Food for Thought

Blog #16

• How might you engage those in your health care setting to promote healthier and more sustained food purchasing choices?
• Very recently, about two months ago our hospital was offered an Egg Share Program. This is a program works with local farmers and greenhouses to create bins of: Seasonal Fruits, Vegetables, Eggs and Flowers. Once a month bins are delivered to the hospital to those who placed their orders. This is a part of an initiative to support local and also healthier eating. Our hospital presented a comparison of purchasing all these foods through a grocery store vs a bin and the savings were impressive. For one bin the total saving is $125.00; this in and of itself is a powerful way to engage my fellow employees to better their health through healthier eating. The bins are delivered either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Based on the season, your options change and the same with the flowers. They also offer different choices, if you prefer not to have eggs, you can have flowers.

• Consider your food choices in light of factory farming (CAFOs).
• Using the Factory Farms website, I learned that over the last two decades.  Small to medium size farms have given rise to thousands of animals being confined in small packed facilities.  Health risks plague these facilities and pose threats to neighboring areas, and abuse of antibiotics leading to an increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria. These facilities are focused on profit and efficiency rather then health and welfare of these animals. It's hard to even think about the what is bad for them, is bad for us; as nurses we are almost always focused on the other person, our patients; so I have never thought about what I am eating may be bad for me because of how they were treated. Food for Thought. . . literally
• I've personally always struggled with "knowing where my food came from." Learning about factory farms, having friends post videos of the abuse of animals and the horrid conditions they are kept in breaks my heart. To know that in todays day and time this is happening is cruel; throughout this course I find myself becoming more disappointed to be human and in Luke Byrants words: "if you go by the nightly new, your faith in all mankind would be the first thing you loose." #truth

In the News:

With all the talk about access to healthier food and making those decisions, I wanted to touch on recent news on all the food recalls. It seems that every week, we are hearing about new food recalls.

From Tomatoes, to Kale, to Spinach, all have been recalled by stores due to potential or confirmed contaminations. Whole Foods was the latest store to voluntary pull Baby Spinach from their shelves, and Traders Joes a few weeks ago pulled Romain Lettuce. While we all know not to use these, most wouldn't think of prepared items. In the article from EHN Whole Foods pulled prepared salads, pizza, sandwiches and wraps all containing spinach. They gave information to the public on the barcodes that needed to trashed or returned to their store for a full refund if you have a receipt in hand. It makes me wonder with food being contaminated how to stay on top of our health, the possibly of contaminates and access to good food?