Sunday 27 September 2009

I wonder what they’re having at home...


Lunch as it arrived

Lunch after all four flakes of protein had been eaten


Dessert or some sort of building material? You decide.

52 comments:

  1. OK, lots of carrots in there - something Billy Connolley's cat threw up? Am I close?

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  2. Is it really disappointing when your food arrives ? do you get all excited when you hear the trolley at the hope of something decent or are you resigned to it always being inedible ?? I would eat the dessert just to spite them !

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  3. The thought of having rock hard chocolate sponge pudding trapped in my lower intestine and them having to remove it surgically is more than I can bear. I'm resigned to the factory food being bad. If it comes from the cafe downstairs then it's usually great. That main course was shocking in the amount of protein in contained. Guess what it is first and then I'll tell you more.

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  4. Ha yeh sorry the thought of that isn't worth the spite !
    Fish pie ?

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  5. I see it has the baked shepards-pie style potato on the top (a measly bit!) and a bit of celery in there. I'm guessing they call it some type of pie, perhaps tuna pie with 4 pieces of tuna at the bottom and a mostly potato top?
    Am I even close?
    -Kat

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  6. Dessert looks like something they've mustered up from the pathology lab! You've been served a liver biopsy! LOL

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  7. You are so close, Kat. It's Ocean Pie and I managed to find four tiny pieces of fish in it. I know fish is pricey but it's crazy. Mind you, a meat dish I had the other day had one tiny piece of liver and a small piece of gristly bacon. Not exactly generous.

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  8. Is there anything vegetarian on the menu?
    -Kat who doesn't like meat and wouldn't survive on hospital food :(

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  9. I think that was the vegetarian option.

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  10. Good grief! I recognize thawed baby carrots, next to them: maybe it's overcooked cauliflower scrambled into potato mash or bechamel with small bits of cheese on top, and then put under the grill? I paypalled you a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, or chicken, if you can get it brought in from somewhere. By the way, did you read that chicken soup research?(www.chestjournal.org/content/118/4/1150.long) It underlines someplace near to the end that mashed carrots don't have healing properties! Your instincts were scientifically proved to be correct long ago!!

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  11. Isn't chicken soup sometimes called Jewish penicillin because of that religion's long standing use of chicken soup for when their family members feel ill. Sensible people those Old Testament types. Thanks for the donation. I know smoked salmon is expensive and may seem decadent, but it's an easy way of getting a good dose of protein with no cooking required. It's also very good for building bones.

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  12. Wow, that's a LOT of carrots.

    You won't need a bedside light after eating them.

    My sympathies - it really does look revolting. Even peas would have been an improvement visually - orange and cream look rather too sick like for me.

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  13. So why did you order it then?

    Just a thought.. ;)

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  14. Yes but its the chicken fat which has the Vitamin D in it

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  15. It was the only thing that sounded palatable plus fish is good for bone growth. Unfortunately ( or perhaps fortunately) the menu does not show photos of each dish. And before anyone asks about the Sunday roast option... Try one first and you won't ever ask that question again.

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  16. did it smell fishy? that alone would put me off, let alone its ghastly appearance. Mind you, it all looks over cooked, so even if you had no teeth you would be able to eat it

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  17. Looks marginally better than yesterdays offering! Obviously the NHS is short on patients and need to provide poor nutrition to ensure you stay in as long as possible. My advice would be to avoid it at all costs.

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  18. Each item on the menu has symbols next to it. Unfortunately there is no key on the menu to help you interpret them. Most foods have the letter S next to them which I though might mean low salt or sugar. It actually means soft. Most food in hospitals is designed for the dentally challenged. The pie didn't smell fishy as there wasn't enough fish in it for that to happen.

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  19. The pud looks just like black pudding with the oh so familiar custard substitute they serve all your puds with, disgusting!
    The 'Ocean Pie' must have come from some poluted sea that has been deluged with toxic waste - hence no fish!
    You could have some tinned salmon bought in by the Mrs to keep in reserve, very good cos it also contains the bones, high source of calcium!
    Linda Tenerife x

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  20. oh my goodness i cant believe the rubbish you have been served day in day out.... however i cant wait to see what tomorrow brings ..this is the best read i've had in ages..get well soon

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  21. Are you sure it's fish? Your pie seems to have an orange willy.

    The joke that ends: "Well, Doc, to tell the truth most nights I just sit at home, watch porn and munch on Cheetos."

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  22. Mr Traction, just a thought.

    Very many top rugby players who need to build a lot of strong muscle use protein supplements.

    I've used them myself for fitness model purposes and they really work. There's a wide range of quite yummy chocolately bars/shakes available too.

