Hot Cheetos are a public health menace

[Emergent]

I had a woman come in for abdominal pain the other day. She accompanied by a husband and 3 small children. I walked into the room after reading the triage note in the computer.

There she was, a woman who had the appearance of someone with unhealthy eating habits. On the gurney was a large, opened bag of hot Cheetos. The family came prepared! The only thing missing was the 20 oz bottle of Pepsi.

Naturally she got a the huge workup, and by all appearances, I'm guessing it was a taxpayer funded one. And while I'm on that subject , why in the world are items like hot Cheetos allowable under the federal food stamp program? Oh, multinational corporation lobbyists of course.

[NormaSaline]

As much as we ban, educate or even lecture our students, they still eat that food.

But the education has not been done on a mass scale the way cigarettes has. It's taken place, if at all, in individual doctor's and nurse's office, or in comments sections or in little discrete articles, geez, it's nearly been boutiqued. Let's do something different for once, is what I say!

Also, I did not realize spicy food being bad was a thing. It's the other cr*&p.

NS

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

I don't see a problem with putting the onus on patients for "treating healthcare better" if that means not abusing the system or using it inappropriately (I have seen people claim no money for gauze to treat there wound upon DC so hospital gives them a bag full, next thing you know here comes spouse with big bag of fast food). This would cut down on waste and provide more resources to be used elsewhere. People who have copays and high deductibles do this all the time out of necessity so I don't see why people on public aid cannot do the same thing.

Why is it surprising that poor people would choose to pay for food over gauze? And poor people often choose fast food over fresh, organic, and healthy because it's cheaper.

[Emergent, RN]

Why is it surprising that poor people would choose to pay for food over gauze? And poor people often choose fast food over fresh, organic, and healthy because it's cheaper.

I think the problem in the last 50 years is that the public from all socioeconomic classes has lost the ability to cook from scratch. Eating out has become the cultural norm.

Back when I was broke in my early 20s, with several children and a unambitious husband, I cooked healthy meals for our family on very little money. Eating out was an extreme rarity.

Packaged products such as potato chips are a very expensive way to eat an inexpensive food. Mashed or baked potatoes take very little effort to make, and are more nutritious. My kids love my mashed potatoes. My homemade apple pie is another big hit. It's easy and cheap to make your own crust. When you make your own, you can add a little less sugar and no one notices.

I used to make inexpensive soft taco dishes for the kids. I'd grate up veggies to sneak in nutrition, filling them with beans and cheese, or ground beef. They loved it and grew up to be very healthy, never needing to go to the doctors.

I think the schools need to bring back home economics and make it mandatory. It should include nutrition, cooking, and financial planning. Our young people need guidance towards healthier lifestyles!

[BostonFNP, APRN]

I think the schools need to bring back home economics and make it mandatory. It should include nutrition, cooking, and financial planning. Our young people need guidance towards healthier lifestyles!

Absolutely and for both sexes! Combine it with nutrition. Get kids to start changing their parents way of thinking.

I do think that the poorest in out country still have trouble with this because of reasons most of us don't even think about: having the electricity and gas turned on, having a working stove or refrigerator, having a safe kitchen/home to cook in, having a responsible adult at home to do the cooking, having the time to shop, etc.

[Daisy4RN]

Why is it surprising that poor people would choose to pay for food over gauze? And poor people often choose fast food over fresh, organic, and healthy because it's cheaper.

My point is that people who are on Medicaid or other gov. welfare programs should be responsible with tax payer money. Why are they buying fast food when the patient already has a meal provided by the hospital, now that meal gets wasted and the money spent for the fast food could be have been used to buy gauze etc. Also, the family could make sandwiches at home for much cheaper than fast food. I don't eat fast food very much because of the cost so why do I want to pay for someone on welfare to buy fast food instead of them buying their own wound care supplies. If it is only one person than yea probably not a big deal, but this happens all the time. Also, if people on Medicaid had even a small copay they might not show up to the ER for every little ailment.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Absolutely and for both sexes! Combine it with nutrition. Get kids to start changing their parents way of thinking.

I do think that the poorest in out country still have trouble with this because of reasons most of us don't even think about: having the electricity and gas turned on, having a working stove or refrigerator, having a safe kitchen/home to cook in, having a responsible adult at home to do the cooking, having the time to shop, etc.

Often there are not good grocery stores nearby, especially in poor urban neighborhoods. I don't get the tendency to demonize poor people for their bad choices. It's easier I guess to suggest they are stupid, lazy, or just don't care.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Often there are not good grocery stores nearby, especially in poor urban neighborhoods. I don't get the tendency to demonize poor people for their bad choices. It's easier I guess to suggest they are stupid, lazy, or just don't care.

I don't either. I guess some people feel like the poor is spending their tax money on things they don't approve of so they have the right to judge them. I wonder if the poor approves of spending $8 on a pumpkin spice latte?

[CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN]

Often there are not good grocery stores nearby, especially in poor urban neighborhoods. I don't get the tendency to demonize poor people for their bad choices. It's easier I guess to suggest they are stupid, lazy, or just don't care.

Far easier than addressing the social determinants of health that play a huge role in the "bad choices" people make.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

I don't either. I guess some people feel like the poor is spending their tax money on things they don't approve of so they have the right to judge them. I wonder if the poor approves of spending $8 on a pumpkin spice latte?

Especially when many of those on food stamps are the working poor, who also pay taxes.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Let this percolate: the snack food industry is a billion-dollar industry. BILLION. That is more than a million, ONE THOUSAND TIMES. And these are SNACK foods. Unnecessary foods. Often unhealthy foods. We are not going to be healthier as a nation unless we stop chugging soda and eating chips. Granted, I just ate a Hershey's Kiss and it was delicious, but unnecessary.

My philosophy, even if I am feeling like Judgey McJudgerson, is "in a world where you can be anything, be kind." I have had patients thank me for not treating them like animals when other ERs were less than kind (but do not go mistaking my kindness for weakness, haha). I try to remember that often people are going through struggles that I know nothing about, but if I knew I would be grateful to not have their burden on my shoulders.

With that said, Cheetos are a common companion to ED abdominal pain presentations. I can't explain it!

[cleback]

Wow, this thread took a serious turn.

Granted not all of the post was pretty but my word, we all do laugh at some questionable choices. For instance, had a young person with anaphylaxic allergy to tomatoes. He was eating a taco at home when he realized it had tomatoes. He called EMS and while he waited for them, finished the taco. Fortunately, he was ok after an icu stay, but he did earn the name of tomato at the nurse's station. Maybe I'm a horrible person but flaming hot cheetos while in the er for abdominal pain isn't that much different.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Wow, this thread took a serious turn.

Granted not all of the post was pretty but my word, we all do laugh at some questionable choices. For instance, had a young person with anaphylaxic allergy to tomatoes. He was eating a taco at home when he realized it had tomatoes. He called EMS and while he waited for them, finished the taco. Fortunately, he was ok after an icu stay, but he did earn the name of tomato at the nurse's station. Maybe I'm a horrible person but flaming hot cheetos while in the er for abdominal pain isn't that much different.

I worked with a medic we called Turtle. Why Turtle? I'll tell you! He came in the ED one day to bring us a patient, and while he was giving report I noticed he was turning red and excessively clearing his throat and taking deep breaths. I said, "X, what is wrong with you?" He responded that he ate one of those caramel turtle candies with the pecans, despite an allergy to pecans, when they were driving in. He said it just looked so good and he thought if he just ate it fast, he'd be okay. I told him he knew that was not how it worked! So we tossed him in the next bed over and treated him for his near anaphylaxis. And called him Turtle. :)