Plant-based (vegan) mandate for NY hospitals

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

What do you think of the new bill passed in New York State requiring vegan options on the menu?

It does appear to be a political endorsement of this diet over others, such as paleo, which had benefited many as well. While I definitely favor choice for patients, this law is promoting a plant-based as superior.

Also, whenever government imposes another mandate, it creates an expensive bureaucracy and burdensome red tape.

New York's landmark bill guarantees healthful plant-based meals to hospital patients

11 hours ago, PeakRN said:

And yet they aren't mandating a variety of other popular diets. There is clearly some secondary gain.

Absolutely.

These "lawmakers" are clearly in the pocket of Big Tofu, and the American Broccoli Association. Probably at some fancy conference dining on quinoa right now.

Probably short sighted for The American College of Cardiology to support diets like this. If they want to stay in business, they should really be supporting The Cheesecake Factory.

3 Votes
Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

Do you think that the hospitals will serving healthy vegetarian food?

Specializes in Public Health, TB.
10 hours ago, hherrn said:

Absolutely.

These "lawmakers" are clearly in the pocket of Big Tofu, and the American Broccoli Association. Probably at some fancy conference dining on quinoa right now.

Probably short sighted for The American College of Cardiology to support diets like this. If they want to stay in business, they should really be supporting The Cheesecake Factory.

Ah Ha! I just made a connection! My grandson's cooking class made a salad with kale! Big Tofu is invading public schools, too!

2 Votes
12 hours ago, hherrn said:

Absolutely.

These "lawmakers" are clearly in the pocket of Big Tofu, and the American Broccoli Association. Probably at some fancy conference dining on quinoa right now.

Probably short sighted for The American College of Cardiology to support diets like this. If they want to stay in business, they should really be supporting The Cheesecake Factory.

literally made me LOL! My smile for the morning thanks ?

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Other than New York's tendency to embrace government overreach, I don't see anything wrong with offering vegetarian or vegan food choices to patients. It should have been done voluntarily years ago, but we all know how hospital administrators love to save money. Healthy, fresh food is expensive (and more so when it's out of season). I just hope they don't cut essential services to accommodate this new mandate.

3 Votes
Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
On 12/15/2019 at 11:45 AM, Cowboyardee said:

In principle, offering a vegan option sounds pretty reasonable. It's healthy (generally), it respects patient's preferences, non-vegans might also benefit from the same options, it shouldn't be super expensive.

At the nitty gritty level, I wonder if this is a can of worms. For one, it's not entirely clear just how vegan the vegan options need to be. For example, many brands of white granulated sugar and various fruit juices are processed using animal products. I could go on. Do hospitals have to seek out alternatives to these products? Whose duty is it to know whether a product is entirely vegan - the hospital who provides vegan meals or the wholesaler from whom the hospital requests vegan ingredients and foodstuffs or the manufacturer who produces said products without explicitly disclosing their methods?

And that's not to mention pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, which of course are not even close to vegan. Does offering a vegan menu create a misleading notion in the public's mind about the feasibility of interacting with modern medicine without bending one's vegan ethic?

There are some valid concerns in your argument. I work with a CNA that is vegan. I was surprised at some of the restrictions I wouldn't have even thought of. For instance she won't take tylenol gel caps, or any other med with a gel coating. Apparently gelatin products are animal based. Makes me wonder what other meds/medical supplies have animal based components in their products that we wouldn't think to consider?

I was honestly kind of shocked at how many foods that do not obviously have meat as an ingredient have animal derived ingredients in them. Who knew so many commercially available products that have zero to do with meat have animal based ingredients? Anybody serious about maintaining that diet really needs to be a label reader to avoid accidentally ingesting something prohibited.

Specializes in ER, Psych, Chemical Dependency.

Beans, steamed vegetables, salads, rice and other grains, whole wheat breads are basic foods that are not at all complicated. I would think most registered dietitians could handle it.

1 Votes
Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
On 12/21/2019 at 9:15 PM, Orion81RN said:

I didn't think you were. I just find it interesting. Maybe I just truly don't know anyone else on keto? In real life.

A nurse I work with has been on the keto diet. She started it for weight loss. Now her MD says she's developing fatty liver and needs to change that diet. She also has RA which may or may not be related to her diet based health issues, I honestly don't know enough about it to determine that.

7 hours ago, kbrn2002 said:

Makes me wonder what other meds/medical supplies have animal based components in their products that we wouldn't think to consider?

I believe that gelatin is a common ingredient in gel caps. Could be wrong.

Animal testing is, of course, ubiquitous.

Also, an astounding number of medical supplies rely on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs for their blood to test for sterility.

Specializes in Public Health, TB.

The kitchen used to refuse to serve any additional meals after 6 pm, saying we could serve those awful, ubiquitous turkey sandwiches. So we would be stuck with making PB&J sandwiches with freezer-burned bread to those late admissions who had been in ED for 4-6 hours and hadn't eaten since early am or the day before. Our other options were jello (no) yogurt (no) and apple sauce.

As for products you may not have considered, I have had Muslim patients who initially objected to a heparin infusion and would ask for non-pork derived insulin.

2 Votes
On 12/29/2019 at 10:44 AM, kbrn2002 said:

A nurse I work with has been on the keto diet. She started it for weight loss. Now her MD says she's developing fatty liver and needs to change that diet. She also has RA which may or may not be related to her diet based health issues, I honestly don't know enough about it to determine that.

Interesting. People have reversed their fatty liver on keto. Actually, I'm going to go so far as to say that I doubt this is true. It is much more likely that she already had a fatty liver.

1 Votes
On 12/29/2019 at 9:23 AM, kbrn2002 said:

There are some valid concerns in your argument. I work with a CNA that is vegan. I was surprised at some of the restrictions I wouldn't have even thought of. For instance she won't take tylenol gel caps, or any other med with a gel coating. Apparently gelatin products are animal based. Makes me wonder what other meds/medical supplies have animal based components in their products that we wouldn't think to consider?

I was honestly kind of shocked at how many foods that do not obviously have meat as an ingredient have animal derived ingredients in them. Who knew so many commercially available products that have zero to do with meat have animal based ingredients? Anybody serious about maintaining that diet really needs to be a label reader to avoid accidentally ingesting something prohibited.

Well, crap. I try to minimize my animal consumption but didn’t think of gel caps. I’m not kidding. Jello/gelatin is made from animals and I didn’t make the connection. Gotta do better in 2020.

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