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Every day that I go to work, I nearly go crazy…and here’s why…
Chicken Lasagna with Creamy White Sauce
The food. Nursing home food. It’s the same everywhere, so I‘m not picking on my employer. In my 15-year career as an Occupational Therapist, I’ve worked in at least a couple dozen Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF). Hospital food is no different- I’ve worked in plenty of them, too.
The food at all of these places for sick and functionally impaired folks is abysmal. Can we really call it food? Make no mistake- this is a system-wide “healthcare” (i.e.- “keep you sick”) problem. Shall we thank our government and the USDA?
Here is an average diagnosis list for the typical patient I see in rehabilitation every day: HTN (high blood pressure), Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), CAD (coronary artery disease), DM (diabetes), OA (osteoarthritis), and dementia.
Many have a history of CVA (stroke) and/or cancer. Also, recurrent “antibiotic resistant” urinary tract infections are all too common ( MRSA – Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).
This week I met a relatively rare specimen. She’s a “younger” woman (i.e. 70 years old) who fractured her leg while pruning a garden tree. She said to me, “I eat organic. I juice my vegetables. I eat kale.” She was “horrified” (her words) to have been served a hot dog and french fries for dinner on her first evening (with cake for dessert!) I truly felt her pain.
Now, let’s say you were admitted to the SNF with a CABG x 4 (a four-vessel Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) at mid-morning that same day. What did your nurse’s aide bring you for lunch?
“Beef Pot Roast, Baked Potato with Sour Cream, Green Beans and Strawberry Bavarian Cream with Whipped Topping.”
Translation?
Lunch: beef, white potato, dairy, vegetable, white flour, sugar/HFCS, and oil/trans fats.
Dinner: high-sodium/high-fat/high-Nitrite animal trimmings, fried white potato, refined flour, and refined sugar.
The menu comes from “Dietician Consulting Service.” I guess these would be the Dieticians who promote chronic illness and death? Gee whiz, I must be naive to assume that a Dietician’s JOB is to develop menu plans with good nutrition.
I still have a menu from last summer, when the residents/patients were served grilled cheeseburger, french fries, and a root beer float for lunch, and then 3-cheese macaroni and cheese, peas, dinner roll with margarine, and an ice cream bar for dinner. I kid you not!
Can you believe that the daily meal plans consist primarily of meat, dairy, refined flour, white potatoes, refined sugar, unhealthy fats, and a very little vegetative matter? This is a healthy, balanced diet?
Not according to my lady patient with the lower leg cast. She must go out of her way to secure her own nourishing food. Your new coronary artery graft doesn’t have a prayer. There’s a very good chance you’ll become “vegetative” if you eat these non-nutritive substances.
Got fiber? Nope. Add your pain medications into the mix, and you’ve got some serious constipation. (No problem- you can rely on Milk of Magnesia, enemas, and/or manual fecal extraction.)
Veggies- WHERE ARE YOU?!?
The “Dietician Consulting Service” menu is devoid of nutrient density. It’s critically low in whole fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, beans, whole grains, and nuts/seeds. It’s critically low in fiber, phytochemicals (“phyto” means plant), anti-oxidants, and anti-inflammatory compounds. It’s disease-promoting and death-promoting.
I haven’t even mentioned the fact that the animals eaten every morning, noon and evening of every day, of every week, for every meal on this menu come from the worst of the very worst of the Hell holes called factory farms.
Now…are you surprised that going to work makes me nearly go crazy?
Monday, May 14, 2012
Today I was rollerblading on a paved trail near my house. The side of the path had been freshly mowed. There, I saw about 5 dead baby possums who must have been killed by the mower. There was no blood, and the bodies were intact. I think they were crushed.
Seeing them made me think about all the animals killed during the production of food crops: field mice, moles, rabbits and others, who unknowingly get in the way of the farm machinery.
Some people like to use the fact that “animals die in the harvesting of plants” as an argument to discredit a vegan’s decision to leave animals off her plate. I respond: Should I go back to eating animals because I can’t help the small mammals who meet their untimely deaths out in the farm fields?
If I can’t help it that a bird got killed by my car while driving, does it mean that I should go back to eating chickens? No. I don’t want to kill either bird: not a sparrow by accident or a chicken on purpose. I want to cause as little harm as humanly possible.
Animals who are killed for food don’t just magically grow big and plump without eating. Animals who are intentionally killed are fed plants first. The two main “animal feed” crops in animal agriculture are corn and soybeans. A high percentage are genetically modified and heavily sprayed with pesticides.
Animals eat plants and then people eat the animals. More animal death is caused by eating animals than by simply eating plants directly. Eat organic, non-GMO plants whenever possible.
What about “grass-fed” animals, you ask? The fact is, grass-fed livestock are rarely 100% grass-fed. Pastured livestock are raised on grassy pastures, but their diet is supplemented with grains, especially in colder climates. Pastured cows, bison, pigs, turkeys and chickens are typically at least partially grain-fed even when they’re called “free-range,” “organic,” “heirloom,” and “heritage.”
In addition, numerous animals– wild horses, badgers, black bears, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, wolves, opossum, raccoons, skunks, beavers, nutrias, porcupines, prairie dogs, black birds, cattle egrets, and starlings– are killed for the purpose of “protecting” ranchers’ interests (i.e. their livestock, their livelihood.)
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Wildlife Services (WS) has been tasked to “help people resolve wildlife damage to a wide variety of resources.” (In this case, “resources” means cattle. The cattle are physically protected up until the time they are slaughtered.) Wildlife Services (WS) uses the following methods of “resolution”: poisoning, trapping, snaring, denning (denning = pouring kerosene into a den, setting fire to it, and burning young animals alive), shooting, and aerial gunning.
Back to my point.
Yes, even in the “best case scenario,” a certain percentage of animals will be killed through not so pain-free methods: Animals are hit by cars, bugs get squashed, critters are unfortunate victims of combine harvesters and lawnmowers, and animals are routinely consumed by other animals.
I highly doubt that people routinely go into grocery stores thinking– while picking up pork chops– “Well I couldn’t save that possum from being killed by the mower, so I might as well be the reason this pig had to die.”
That’s not how it works. People typically select animal products because 1) animal products taste good, 2) people are accustomed to buying animal products, and 3) people believe that animal products are essential to a healthy diet.
I think that some people who use the “animals die in the harvesting of plants” line of reasoning are simply looking for an reason to continue consuming animals.
Bottom line: it all comes down to daily choices. We can either choose to consume animals that we know for a fact were killed, or we can try our best to avoid unnecessary death.
When shopping for food, we can all choose fruits, vegetables, beans/legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, herbs and spices. We can strive to choose whole, organic, non-GMO foods. We can avoid animal products– including, but not limited to– chickens, pigs, cows, fishes, eggs, milk and cheese.
Freeheel Vegan 