While visiting a new hospital, I always have one huge obstacle—FOOD! Some hospitals offer a diner style menu in which you can choose from a large selection of food items and then can call down your order any time the kitchen is open. Other hospitals offer meal options at set meal times. You have a limited choice of entrees, sides and desserts, but you have a choice nonetheless. Then there are hospitals which have preset meals. You can either have option one or option two. They only have two entrees, two sides and one dessert. There is almost no flexibility.
The hospital I find myself in is a hospital which has completely preset meals. If you cannot eat the food they are cooking for the day, you simply do not eat. With having a lot of food allergies, I do not eat processed food. Almost all processed food has corn in some form in it. I am very sensitive to corn. Corn in any derivative makes my GI tract shut down. If I eat corn, I swell up like I am nine months pregnant, am nauseas, may vomit and may develop a bowl obstruction. Henceforth, I steer far, far away from corn. (In addition to corn, I cannot eat gluten due to Celiac Disease and am anaphylactic to rice.)
Having a corn intolerance is challenging to explain to people. I am often told by folks in the food service, “Well, you can have canned fruit or a popsicle.” My reply, “You do know those have high fructose corn syrup in them.” The food worker then thinks I am trying to be difficult. Once I was even brought a popsicle still in the wrapper with the ingredients listed on the outside label. I point out to my nurse, “This is a lovely breakfast, but I can’t eat this popsicle. It has high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup as ingredients.” The nurse looks at the label and then tells me, “Those aren’t made from corn.”
Today, the food worker comes in before lunch and tells me for lunch there is a ham sandwich, French fries and noodle soup. What would I like. I say I can’t have any of the items due to my food allergies. The woman then says, “I can do a chicken salad.” I think, “Oh, great! I would love a salad, and since most processed chicken has corn and/or wheat in it, I will just pick off the chicken and eat the salad greens.” I agree to the salad and eagerly wait for a lovely plate of vegetables.
When my lunch arrives, there is a small bowl of shredded chicken mixed with some indistinguishable items in it, and everything is bound together by a miracle whip like substance. My heart sinks. “Doh! Why would I think this hospital which carries only highly processed food would actually have fresh vegetables!? Of course. When the food worker said a chicken salad she meant this small bowl of highly processed chemicals. I should have known!” I take the cup of hot water which I asked for as a beverage with my meal and slowly sip it. “Well, this will have to do for my hospital lunch.” I am thankful I brought along some food when I came to the emergency department two days ago. Although the food is kind of wonky tasting from not having been refrigerated in almost two days, I eagerly eat my food and praise God that when I am able to break free from this medical facility, there is a grocery store a short ways away full of lots and lots of fresh, non-processed food!
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