    If you haven't already tried them, Google a few. Maximuscle have some good ones IIRC.

    No substitute for a decent balanced meal, but may help to speed up your recovery. Also these usually contain L-Lysine - one of the amino acids that your own body can't manufacture so you're own immune system may be compromised by the carbo crap you're being offered.

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  23. Do you have these in the UK?

    http://www.nestle.com.au/Products/CerealSnack/UNCLE+TOBYS/Dips-and-Bites/UNCLE_TOBYS_Le_Snak.htm

    or these?

    http://www.homeshop.com.au/website/expressshop/search_results.jsp?baseIndex=25&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302037952&bmUID=1254061224601&csStartPage=1

    Just some suggestions that people can bring you in a supply of edibles that will last without refrigeration, and can be consumed in bed with the aid of a plastic knife and fork.

    I take stuff like that in when my partner is incarcerated ... umm ... being treated in our hospital system.

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  24. One of your google ads today was "Are you still fat?" I think with the amount of food you havent been getting you are possibly not only less fat but also a lot less muscular.

    I trust you may have some snacks around although I know myself when you crave a huge steak no amount of piddling little snacks covers it.
    Light,Love and Healing to you

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  25. Hi there...are you a foody?...is this why the food is so urksome to you?... maybe you could focus on something else... can you move your arms?... maybe you could do you thing crafty ... like make a ship in a bottle... or learn knitting... you could create a brand called traction man and sell your various products... anither revenue stream?...perhaps?

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  26. another thought... if you had a selection of dried herbs and spices by your bed them you could easily pep up the slop!

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  27. I appreciate nice food but I can also eat plain and nutritious food so I wouldn't say I was a 'foody' if that's some sort of term of abuse. Thanks for the suggestion of taking up basket weaving or knitting to take my mind off hunger and an unhealed bone, but I fear that may not help. Your comment about another 'revenue stream' seems a little spiteful and uncalled for. And as for scattering dry herbs and spices over my food, that's the most ridiculous suggestion I've received yet. I'm sure your comments were well intentioned, weren't they?

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  28. sorry...they were well intentioned... and 'revenue stream' is a hang over from work speak...apologies... what i meant by the foody comment was that some people just see food as fuel and wouldn't be so urked by what you are getting... a friend of mine had a flatmate that only ate chicken nuggets, oven chips and bourbon biscuits....so I know that some people are easily pleased... if however you had higher experience of food ...then yes I can see that what you are getting must be... worse than terrible...

    however ... I don't think that my herb/spice comment so bad...

    many apologies...best wishes meant!

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  29. Apology accepted, thanks. The meals are beyond the redemption of spice or herbs which I think would just add an even more odd texture. Dried herbs and spices I think need to be put in at the start of the cooking process rather than the end. Maybe other patients are happy with soft and bland food but I would say that the protein content is so low as to be impossible to measure.

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  30. Lauren... interesting solution but it seems a tad ungrateful after all the doctors have done to try to put me right, don't you think?

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  31. I don't mean to press this point...but a black pepper mill, a salt mill and a something new to me ...and I recommend it... i think I got it at Aldi or Lidl... a dried rosemary mill... would perk things up a bit...

    do you like nuts?

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  32. I do have a black pepper mill which is useful and I have something else called Aromat which can help perk up a really bland dish but it still doesn't fix things. I have been eating some cashews but I think the type of protein needed for bone growth is quite specific. Any nutritionists care to chip in with any info?

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    1. The protein osteocalcin, which the body needs to built the protein rich part of the bones, the body makes itself.

      First every big protein the body digests, is broken up into the amino acids, so even if you would eat bonemeal,you couldn´t directly use the osteocalcin in there and shove it into your bones, so to speak.

      It first had to be broken up.

      And a much more needed point of bonegrowth are vitamins and minerals because in the average diet there is 3times as much protein as the body needs..but unfortunately often the right vitamins and minerals are in turn lacking,therefor osteoporosis or rachitis, enough protein to built the bones but not enough minerals and vitamins to make them sturdy.

      The following amino acids are needed to built up osteocalcin

      no means not essential, which means the body doesn´t need them with the food and can make them by itself.

      ess means that the body can not make that aminoacids by itself and needs to get them through food.


      Tyrosin(no)
      Leucin(ess)
      Glutamine(no)
      Tryptophan(ess)
      Glycin(no)
      Alanin(no)
      Prolin(no)
      Valin(ess)
      Asparginin(no)
      Glutamin acid(no)
      Cystin (no)
      Asparginin acid(no)
      Proline (no)
      Isoleucin(ess)
      Phenylalanin (ess)
      Glutamin(no)

      A problem of a too protein rich diet is also that the body needs minerals to get the acids out of the body which results through the digestion of the protein

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    2. Part2


      Therefor minerals needed for bonegrowth are lost.

