November 25th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
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Here is my column in [the November 21st] Greenville News:
This Thanksgiving we will have 32 guests at the table. Rather, at the tables we scatter about the dining room…and living room…and kitchen. At our house, food is practically a sacrament. And obviously Thanksgiving is the high holiday of American eating. So we will be honoring the tradition by feeding everyone as much as we can.
Because the guests are all beloved to us, we will also have a variety of foods, in a variety of presentations. For instance, there will be fresh cranberries for organic purists, as well as a maroon gelatinous mass of cranberries for those who feel that cranberries indeed spring from aluminum. The turkeys will be divided perfectly among dark and light meat lovers. And for the carb-loving, there will be sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and potatoes soft, but cut into chunks. (In deference to the texture-challenged.)
We will have assorted dressings, casseroles and vegetables. And more types of sweets than any of us really need. All of it because we love one another, friends, family, young and old. And we want everyone to have something that they love. The sheer pleasure of eating is one (but not the only) reason that we love the holiday so much.
I think we also love it for a few other reasons. For instance, we (and I mean all Americans) love it because it slows us down, just a bit, before the Christmas madness sets in. Yes, the day after Thanksgiving it’s “game on.” But on Turkey Thursday we stop, if only because we are too full to move. So much of our lives involve rushing, hurrying, competing. Thanksgiving is a food-stuffed, sleep-inducing speed bump in the frantic activity of the season.
We also love it because it is tangible. Today so much is virtual. So much of our lives are borne on the airwaves, across cell-towers or satellites. Our pleasures are so often intangible, insubstantial — distant sounds and images on movies, television shows, or the Internet. Even our work is often virtual. Thanksgiving is a time when we can touch and taste, listen and embrace. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 16th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
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Dr. Whoo and I seem to be in the same place at the same time — we both struggle with our weight because we’re using food for something other than sustenance. We use it to manage stress. Overeating is, after all, a wonderful sedative. It soothes the savage beast and all that. And it really works. I’ve probably saved my marriage and my job and kept from killing my kids and my husband by sedating myself with food. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
May 1st, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research
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We are a nation stricken with an epidemic of obesity, which contributes to the incidence of diabetes and heart disease. Each of these has been linked to consumption of sugar intake, and in particular, sugar-sweetened beverages.
There’s nothing evil about sugar — it’s just that too much of it in certain forms is bad for you. For the purpose of definition, sugar-sweetened beverages contain added, naturally-derived caloric sweeteners such as sucrose (table sugar), high-fructose corn syrup, or fruit juice concentrates. Read more »
This post, American Obesity And Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
April 18th, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
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Shopping for groceries the other day, my kids noticed this product that made us all stop in our tracks: Chubby Drink from Aisle 7!
Yes, this is a real product from a real major brand supermarket.
Yes, the label does read “Chubby” and shows a picture of a, well, chubby kid.
No, it’s not a new health drink. Packed into that portable, kid-sized 8-ounce container is the equivalent of 2 candy bars worth of calories and sugar.
No, you’re not being “punked” or on candid blogger or seeing a prop from SNL. This truly is a real drink sold in stores coast to coast. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
September 25th, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
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Over the last several weeks I have received numerous emails dictating the enforcement of work place rules regarding eating and drinking in nursing areas and other areas with patient charts. It seems everyone, from the Chief of Staff to the CEO to the Head Nurse In Charge has been making it very clear that drinking in work areas won’t be tolerated. I have at times been confronted by dutiful staff doing their jobs with a robust sense of confidence to enforce this potentially dangerous patient safety issue.
Or so I thought. Whilst speaking with one of Happy’s friendly colleagues, I learned that the issue of food and drink in the work place has nothing to do with patient safety. Like my colleague stated so eloquently, if there is data that can be presented to me that shows my action of drinking coffee at the work stations would some how harm my patient, I will gladly stop immediately. Discussion finished.
But as I learned from my colleague, the issue of food and drink at the nurse’s station or anywhere near patient charts has nothing to do with patient safety. In fact, the regulations are in place to protect ME from myself.
That’s right, the coffee Nazis are cruising the halls with reckless abandonment searching for violators of the hospital wide coffee ban on rounds not because patients could be harmed, but because I could harm myself.
You see, it turns out my distinguished colleague was told these regulations were not CMS or JCAHO regulations, but rather OSHA regulations.
So I looked it up
“OSHA does not have a general prohibition against the consumption of beverages at hospital nursing stations. However, OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard prohibits the consumption of food and drink in areas in which work involving exposure or potential exposure to blood or other potentially infectious material takes place, or where the potential for contamination of work surfaces exists 29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(2)(ix). Also, under 29 CFR 1910.141(g)(2), employees shall not be allowed to consume food or beverages in any area exposed to a toxic material. While you state that beverages at the nursing station might have a lid or cover, the container may also become contaminated, resulting in unsuspected contamination of the hands.
Here are the actual OSHA regulations
1910.1030(d)(2)(ix)
Eating, drinking, smoking, applying cosmetics or lip balm, and handling contact lenses are prohibited in work areas where there is a reasonable likelihood of occupational exposure.
1910.141(g)(2)
Eating and drinking areas. No employee shall be allowed to consume food or beverages in a toilet room nor in any area exposed to a toxic material.
In other words this is not a patient safety issue, but rather an employee safety issue. The Joint Commission has no specific standard on the issue other than for hospitals to comply with OSHA regulations.
So with that in mind, I have two comments regarding the issue:
- As a private practice physician who is not employed by the hospital, I would suggest that these OSHA rules do not apply to me and therefore the hospital risks no retribution for noncompliance from the accreditation arm of the Joint Commission, which is why I suspect the issue comes center stage for hospitals everywhere. If necessary, I will gladly sign a waiver to relinquish my rights to compensation should I ever contract a blood born pathogen or other communicable disease from drinking my coffee.
- If the hospital believes this is a patient safety issue and wishes to make their regulations stronger than those of OSHA and apply them to ALL people in areas with patient pathogens, I will gladly relinquish my daily fluids when I am shown the data regarding patient harm AND the hospital also bans all patient guests from bringing food or drink into the patient’s room. If this is a patient safety issue, it must apply to everyone should they wish to make their rules stronger than OSHA guidelines.
Until this is resolved with rational thought, perhaps over a round of coffee, I’m going to carry one of these around:
It always seems to work for patients.
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
