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Subscribe to RSSPeople nervously waiting around in New York City hospitals for loved ones to come out of surgery can't smoke. In a few months from now, they can't have a supersized fast-food soda. And soon, they won't even be able to get a candy bar out of the vending machine or a piece of fried chicken from the cafeteria.
In one of his latest health campaigns, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is aiming to banish sugary and fatty foods from both public and private hospitals.
In recent years, the city's 15 public hospitals have cut calories in patients' meals and restricted the sale of sugary drinks and unhealthy snacks at vending machines. But now the city is tackling hospital cafeteria food, too. And the Healthy Hospital Food Initiative is expanding its reach: In the past year, 16 private hospitals have signed on.
Earlier this month, the city moved to ban the sale of big sodas and other sugary drinks at fast-food restaurants and theaters, beginning in March. Critics say the hospital initiative is yet another sign that Bloomberg is running a "nanny state," even though the guidelines are voluntary and other cities — including Boston — have undertaken similar efforts.
Hospitals say it would be hypocritical of them to serve unhealthy food to patients who are often suffering from obesity and other health problems.
"If there's any place that should not allow smoking or try to make you eat healthy, you would think it'd be the hospitals," Bloomberg said Monday. "We're doing what we should do and you'll see, I think, most of the private hospitals go along with it."
The cafeteria crackdown will ban deep fryers, make leafy green salads a mandatory option and allow only healthy snacks to be stocked near the cafeteria entrance and at cash registers. At least half of all sandwiches and salads must be made or served with whole grains. Half-size sandwich portions must be available for sale.
"People sometimes right now don't have healthy options," said Christine Curtis, the city Health Department's director of nutrition strategy. "So you are there at 2 in the morning and maybe your only choice is soda and chips."
Marcelle Scott brought her own chips and soda into the lobby of Manhattan's privately operated St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital — there was no vending machine in sight — as she waited for her daughter to give birth Monday. It wasn't the first time the unemployed security guard from the Bronx got the "munchies" for junk food to keep calm while awaiting the outcome of a loved one's medical procedure.
"I like my Snickers and my Mars Bars — especially if I'm nervous for somebody who's inside," she said.
Most hospitals have already overhauled their vending machines by allowing only two types of 12-ounce high-calorie beverages at each vending machine — and they must be featured on the lowest rack. Hospital vending machines have also swapped out most baked goods for snacks like granola bars and nuts.
At privately run Montefiore Medical Center, which operates several hospitals in the Bronx, changes have been under way for a couple of years.
"We took ice cream out of the cafeterias and began serving more whole grains," said Dr. Andrew Racine, chief medical officer. "We changed white rice to brown rice."
Herbert Padilla, a retired Manhattan hairdresser, was sitting a few feet from a giant coke machine Monday in an outpatient waiting area at St. Luke's-Roosevelt, where he was undergoing treatment for a nerve disorder. He said that in general, he supports efforts to keep people from overdosing on junk food, but "we shouldn't be forced into this by a hospital."
"The mayor is going too far with this. It's ridiculous," he said. "We're being told what to eat and what to drink. We're not living in a free country anymore."
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Bad language, chocolate, gasoline, un-educational toys and anything spicy... smoking is not good for you ... and anything not good for you is bad; hence, illegal
Hahaha. . . good one, i love that movie. Benjamin Pratt was such a tool in that movie, "actually, i find my life deeply fullfilling. . . " haha
Nobody is making junk food illegal here, so stop acting like such spoiled brats.
Seriously, why is there junk food in hospitals? I don't understand that at all. Hospitals exist to help treat disease, not create it. If you wanna give yourself diabetes, fine, but you shouldn't expect hospitals to make special arrangements for you to do so. Go to a gas station and get your own damn Snickers bar.
PLENTY of people aren't overweight or diabetic. We're already sick and miserable - and have to eat food we don't like as well??? Feed ME whole grains and you'll have me in there for allergic shock! I can't eat barley, rye, bran or whole wheat.