      Opposite to what Iacrawf said, salmon is not a good source of calcium, maybe it was mixed up with protein?

      If you don´t eat the bones of the fish, there is no reasonable ammount of calcium in tinned salmon

      Animal protein builts up a high ammount of acid which needs minerals to turn the acid into harmless salts or the ph of the blood would drop into a dangerous level.

      So steak would not be a good choice to built up bones, you get the protein and vitamin d but not the other minerals you need.

      Dairy has reasonable ammounts of Calcium, but for the body to digest Calcium there is Magnesium needed.
      Unfortunately milk has not enough Magnesium, which is also needed to grow bones.

      Pairing the dairy with greens would deliver a nice ammount of magnesium.

      And nuts would have a nearly perfect balance of all the minerals needed to built up bones.

      It differs from nut to nut, so if you would eat a trail mix with walnuts, hazlenuts, almonds...than you had a very nice boost of minerals.

      Don´t fear the small ammount of phytic acid that is in nuts, it binds a bit of the minerals from beeing absorbed, but has enough to make up for it.

      Also the omega3 acids in nuts, preferably unroasted, are needed for a healthy cell growth, not only in bones.

      Amuseingly peas are a good source of all the needed amino acids, minerals and most vitamins..if they wouldn´t cook them until dead and unappetizing

      The provided link by anonymous...well, I don´t see where he got that with the carrots from.

      A serving of 3,5oz chicken per day would provide enough protein for a person that has to stay in bed together with the other foods.

      More would be a waste and only leech minerals.

      The anti-inflammatory and germ fighting properties of the soup could be boosted when cooking the chicken first, seperately and than adding finely chooped vegetables to cook them for ~20 minutes, not more,than adding fresh herbs who should not be cooked.

      The immune system boosting qualities of most vegetables are destroyed if cooked the ammount of time described for traditional chicken soup.


      A healthy, immune boosting and filling soup or stew could be easily made...but it seems somehow hospitals are terrible lacking in this department.

      A bowl of soup with 300g veggies at least(not potatoes but onions, carrots, peas, cellery and similiar things), some sourdough bread on the side and a shredded salad before ..or for someone who can not really chew, also a blended puree out of avocado, cucumbers and tomatoes could be served..very tasty similiar to a cold soup.

      At breakfast whole wheat/grain bread, some veggies and fruits to higher the healthieness because I think they serve mostly white toast and nothing green/fuits at breakfast.

      Maybe also scramble egg with a finely chopped mix of bellpeppers and onions...there are many simple possibilites to boost the meals.

      For some the ammount of veggies per meal may seem much, but the 5 servings of fruits and vegetables are te bare minimum to get the balanced ammount of minerals and vitamins you need.

      And the micronutrients that are in plants, and have cancerfighting and anti-inflammatory properties, can not yet be made in a laboratory, so taking a vitamin pill doesn´t fulfill the bodies needs.

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  33. No, Lauren 16:27, shooting wouldn't help in the healing process, nor would it better the catering system! Did you intend your remark as a pun of some sort?? I did not perceive it as such, but I hope you do not mean it seriously either! I am confident though that TM will put the bingo foodstuffs that keep arriving to some use in forcefeeding them to all and sundry who propose such crap to him!

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  34. It was in reply to the herb comment. Not intended as a literal solution :)

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  35. Roll mops? Think I might take the shooting option :-)

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  36. Hey I guess at least in the US the meals are slightly better. My mother has been in the hospital for extended times before. At least the food was edible.

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  37. Just heard from home. They had fresh troll steaks for lunch. Medium rare. Yum!

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  38. Troll steaks? Never heard of them, what are they?

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  39. It's a dish designed to provoke the tastebuds ;-)

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  40. I thought so! I'm always on the lookout for tastebud provoking recipes. That's why I wanted to know... I made turkey chunks today, slowcooked in olive oil with spring onion, garlic and two small carrots, all chopped, with salt, and I added swiss chards cut in pieces later, with their stalks coloured red and yellow. I'm sorry I could not beam them over to you, maybe you would have liked them ...

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  41. Troll steaks! Oh yes. Best served beaten flat with a rolling pin and roasted in a hot fire. A very satisfying meal.

