring food in on a regular basis - yes we should get the food we need - until the NHS. Change their stance on what they think diabetics needs to eat to control their condition that's not going to happen.

Not saying it to make anyone feel guilty - just think that sometimes perspective can be lost - in an ideal world everyone would get their every need/ want met by the NHS - not possible. just because someone has worked all their life and "paid in" doesn't entitle them any more than someone like me who chose to not work but to be a 24hr carer to family members - either was I asking for anyone to apologise for wanting their needs met - everyone has that right

When I wrote what I did I knew it would be contentious and probably misunderstood - wasn't saying that anybody shouldn't get what they need to be well - just some perspective

Out of this thread now - too emotive all round
 
I think we all agreed early on there is at least one low carb choice.
Since then, it's been about insisting on having multiple choices, and freshly prepared meals rather than reconstituted
.
 
Not specifically for diabetes but I found an old Daily Mail article with pictures of hospital food around the world. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...The-hospital-foods-served-patients-world.html
Some look far better than others; who knows how representative they are though. What isn't in the article is anything to say how much these meals actually cost the patient. In many places food costs are borne in full or part by the patient. The French tray for example looks excellent and my experiences have been good ( though have had nothing like the wide choice available on that NHS menu) However, even at a standard public hospital you have to pay a non refundable 18E a day towards 'hospitalier' costs ie board and lodging. (some privately run clinics will charge more.) In my experience there is also nothing like the wide choice
Personally, I think this would be a sensible approach for the NHS to take . Undoubtedly food plays a part in recuperation but a person has to pay to feed themselves if not in hospital. (obviously with safeguards for those less well off or on some benefits which may be reduced when in hospital) This contribution would reduce the necessity to use the cheapest options something mentioned by several people earlier in the thread and possibly some of the income could be used towards medical costs.
But at the end of the day, I really don't see that a menu that gives the option of a turkey salad at one meal or an omelette at another is a threat to people who wish to low carb. I don't low carb but if I were doing very little activity and thus using very few calories, they would be amongst my choices.
 
What I don't understand is why they feel a need to deem foods diabetic friendly or unfriendly at all. According to the government, no special diet is necessary for diabetics and they should follow the same Eatwell Guide for diet that they recommend for non-diabetics. Surely they're not serving food that doesn't meet the Eatwell Guide rules? Oh wait - they do serve that kind of food since they also felt the need to mark some food as healthy, which means they believe some of the food they serve is not healthy. Is it therefore unhealthy? Apparently some of the non-healthy food is diabetic friendly. It's all very confusing to me. Anyone know what the "V" stands for?
 
V is vegetarian and Healthy is a euphemism for lower calorie, I expect.

There's no compulsion to take any notice of the labels so it doesn't bother me at all.
 
azure said:
V is vegetarian and Healthy is a euphemism for lower calorie, I expect.

There's no compulsion to take any notice of the labels so it doesn't bother me at all.
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I should have figured that out about the V. It doesn't bother me either, since I'll never be in that hospital.
 

What's the Canadian system like?
Much better low carb choices?
 
Sable_Jan said:
Maybe not but it's not that hard to provide low carb options
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But they have, just because people don't like those options is hard luck. I will concede that many of the items listed with a 'D' are not appropriate for a diet controlled Type 2 but there ARE things to choose.
 
Catlady19 said:
But it's not necessary, the NHS is in crisis. Would you rather they concentrated on curing people and medicine or what is on the menu?
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I'd rather they not feed people food that has a negative impact on their health while they're trying to cure them. "Sorry, sir, but we need to amputate your foot due to your diabetes. While you're waiting, have some pasta shells in cheese sauce, boiled potatoes, and rice pudding. It's super healthy for diabetics."
 
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