I'm OK with this if it is truly voluntary for the hospitals. I don't like gov't telling anyone what they should be eating. I do agree that a hospital should definitely offer healthy alternatives instead of chips and sodas, because, as was mentioned in the article, they really should be promoting health. I'm happy to see that manyhave been taking steps toward this end on their own as that is how it should be - no gov't interference.
You're missing the whole freaking point!
where does it end?? Bye bye to your freedoms people!! SMILE!!
"Nobody is making junk food illegal" YET. Just more "creeping nannyism".........
Think "Bloomberg"..........
Who are you (or the Governor) to tell ME what food is "junk"? I'm not a lazy, obese idiot. I don't have diabetes. If I want a damned Snicker's bar, DON'T tell me I CAN'T.
How funny, it's the repugnicans that continue to erode the rights of free people. The party of "get government out of your life". HAHAHA
i once asked a gas station owner why he isn't selling alcohol to increase profit. driving and drinking don't mix. same with hospitals. no junk food there.
I just find it all pretty funny, especially the outraged responses. On the bright side, you'll save money since you will have to buy the stuff at the gas station next door (usually much cheaper than the vending machine). If they really wanted to be dickheads, they could just take the whole machine out and point to the water fountain or cafe.
If I am sitting in a hospital, waiting to see if my dad will survive the surgery to remove the cancer from his liver, I just might want some freaking comfort food.
The government is meant to protect us from others, not ourselves.
This is the police.. you're surrounded.. Put down the large sugary drink and the snickers .. or we'll shoot.
rofl
That's not the point, DD140. If the current trend continues, eventually they will mess with something that your actually DO care about.
I think Bloomberg should be banned from NYC. He is proving unhealthful to people's lives. And to their constitutional freedom.
Remember that at the next election.
Bloomberg is a total D-bag. Funny thing, he will get voted in again, watch.
The slippery slope continues.
I just walk outside and do whatever the hell I want
You just walk out side and buy a 32oz soda. Wait, no, that is already banned city wide. The hospitals are a starting point, the overbearing mentality will spread. It needs to stop now.
My wife is a physician at a major university research and patient care hospital so I spend some time around the facility. Am always amazed at the unhealthful foods served. But, the hospitals are in the business of taking care of the sick so they don't appear to have any incentive to get into the health maintenance and prevention business. Goes against their business model.
That is just stupid and glib. Sarcasm has it's limits, where it goes from witty to witless. You want hospitals to delve deeper into your lifestyle? You want hospitals to control every aspect of you when you walk through the doors? If so you turn health care into a Grease-Monkey, drive up and we'll do whatever we think is best for you, you pay and go home. You want that? Imagine going into the hospital to visit a family member who just had surgery and someone in the hospital tells you that you aren't the correct height-to-weight ratio so you have to leave because you set a bad example for the patients.
It's not so glib, RT. The last time I was at a hospital (my dad was having knee replacement), my mother and I went down to the cafeteria to try to get a bite to eat while he was in recovery. There was not one single healthy item offered, other than water. There was a salad bar, but it was closed at the time, and nothing else that a Type 1 diabetic (my mother is a juvenile diabetic, not Type 2 commonly caused by obesity) could eat whatsoever. I also eat low carb to avoid diabetes, because it is rampant in my family. We wound up having to leave the hospital to find food we could eat. In walking the halls of the hospital, i would venture to say that 80% of the hospital employees we saw throughout were also overweight to obese. Point is, they try to preach to us about eating healthy when they themselves, the great majority anyway, are unhealthy and their own cafeteria does not offer any healthy choices.
I wish more places would voluntarily offer whole grains and half-sandwiches. If it takes Bloomberg to get the ball rolling, so be it. I remember a few years ago when Disney decided to start offering more healthy options for kid's meals. People were up in arms! Disney wasn't doing away with chicken nuggets and fries - but they were offering options, such as steamed vegetables, or pasta with marinara instead of mac n cheese. That's what this is about - offering smaller portions to those of us who can't eat a whole sandwich and hate to throw out food, offering whole grain choices to those who prefer a heartier bread.
Is someone forcing those people to eat the unhealthy food?
