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Hospital menus

I rang again and spoke to the nurse in charge, but with a specific questions this time. Having explained that I don’t follow conventional NHS/NICE guidelines but ate a low carb diet, I was about to ask my questions and she said, oh no don’t worry we have diabetic menus, for breakfast you can have Weetabix, Bran flakes, cornflakes, toast or prunes! I stopped her in her tracks and asked if they could do scrambled eggs “no”, so I asked if there will be a fridge that I can use? “Yes” she says, “that’s ok then I’ll bring my own breakfast” (strawberries and greek yoghurt :hungry:). Now I know I can refrigerate stuff, I’ve loaded up a small cool bag with, cheeses, yoghurts and strawberries, to go with my pork scratchings, sugar free jellies, a couple of homemade low carb lemon shortbreads and 85% chocolate! I feel much happier now :happy:
 
Result!

However...

Rachox said:
homemade low carb lemon shortbreads
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You can't just go mentioning things like that and leave people hanging!

Do you have a recipe or link? And did it 'hold together'? Last time I tried a low carb shortbread I couldn't pick it up without it falling to pieces. Would love to have a reliable recipe, shortbread used to be a favourite.
 
AdamJames said:
Result!

However...



You can't just go mentioning things like that and leave people hanging!

Do you have a recipe or link? And did it 'hold together'? Last time I tried a low carb shortbread I couldn't pick it up without it falling to pieces. Would love to have a reliable recipe, shortbread used to be a favourite.
Click to expand...
They do hold together! Here’s the recipe, I add a tsp of lemon essence to make them a little more lemony!
https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/lemon-almond-shortbread-cookies-low-carb-gluten-free/
1.6g carbs each :hungry:
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Good luck with your op.

I was in hospital for 4 days and nights over last weekend.

Breakfast was the same every day. Porridge or weetabix or cornflakes (all with skimmed milk) or a soft roll with jam and a spread. Small tub of concentrated orange juice.

Lunch and dinner had a choice of 4 mains. 2 of them extremely carb heavy. (pastry, pasta, rice, potatoes) One was a sandwich with various thinly spread fillings and a "margarine" spread. The fourth was a salad, but the salad was always Cos lettuce with half a hard tomato cut in half, half an egg, coleslaw and a slice of cucumber. The protein varied between ham or a PORK PIE, or roast beef. No dressings, never any cheese. Puddings were an ice cream made from buttermilk (ingredients listed in order, water, sugar, buttermilk extracts, chemicals.), or a zero fat fruit yogurt, or a piece of fresh fruit, or rice pudding.

Teas and coffee were served with skimmed milk. One thing for sure, they were pushing carbs and insistent on as near zero fat as possible.

Mr Blue brought me some food in, which I was able to keep in the fridge, but he couldn't bring in enough for each meal.
In the end I gave up and ate the sandwiches. :arghh: They were taking my BG at random times during the day and nothing above 6.3. I was also checking myself, and they were OK.
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Not much use. Lucky the readings weren't worse.
 
Rachox said:
I was working in the NHS til last year so knew full well what will be on offer. I just thought I’d ring as I had been invited to discuss my requirements! The discussion was very short! It’s outrageous! :banghead:
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Yes it is. That's NHS diabetes 'care'.
 
Fingers crossed all goes well and and you have a great outcome, lass.
 
Good luck with your op. The menu at my local hospital was the same. The nurse said that I could write scrambled eggs on the menu.. I did and got a huge portion of them for breakfast, by far the best meal of the day !
 
Rachox said:
I’m going into hospital tomorrow for an op and and an overnight stay. Having phoned admissions this morning to confirm which ward I have to go to, in my literature I was invited as a diabetic to phone the ward to discuss any special requirements I might have. I did just that and said I take Metformin and a low carb diet, and asked would there be provision for me? The nurse on the phone said there will be salads on the menu but no specific provision for me! Salad for breakfast? Interesting. I’m taking a goodie bag with me so I don’t starve!
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I am a type one diabetic and control my blood sugar by carb counting and inject insulin accordingly. When I went into hospital I asked them to write the number of carbs on my menu for each item I had chosen to help with my control. They refused to do this. I then asked if the would write the weight of each item on the menu to allow me to work it out for myself, they refused to do this also. Considering the importance of this to a type one diabetic it seemed very little to ask. The menu's are repeated every few weeks so I would have thought it would have been easy to establish the carb content and print it on the menu as a matter of course. It would make control far easier for a diabetic
 
Usually they will make you something that is not in the menu? I tried it when my mum was in hospital for 8 weeks & they made her what she wanted within reason haha except for steak & chips!

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Good idea taking all your own food requirements. I usually have a gym bag ready for gospital stays that make sure i have protein bars and shakes
 
After re-reading all of the posts on this forum it occurs to me that we may not need the following advice as we are clearly a creative bunch when it comes to cobbling out a LCHF diet from the standard hospital 'diabetic' menu options ;).
That said, it's an interesting article from one of Diet Doctor's physician bloggers so I will share:
'10 tips for getting higher-quality food in the hospital'
https://www.dietdoctor.com/order-low-carb-meals-hospital-10-essential-tips-get-higher-quality-food
 
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