You Godda Be Kiddin Me!

 I recently got a job as a "cook" in a nursing home in the town I live in. This is not just a Nursing home but a rehabilitation center, where elders come,  after an illness or accident to get better. It is bound by the laws of the state and the laws of the AMA and the American Dietetics Association.
 I put the word Cook in quotes for a reason. There is really no real cooking going on. They use a food service to supply the "food" they feed these sick and elderly people. 95% of what they give these people, in need of greater nutrition, comes out of a can or a box and is heated in a steamer till it barely resembles anything from this Earth. 85% of this "food" is seasoned with salt, pepper and Margarine! They use sugar, white flower artificial flavors and MSG to feed these sick people. You Godda Be Kiddin Me! Any couch potato that spends their life in front of the TV watching gossip shows knows, these foods are crap and will kill you over the short haul, why is it that the American Dietetics Association doesn't know it? After all the publicity about Trans fats and all the negative press it has gotten and all the scientific studies that have been done to prove it is super unhealthy, why is Margarine allowed within a mile of a HEALTH institution?
 I recently told a friend I finally got a job and when they asked what I was doing, I replied  "I kill old people with food"! I have spent a good part of my life learning about nutrition and eating healthy, it kills me every time I have to put a huge blob of plastic like Hydrogenated Trans Fats or a hand full of white flour and sugar into these peoples food as dictated by the American Dietetics Association. My very first day I asked why we are using margarine instead of butter and I was told it was alot cheaper! So I guess, the bottom line is more important (surprise) than the health of a Human being, a wise elder of our society, that has been entrusted to us for help. I recently went online to see the stats on this new company I am now working for. Turns out they are public and are beholding to their stock holders. So, here we are poisoning these Elders Of our society to save a couple of bucks while the CEO of the company made almost 3 million dollars last year!
  I am doing my best to try to educate the people I work with but as usual they look at me like I have two heads. Almost all the people I work with in the kitchen are poor and uneducated. They don't understand because they grew up eating the same food and feeding the same kind of food to their family's. When you feed your family with food stamps you try to make them stretch as far as you can and that means you buy the cheapest crap you can. In the header of this blog I make the distinction between being ignorant and being stupid, these people are ignorant, be it from cultural pressure or lack of education, most just don't know any better. On the other hand, the dietitian and the owners of this company are just buying into a paradigm that works for them financially, they are just stupid selfish and disrespectful. I am not saying that based solely on their food choices either, but thats another story. Besides, trying to teach the American Dietetics Association about Nutrition is like trying to teach someone from the AMA about the efficacy of Herbs! You might as well be talking to a stone wall.
  Unfortunately I need the Job right now as I have been out of work for almost a year, so I will have to make peace, at least for a little while, about being a part of the very thing I despise and have spent a good part of my life learning not to be a part of.