Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Wanna see what diabetic hospital patients get fed in Ontario?

(That pie represents the caloric macronutrient breakdown of a Rice Krispie.)

A reader of mine emailed me yesterday with a video she took of the diabetic breakfast she was served at an Ontario hospital.

What'd she get?

A refined flour based pancake, syrup, a bowl of Rice Krispies, a glass of apple juice, and a coffee.

The only diabetic consideration? She received an artificial sweetener for her coffee, rather than sugar. Basically, she received a breakfast full of refined carbohydrates that her body'll process nearly instantaneously into simple sugars. And for good measure I suppose, she was provided with a glass of sugar water to wash the carbs down.

I don't think her case was unique.

I know that when my grandmother-in-law, also a diabetic, was recently in hospital, she too was given highly refined carbohydrates and juice with virtually every meal.

RD readers - if any of you folks work in a hospital can you let me know if this is typical, and also if there's anything a patient can do about it?

How difficult would a breakfast inclusive of protein, and with only whole grain carbohydrates, be to prepare, and how is it that her hospital's doctors, dietitians, and other allied health care professionals are ok with this being served to their patients (diabetic or otherwise)?