This doctor is outraged: hospital food is so unhealthy (where people are supposed to get better!)

Earlier, colleague Sabina wrote about the good news that in eleven hospitals in the Netherlands, hospital food for patients would become considerably better. Even now, substandard hospital food still seems to be the norm in several countries, but how bad is the situation really?

That’s what American doctor Michael Greger wondered too, and on his website NutritionFacts.org he published a video in which he takes a closer look at the matter. Perhaps you read the article about how good hospital food is in Japan? We can well imagine that Greger wants to tear his hair out when he sees that difference compared with the situation in many other hospitals…

Bad example

Greger has a rather unusual presenting style and voice, and you have to be able to handle watching and listening to him hold forth for seven minutes, but in terms of content he certainly seems to be addressing a fundamental problem. What you serve patients sets an example; it sends a message. A slice of factory-made ham and a tub of sugary yoghurt probably won’t help you recover from surgery any faster once you get home, so why are things with little nutritional value nevertheless served to patients by the trayful?

It can be done differently

As De Gelderse Vallei hospital in Ede has already discovered: since they simply let patients choose what they want to eat from a (healthy) menu, they have far less waste and therefore aren’t even more expensive than before, when the grey, overcooked peas still ended up untouched in the rubbish bin, tub by tub.

So, if you have a moment and are curious about the woeful state of hospital food (this is admittedly in America, but hospitals with better food are still in the minority in the Netherlands), watch the video below…

Also read:

• You should make this soup when you’re even too sick for chicken soup
• American school lunches are ridiculously unhealthy (and just look at France!)
• Research proves: people who make a lot of mess with their food are healthier