In a patient recent survey about hospital food, it was learned that patients had friends and family bring them something to eat while in the hospital because hospital food was so bad.

It was also found that one third of those surveyed just went hungry rather than eat hospital food and 40 percent of the patients just had food brought in by visitors.

"The failure of hospitals to provide freshly healing foods to patients is indicative of the utter failure of western medicine to help patients improve their health at all," said Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate and author of "The Seven Laws of Nutrition."

Hospitals should be embracing food-based medicine by feeding patients nourishing meals that boost surgery recovery speed and immune function.

However what they usually deliver is over-cooked, over-processed food laced with toxic chemicals and lacking any real nutrition. And these orders usually came from a doctor.

This just goes to demonstrate the degree to which practitioners of conventional medicine remain nutritionally illiterate.

In addition to the bland taste, pesticides, artificial preservatives and hormones, unnecessary antibiotics are in abundance in the processed food offered in hospitals.

Since it's usually accepted that processed foods have a lower nutritional value than fresh foods; why would hospitals be feeding their patients food they know is not healthy?

It's hard to believe that most U.S. hospitals are in budgetary and service crisis. So that is why institutionalized foods are often easier to manage than meals prepared from scratch, just like in American homes today.

The recent inflationary activity in our economy may make processed food a matter of financial survival for hospitals. In the year 2007, wheat prices rose 77 percent, and rice rose 16 percent.

These were some of the sharpest price hikes ever. But now this year the prices have accelerated even further. Since January 2008, the price of rice has soared to just over 140 percent.

When you couple these statistics with sky rocketing fuel cost, it may make fresh foods out of reach except for the wealthiest of hospitals.

It's getting to the point where, "hospitals could be hazardous to your health." In addition to the poor diet some patients are on, the other concern is that the nursing staff and physician's staff are screwing up too.

It's been known that in many hospitals patients are getting the wrong medication, not getting turned in their bed, not being paid attention to and not getting enough water. The reason for this, many times, is because the staff is either overworked or the staff is in short supply.

If you ever have some family member or close relative in the hospital, it's best you or someone else in your family spend a lot of time there making sure they are getting the proper care and are getting healthy food to eat.

Here's something else I find that would concern me if I had a family member in the hospital. Increased numbers of franchised fast food service operations are readily available as a replacement for standard hospital cafeteria fare.

Patients have increasingly easy access to high fat, high calorie, less nutrient-dense foods. Coffee carts, hospitality carts and so forth are available in strategic, high traffic areas in acute care environments.

In some institutions, these carts are wheeled into patient care areas and snack food and beverages are sold, which makes adherence to a structured carbohydrate and nutrient intake difficult.

Now in the first place, even people not in the hospital should be following good healthy eating practices and yet in a hospital, where you go to get treated for an ailment, patients are fed non-nutritious food. Sounds like a real screwed up policy to me.

What is even more disgusting, there are some hospitals who have McDonald's restaurants in the lobby. Here we are with 60 million Americans who are obese and 120 million who are overweight and we're feeding people in hospitals food that contributes to obesity.

Here's the best way to settle all that mess, " don't become a hospital patient ever."

Now unless you are in a car wreck, become injured in some way or have a heart attack, there probably is not much need to become a hospital patient.

If you practice good eating habits, exercise regularly, manage stress and add additional nutrients to your body, it's not as likely you'll get sick or need to be admitted to a hospital. Start this practice today and get healthy, stay healthy and you will live longer and enjoy life more.

To your good health,

Sonny Julius

Sonnyj@TheSunnySenior.com

www.AHealthyLifeForSure.com