Surgery With a Side of
Fries
By Andrew Weil
New York Times, July
6, 2006
Four years ago, a
group of researchers
at the University of
Michigan conducted a
survey of hospitals
and found that 4 out
of 10 had fast food
restaurants on their
premises. Today, I’m
afraid, that number
can only have gone
up—judging by how
often I and my
colleagues cringe at
the sight of new
burger and pizza
places in medical
centers.
With the obesity
epidemic in America
getting more attention
every day, nutrition
experts tell us we
exercise too little,
eat too much and eat
too much of the wrong
kinds of food. What
are the wrong kinds of
food? We are
constantly told to cut
back on fat and sugar,
but to my mind the
greater problem is the
processed food that,
over the past 50
years, has
increasingly displaced
whole, natural food in
the American diet. The
proliferation of fast
food is a glaring
example of that
change.
Modern food
technology has
transformed
slow-digesting grains
into snack foods made
of pulverized, refined
starches that, once
eaten, quickly raise
blood sugar, promoting
insulin resistance and
weight gain in
genetically
susceptible
individuals—most of
us, unfortunately. We
have invented
high-fructose corn
syrup, a cheap
sweetener that is
ubiquitous in soft
drinks and most of the
sweetened products in
supermarkets and
convenience stores.
And we have processed
oil-rich seeds into
chemically altered
fats that can promote
inflammation, heart
disease and cancer.
All three of these
products abound in
fast food, one of
America’s worst
contributions to world
culture and cuisine.
As the movie ‘’Super
Size Me’’ pointed out,
the increasing
availability and
popularity of fast
food is a major cause
of obesity and
declining health. How
remarkable, then, that
our hospitals would
house fast food
restaurants. Hospital
administrators
apparently like them
as a source of revenue
and a draw for
employees, visitors
and even patients. A
year and a half ago,
when the head of the
Cleveland Clinic
bravely tried to get
rid of the McDonald’s
at that hospital,
staff members and
visitors made it clear
they liked having the
franchise close by.
(McDonald’s pointed to
the 10 years left on
its lease and refused
to budge.)
Expelling fast food
from hospitals is an
obvious step to better
health, but suggest it
and you run into the
same tangle of inertia
and apathy that has
kept hospitals from
serving patients
appetizing and
wholesome food—and has
instead allowed large
food service
corporations to put
profit ahead of
quality. I hold my
profession responsible
for much of the
apathy. Nutrition is
slighted in medical
education. It is
considered a ‘’soft’’
subject akin to home
economics, not worthy
of the time and
attention commanded by
important fields like
biochemistry and
pharmacology.
We must have
nutritionally literate
doctors, but getting
fast food out of
hospitals will also
require the kind of
grassroots activism
that has removed
sugary sodas and candy
from vending machines
in many schools.
Doctors should model
healthy lifestyles for
their patients, and
hospitals should be
places of inspiration
and education as well
as centers for the
treatment of disease.
Fast food has no place
in them.
|