The individual and business should have the right to decide, not forced government policies. So, if Hospital A wants no junk food, that's their right but same goes for the individual as well as business right? But, I blame evolution for this problem, and Obama's dog. you choose fat, you pay the price, government's job to warn us, and educate us,but in the end the citizen decides for him/her self.
Stop whining...you were warned...when the government (any government) steps into your daily life to regulate any aspect of your life, it will want to go further and "help you" some more. Twenty years ago when smoking was the target there were warnings about the next step would be foods...and voila, here you are.
Now...you don't want so much "help", well too bad...you asked for it and here it comes.
I was and am still totally OK with the gov't limiting smoking in closed areas, as it affects everyone around the smoker. I am not OK with them limiting what we can eat, as it only affects the person eating. I don't buy the argument about "us" (the healty folks) having to pay for "their" (the junk food eaters) health costs. Very few people have absolutely no vices, and are truly healthy. And if they are and have no health care costs, they should consider themselves lucky to have their good health (as just because you live a healthy lifestyle, doesn't guarantee that you won't have health issues) and stop worrying about others whose medical bills are higher.
Sally, I'm a smoker and I am fine with the "no indoors" idea. But to be told I cannot smoke *outside* is ludicrous and unfair. I deal with it, though, because I follow the rules. Everyone was totally okay with persecuting smokers, but now that the government has decided to target another group, specifically a group far more expensive in the long run than smokers are (the obese), suddenly this has become an issue of fairness. I'm wondering how the folk who supported smoking bans and higher cigarette taxes are dealing with these matters.
The essential issue with smokers vs food: smoking is *NOT* essential to survival. It is possible (and healthy) to quit permanently. Food *IS* essential to survival and to quit permanently will reduce your life span considerably.
End of story.
Other than banning deep fryers, they aren't limiting what someone can eat while at a hospital. They are requiring healthy choices to be available.
Neither is your Snickers.
"allow only healthy snacks to be stocked "
Why don't you finish that sentence? Per the article:
Not everywhere is near the cafeteria entrance and at cash registers.
Time to open a "Heart Attack Grill" in each hospital. That will teach the mayor!
I'm sick of the food police! Not everyone is overweight or diabetic. I'm ALLERGIC to whole grains, and you'd better keep those "healthy" grains OFF my plate unless you want me IN the hospital for anaphalactic shock. Get off our plates and mind your own business!
If I choose to buy fried chicken in a hospital is should not be up to a democratic moron to tell me I cant. There should be healthy foods to, but it is still my chose.
Michael Bloomberg was a Democrat turned Republican turned independent.
I agree, there needs to be a choice. I am not for banning foods, I think that is the wrong appraoch, but I do believe they need to offer healthy choices as well.
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU??? Can't wait to see what happens in the next ten years...so scary..k
"Big Brother" doesn't have to watch you, Bowie. I'm quite sure you know what to eat and not eat. Use your brain, darling!
I see there isn't one article on msnbc about our young people being too fat to join the military. Pretty sad state of affairs. I wonder if the marine corp still has their fat farm. Probably not politcally correct now. Too bad.
I agree with the idea of having hospitals offer more healthful food, however, I disagree with making it a law or forcing them to. Offer both healthy and comfort foods in the vending machines and let the person decide which they prefer. I, myself am more likely to go for a bag of almonds than an almond joy (yuck), but I would still like to be able to make my own decision about that. Instead, teach people how to eat healthy and the benefits of a balanced diet. List the calorie, fat and sugar content of foods so people are aware of what they are eating. When people know what they are eating, they are more likely to make a better decision. If you are going to attack places for the health of food, attack all the food additives and ingredients companies are adding into the food that make them more addictive and less healthful.
Just need all be prepared in life. Keep your own little cooler pack in your vehicle so you can have all your comfort snacks available when you want them. I know a lot of people out there have a hard time making decisions for themselves so certain government powers must help these people along in life. The mere fact that the over indulgers, the unhealthy and the weak are making life miserable for the rest of society is starting to irritate me. It's always the small minority abusers who ruin it for everyone else.
Just because some people choose the junk food, doesn't mean the gov't should step in and regulate what we can eat. Adults should be responsible for their own actions and choices and if their health deteriorates because if it, they will be the ones having to live with the consequences. Parents should teach their children how to eat healthy, but even if they don't, teenagers have the amazing ability to learn and think for themselves. By the time they are adults, they should be responsible for making their own decisions.
