Yup, there’s actually such a title. A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted the growth of a new genre – upscale, more palatable cuisine now offered in healthcare facilities.

The typical hospital fare such as jello, soggy sandwiches and tasteless chow that we’re all familiar with, seems to be a thing of the past. Think Machaca Steak with Sauce and Curried Banana Pierogi. Hospitals are now competing with the likes of five-star hotels and restaurants by installing sushi stations, organic salad bars and pizza ovens.

The National Society for Healthcare Foodservice Management recently launched an annual cooking competition. “We want to show the world that health-care food is so much different. It can be creative. It can dazzle,” said Betty Perez, a society board member and a hospital food administrator in New Jersey. “We have chefs that can compete with the best of them.”

However, hospital chefs must play by different rules than their glitzy restaurant counterparts. Their creative offerings must be in tune with doctors orders, as well as nutritionists and cost-sensitive food administrators.

600 calories, 20 grams of fat, and 1,000 milligrams of sodium were the max for each contest dish and the production cost per dish could not exceed $5.

So pass the Green Apple-Jicama Slaw and enjoy your stay.

by Natalia Freeman

Excess weight is bad for your heart. You know that – but do you know why?
Fat changes the way your body metabolizes your food. Sugar that might be available as energy is packed away as fat, and fat is harder to break down for energy. Your entire metabolic system is out of whack. This, in turn, affects the entire body, including the blood vessels. Without the right sort of energy arriving at the right speed, the system begins to experience strain. And strain is what causes poor health. The vascular issues that can arrise affect the heart and blood vessels, leading to weakness, poor circulation, and failure.
Often, obese people are placed on many medications – for diabetes, for heart conditions, for atherosclerosis, for hypertension… Many – if not all – of these conditions exist because of the excess weight causing system strain. It can be reversed. But, just as it takes time to reach an unhealthy state, it takes time to reverse it. A strictly adhered-to diet can, in a few years time, reduce or eliminate the necessity of a good portion of the drug cocktail.