published: Monday, January 07, 2013

Diets are prescriptions

Chef's Corner

Tim Spain

Hope everyone enjoyed the New Year, I had dinner out and then went to a local tavern and had a great time dancing with my fiancé.

This week I want to write about some of the diets we work with at the hospital. First of all, the diets that are assigned to a patient are viewed upon just like a prescription and are not to be changed unless authorized by the doctor who prescribed it. So when you receive your meals and if it didn't have everything you asked for it was because it was not allowable due to the diets assigned to you.

The most common diets we see are cardio and diabetic. These make up the majority of the orders that we produce each meal period.

If you find yourself on a cardio diet you will receive foods with lighter amounts of sodium and the dishes will be seasoned with fresh herbs and salt alternatives.

The diabetic diet will have no sugar-added items and foods with less starch because some starches will turn into sugar once consumed. So try and eat sugar-free gelatin and puddings instead of that bowl of butter pecan after dinner.

I must say that after working with these diets for just over a year now I find myself using less salt and try to skip dessert. I was never big on eating desserts anyway, but I did love to add salt to everything.

I hope this quick overview has helped you to understand a little more about some of the diets we work with. This week I have a fun breakfast recipe that I'm sure all will enjoy. Cheers, Chef

2 each Bagel, Whole Wheat, Sliced, 4 oz, Fresh

5-1/3 ounce Egg, No Cholesterol, Non Fat, Liquid

2 ounce Cheese, Mozzarella, Part Skim, Loaf, Sliced

8 each Tomatoes, Fresh, Each Slice

4 each Basil, Leaf, Fresh

Preparation Method

1. Slice bagels in half. On a pre-heated flat top griddle or saute pan, place the bagels face-down to toast lightly.

2. Cook the egg substitute by scrambling in a non-stick saute pan and stirring with a spatula to a minimum internal temperature of 165F degrees for 15 seconds.

3. Place the cooked egg substitute on top of bagel half. Top with cheese and tomato slice. Garnish top with fresh basil leaf.

Portion size: 1/2 bagel, 1.5 oz egg substitute, 1/2 oz cheese, 1 slice tomato, 1 basil leaf.