Sadly, healthy foods are often more expensive than junk food, and that is often more influantial in a person's choice than the health benefits or taste.
With all this being said, if a hospital wants to limit its food choices to only healthy ones, I'm perfectly OK with that. They have the right to determine what is available at their place of business, and if they want to promote healthy eating, I say more power to them.
"I know a lot of people out there have a hard time making decisions for themselves so certain government powers must help these people along in life."
Hard, cold fact: this is the EXACT same outlook that the German people had in the years in the early 1900s; brought to fruition when their "Heil" came to power. Yes, begging the government to create a law for every behavior enabled Hitler to become the nightmare of his era... Yes, I know Stalin was likely even worse, but the people in Russia had the same basic culture of dependancy on the government for dictation of daily life. It is NOT a good or healthy attitude, and is ***PROVEN*** to drive ***DICTATORSHIP****!!!!!!
Re-read the article, no one is regulating what you can eat. From the article:
The only thing being outright banned is deep fryers in a hospital. That doesn't ban all fried foods - there are other ways to fry food than deep frying. That also doesn't mean that you can't eat deep fried foods, just that you won't be able to buy it at the hospital cafeteria (if the proposal goes through).
Offer me more healthy choices, fine. Give me options, I love that. But tell me that my only options are salad, brown rice, and some dried out sandwich, and I'm no longer in my happy place.
The key here is choice, and the choice needs to be made by the consumer, not 'Nanny' Bloomberg.
No one said those are your only options. From the article:
That leaves plenty of other options available. In fact, it doesn't even restrict it to only healthy options.
Except for the banned food items.
Well, yes, and per the article - the only outrighted banned foods are deep fried. That leaves a lot of other options
Ok. Something is missing here . . . Plan B does not PREVENT a pregnancy. You are already PREGNANT because the night before the "morning after", the sperm fertilized the egg! What Plan B does PREVENT is the implantation of this fertilized egg into the uterine wall. Let's toss out all the eupemisms and let the patient know exactly what is happening in the process whether using an abortifacient (which is what Plan B is really called) or an abortion. I am not so naive as to believe that abstainance will ever enjoy widespread support, but let's not ever stop using it as an option. Kids have no business being in sexual relationships at such young ages where they cannot possibly manage the probable results which can be sexual exploitation or abuse, sexually transmitted diseases for which there is no cure and yes, problem pregnancies. Childhood is over at this point.
You can't pop a pill and regain what was lost. I am also not so naive as to believe that these kids are in emotionally stable and loving relationships with their partners. They just don't have the maturity and the potential for responsibility and accountability. Let them know there is something noble about "waiting". And parents, let's get back to knowing where our kids are at all times, what they are doing and who they are with.
Um, I think you posted on the wrong article. It happens :)
As long as it's not deep fried will it be available in the cafeteria?
....Bloomburg wants to make sure the illegal immigrants are as healthy as possible....
It is one thing to have a law requiring the availability of healthy options. It is another to ban the sale of the unhealthy options or comfort foods, that many people look for when in stressful situations.
Bloomberg doesn't have stress. He makes sure it all gets passed on to the citizens.
Reality folks. I just had a heart attack and the total bill was $471,000.00 . I smoked for 40 years. So who pays for my irresponsibility for not carrying health insurance and poor health habits? You do.
You can support individual "freedoms" all you want, bottom line is it makes you personally and financially responsible for ignorant people like me. But hey, if that's what you want then who am I to argue. And thanks for loaning me half a million dollars, you guys are sooooo sweet.
Isn't Mayor Michael Bloomberg a GOP member? Aren't they suppose to be less goverment?
You don't really know, do you?
They ought to do something about the food the hospitals serve. Too many times I hear of people going to hospital and get food for the last patient that was there, and if you have special dietary needs ,oops! Also hospitals should know better than giving sweetened foods to cancer patients which is bad as a glucose drip.
How many of the hospital's staff are smokers? Are they going to be fired next?