Long ago,
Hippocrates proclaimed, “Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your
food.”[1] I will now outline the
problems with (1) the food supplied by the kitchen and (2) the foods and
beverages available for snack.
When I came
to the unit, I met with a woman to explain my dietary needs. Both she and I can
agree that I stated that I needed a gluten free, dairy free diet. At a certain
point, probably on a later instance I believe I also told her I would like
kosher meat. I most emphatically told the Executive Chef later that I wanted
kosher meat and if no kosher meat was available, to please let me know if it
was not kosher so I could make my decision about whether to eat it.
I will now
explain why these three dietary concerns are important for my healing. Although
not universally acknowledge, there is significant scientific evidence that diet
is intrinsic to thde health of all and especially individuals with mental health
challenges.
On the
scientific studies related to gluten and bipolar as well as other mental
conditions, please see http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenintolerance/a/Gluten-Bipolar-Disorder.htm.
On the scientific studies related to both gluten and dairy and bipolar
see http://kellybroganmd.com/article/two-foods-may-sabotage-brain/. The importance for meat for the
bipolar individual lies in that it is a heavy, grounding food complete with
important vitamins and amino acids.
I will now
quote an excerpt about diet from noted Buddhist Jack Kornfield’s A Path with Heart page 131.
A student
who sat a three-month retreat that I taught was an over-zealous young karate
student seeking the extremes of spiritual intensity. Rather than follow the
instruction, he decided to get enlightened as quickly as possible . . . . he
began to experience all sorts of altered states. . . . he was very fearful and
agitated, moving in a wild and manic state, as if he had temporarily gone crazy
. . . What did we do with him? . . . We changed his diet. While everyone was
eating vegetarian food, we put him on meat loaf and hamburgers.
Kosher food
is not only important as part of my spiritual practice, it has implications for
bipolar health. When animals are killed according to Jewish rules of slaughter,
the animal feels no pain and thus does not release toxic stress hormones.
Please see further
http://www.naturalnews.com/022446_kosher_meat_foods.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/022446_kosher_meat_foods.html
It has been
thus established that I and many of my co-patients would benefit from a gluten
and dairy free diet and even from kosher food. These concepts are firmly backed
by science.
I will now
share with you three of the breakfasts I received. I believe that each of these
came after my extensive meeting with the Executive Chef, who although well
intentioned and skillful could not ensure proper meals.
No one expects
hospital food to taste good and unfortunately one rarely expects hospital food
to be that nutritious. But to repeatedly violate patient requests for diets
necessary for their healing is a crime.
I absolutely
do not tolerate gluten or dairy. They both make me manic.
Other
patients had similar needs. And even though my experience in 1991 at the
University of Chicago Hospitals was negative, even there and on the other units I have been, my diet has been
respected.
1.
Gluten
french toast — in desperation I ate this. meal with dangerous
gluten
2.
Hash
browns and pineapple — I requested some actual protein and was then provided
with egg. meal without basic nutrition needed for a breakfast
3.
Hash
browns, melon and a very small amount of egg with cheese. I requested protein
and a complex carb and received eggs and oatmeal. meal
with insufficient protein with dangerous dairy.
As you can
see, breakfast, argued by some the most important meal of the day was
compromised. Other meals were compromised. Co-patients of mine who were gluten
free were given gluten pasta. A patient who begged for quinoa got it sometimes
but also received moldy broccoli. When I got meat I was not informed whether it
was kosher or not. The Executive Chef had stated that finding kosher meat might
be difficult. I did receive one glorious meal of chicken and veg in two large
containers. I ate one container and the staff said I might have the other
later. But because of the hullabaloo involving the violent patient, they
discarded my meal as it had been out too long, leaving me quite hungry.
A patient,
especially one recently arrived should not have to constantly send back for a
proper breakfast and many of my co-patients were not as empowered as I. For
patients with a gluten problem, the wrong meal is not merely manic inducing as
was mine, but can be life-threatening. The kitchen blamed the person who took
down our dietary information and that person blamed the kitchen or sometimes
the person temporarily in charge of the kitchen was blamed. It does not matter
whose fault it was: patients on the ITU were consistently exposed to harmful
and potentially lethal food. This is the second reason why some form of
compensation is in order and why the unit needs to be shut down.
Snacks:
Unit-based food and drink
The water
from the water fountain had an off-taste and co-patients informed me it was
probably recycled although I have no direct evidence. As a result I stuck with
the hot water but again not all patients had the wherewithal to do so. The following are the snacks that I can
recall:
apples,
oranges and bananas
cheddar
flavored popcorn with lots of unhealthy ingredients
mozzarella
sticks
pudding with
lots of unhealthy ingredients
decaf coffee
for am with sugar, sometimes splenda and offered with a creamer with unhealthy
ingredients
apple juice
cranberry
juice with a heavy dose of sugar
I did enjoy
the fruit but I also was very hungry. Seroquel, the drug administered to me in
fact leads to increased hunger. I did not have a single gluten or dairy free
option for carbs and protein. And as apple juice was sometimes out, if I wanted
juice it was going to be with substantial sugar, a substance that science has
shown to be damaging and needless to say is especially damaging to the bipolar
individual — see http://bipolar.newlifeoutlook.com/sugar-bipolar/. I note here also that one of my
breakfasts from the kitchen contained sugar laden rice chex.
I recommend
the following snacks instead:
Vegetable
crudite with salsa, hummus/bean dip/tahini, etc
Rice
crackers
Trail Mix
Almond
butter in individual packets if safe
Incidently,
the kitchen is not nut free so if a patient really is deathly allergic to
peanuts, it is not clear how they would protected.
[1] See for instance Hippocrates et Corpus Hippocraticum
Med., Vectiarius: Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate, Vol. 4, ( ׀Ed. Littré, É.;
Paris: Baillière,
1844, Repr. 1962, Section 36, line 20. I thank noted Classicist Leonard
Muellner for this reference..
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