    8-]

    You would think that the dieticians would be able to "prescribe" a suitably nourishing diet to get your bone healing. That's 'the way forward' as some of these management misfits would no doubt put it - i.e. to supply the kind of diet that is going to get people well, not slush that looks as though it's been dug out from the bottom of the pig bucket at the nearby farm.

    What's the point of being a centre of excellence if the specialist work you do to heal people isn't going to be backed up by the support network e.g. catering. You may as well have been left out in the yard to forage through the bins for all the nutrition you've been given over the months.

    Being brought food is lovely and all very well, but the point is that the hospital should be feeding you properly. You're right to make this a big issue. As we all said a few posts back, many patients don't even have visitors to bring food in and they are having to cope with this ridiculous slop being dished out, day after day, and sometimes not even being able to reach it. You're doing a great job, TM. Just don't let the barstewards grind you down.

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  42. The other problem of course is that they're microwaving everything to death, which renders puddings as hard as ship's biscuit. Let's hope it doesn't come with added weevil too ...

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  43. Don't knock weevils. A useful source of protein.

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  44. for heavens sakes man!!!!! tell us where you are so we can send y9ou some goodie baskets !!!!i dont know what that pudding course was but as was said in an earlier post , i suspect its escaped from the pathology lab!!!

    rhonda . usa

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  45. How many times does this have to be said to some of you? ( and no I am not including TM because I actually think he has some awareness!)
    The budget for the whole of one day's food for a patient in the average NHS hospital is approximately £1.50 to £2.00. NONE of you armchair experts could provide decent food for that so please don't pontificate otherwise.
    It is all very well spending money on drugs and treatment etc BUT if the food is wrong, it will do no good!
    It is UNFAIR to blame individuals - blame the whole organisation, blame the Dof H and above all blame this and previous governments for not funding in the right areas.
    But STOP blaming individuals and boasting about how you could all do better. Because do you know what? You couldn't.

    TM- this is not aimed at you BTW xxx

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    1. You couldn´t make nutritious meals with 1,50 to 2 pounds of money to spend?

      I dare to disagree.

      Just think about how much money is just wasted by throwing the uneaten meals away and the hospital has to pay to first heat,and than dump them..yes garbage disposal especially from hospitals costs a nice sum

      And than the people who do not eat, are not getting better as fast as someone who has proper food.

      How about a sample meal?

      Because hospitals could buy in bulk..I will use bulk prices, ..for a family household, but something big like a hospital could get that even cheaper.

      Lentil-vegetable stewLentil 1 pound 2pds-or noodles 50cent per pound or wholewheat for the double, 70 cent for rice noodles when someone is allergic to gluten
      chicken 1,4 kg 3 pds
      carrots 1kg 0,70 pds
      onions 1kg 0,65pds
      celery 1 package 0.60 pds
      potatoes 1kg 1 pound
      frozen mixed vegetables(cauliflower/brokkoli/peas) 80 cent per 1kg

      assorted herbs 50 cents for the whole pot of soup
      2 cans of tomatoepaste 50 cents
      soup stock cubes as seasoning 10 cents
      assorted herbs 50 cents for the whole pot of soup
      2 cans of tomatoepaste 50 cents
      soup stock cubes as seasoning 10 cents

      I would use lentils for the people who do not want to eat chicken,but part lentils with the chicken soup would boost the overal protein/mineral and vitamin content of the soup.

      So you throw everything together(first cooking the chicken, cleaning and cutting the veggies with the kitchen aid, than cutting up the cooked chicken,pan searing, than cooking the vegetables and potatoes in the broth.

      In an extra pot you cook the lentils which have soaked overnight, the same time you set up the chicken.

      Drain the cooked lentils(because soaking and draining the water reduces the flatulence properties)

      Arrange the vegetables with 100g chicken per patient, serve with 2 pieces of whole wheat toast or similiar(60 cnt per kilo of toast and 3 cent per person-2 slices)


      This is a meal for 88 cent soup, 3 cent bread per person.
      I think in the 1,50- to 2 pounds of food allowance per patient are solely for food, not for electricity or the loan for the cooks

      91 cent for one meal, even lower because hospitals can buy in bulk and do not buy in the normal grocery..so it could be half of that price

      Yes this stewy soup feeds approx 10 people..100g chicken meat per person which is more than enough(chicken was 1,4 kg but I accounted the bones and grizzly parts) if you eat some toast and potatoes which also provide protein, not much but enough and the noodles provide also protein...even the vegetables do.

      The mixed protein base from the soup boosts the use the body can make of it to 150%..from 100g provided protein the body can built 150g body own protein.

      And it gets you all the other very important nutrition you need.

      I could also do a calculation for celiac, diabetic people or whatever..

      ...dare me

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