nightmare on rd street

as i casually sit at breakfast this morning, sipping my coffee and checking facebook, i came across something that made me sure i must have still been dreaming. or rather, having a nightmare.

a popular chain restaurant is offering this free “appetizer” with a coke to all active military and veterans. 

i am being completely serious when i say that we use this exact appetizer as an example when we tell our patients what not to eat.

1966 kcal. 160 g fat. 136 mg cholesterol.  4,077 mg sodium. this is all pre-coke, of course.

sure, it’s supposed to serve 6. but how often does it really? according to my patients, never. it serves one. maybe two. 

did you know that the veteran population has a higher rate over overweight and obesity than the civilian population?

did you know that the vast majority of the patients i see are admitted for comorbidities of overweight and obesity?

after a long week of seeing patients having amputations to deal with uncontrolled diabetes, on dialysis, unable to walk, dealing with daily pain, who are status post heart surgery . . . yet who are still begging for salt and “real” sugar and more food . . . this offer feels like a halloween scare! luckily, at least as taxpayers we are able to give back to our vets by  providing free medical care to them, including nutrition counseling! everything in moderation, right? and part of that means being aware of trigger foods and how to manage them.

interested in making a healthy version of the bloomin’ onion at home? check out prevention rd’s recipe! hers is definitely a nutritional dream rather than a nightmare.