ACT Hospitals say no to sugary fatty delicious foods

Will making 80% of the menu healthy make a difference?

Of course it will. It will mean that 90% of the sales through the cafe will be from the 20% of the menu that still has stuff that people want to eat, and the 80% of the menu that’s healthy will largely end up wasted.

It will also mean that the vending machines will be constantly out of products that people actually want to buy, leaving you with a choice between rice crackers or a muesli bar.

I am curious to know if TCH actually has the right to dictate menu content to the Cafe. I assume it’s being run by a contractor under some sort of lease arangement, which wouldn’t generally give them the right to interfere in the running of the business. I know that if my landlord tried to tell me how to run my business, I’d give him some very specific directions on where to go, and instructions on what to do when he got there.

gooterz said :

JimCharles said :

DrKoresh said :

The other thing is that health foods are cheaper, and there is pretty much no markup (except bottled water). Is it worth making every thing go bust so the only ones left are vending machines?

I think that’s the real concern…selling oodles of cheap fatty food at high markups to give maximum profit.
OK, Aussies are getting to be pretty fat anyway and they can do what they like in the private sector, but should hospitals be following the same rules?
All this survey is saying is that the balance is wrong, not that they should be banned.

JimCharles said :

DrKoresh said :

I don’t know, I can grudgingly accept this initiative in school canteens because if you’re going to it’s best to brain-wash children into eating rabbit-food early on in their lives but doing it at the hospital crosses a line IMO. I seriously doubt that your average overweight Canberra got that way from eating at TCH and it’s really none of the government’s bloody business what people choose to buy from the hospital cafe.

Of course it’s the Government’s business, they give the franchise and it’s a public health facility….they can framework whatever they like.
They do serve a disproportionate amount of rubbish for a hospital cafe. Donuts, burgers, chocolate cake, cream puffs, bacon and cheese croissants, hash browns….loads of sugar and fat.
OK, they do fruit, rice paper rolls and a few veggies as well, but it’s not great.
How hard would it be to do jacket potatoes, or veggie stir fry with a bit of spice? It doesn’t have to be boring.

Perhaps they should start selling fruit and veg and competing with Coles and Woolworths?
You can pretty much eat whatever you like and still be healthy. The tick is not eating it too often. How many people make it a habbit of eating at a hospital café? No one.

When people are going to hospital they usually are up all night and feeling like crap, usually because they’re visiting someone. I’m sure these people feeling hungry only having ricepaper rolls is going to be great. Don’t want to get fat? just have half of what you were going too. Vegans get fat too!

The other thing is that health foods are cheaper, and there is pretty much no markup (except bottled water). Is it worth making every thing go bust so the only ones left are vending machines?

DrKoresh said :

I don’t know, I can grudgingly accept this initiative in school canteens because if you’re going to it’s best to brain-wash children into eating rabbit-food early on in their lives but doing it at the hospital crosses a line IMO. I seriously doubt that your average overweight Canberra got that way from eating at TCH and it’s really none of the government’s bloody business what people choose to buy from the hospital cafe.

Of course it’s the Government’s business, they give the franchise and it’s a public health facility….they can framework whatever they like.
They do serve a disproportionate amount of rubbish for a hospital cafe. Donuts, burgers, chocolate cake, cream puffs, bacon and cheese croissants, hash browns….loads of sugar and fat.
OK, they do fruit, rice paper rolls and a few veggies as well, but it’s not great.
How hard would it be to do jacket potatoes, or veggie stir fry with a bit of spice? It doesn’t have to be boring.

c_c™ said :

“green or amber health-rated foods”

Traffic light ratings, I cringe at this sort of BS. I’ll keep my full cream milk thanks, you can take your childish and defective ‘rating’ system and flush it.

Agreed.
I’m not actually all that sure it’s clear what’s ‘healthy’ either. Diets for weight loss emphasized getting energy from complex carbs in the 80s and 90s, and low fat variants of foods abounded – that’s now given way at least somewhat to acceptance of low carb & high protein diets.

In terms of energy intake there’s not actually anything much wrong with eating a big mac for lunch – it’s only ~2000 kj. As long as it’s not being washed down with half a litre of coke it’d actually by bellow what the average person could get away with for a meal.
The only real issue is the largish amount of saturated fat – but saturated vs mono/polyunsaturated doesn’t actually have anything to do with weight gain/loss.

Is a sausage sizzle still okay for fundraising?

Actually, a further thought, how bout ACT Health fixes up its own house first. Outside the Canberra Hospital, their staff are lined up with patients puffing clouds of cigarette smoke near the entries. And in Civic, their staff from the ACT Health building opposite Canberra House, walk across to Canberra House puffing clouds of smoke on passer buy below near the former chemist shop.

It’s a bit rich doing the whole nanny act when their own staff are some of the most overtly unhealthy people you’ll see.

“green or amber health-rated foods”

Traffic light ratings, I cringe at this sort of BS. I’ll keep my full cream milk thanks, you can take your childish and defective ‘rating’ system and flush it.

Ben_Dover said :

Dear god, will they be offering to spoon feed us next?

You mean your taster doesn’t already spoon feed you? Get your house in order Ben…

Dear god, will they be offering to spoon feed us next?

I don’t know, I can grudgingly accept this initiative in school canteens because if you’re going to it’s best to brain-wash children into eating rabbit-food early on in their lives but doing it at the hospital crosses a line IMO. I seriously doubt that your average overweight Canberra got that way from eating at TCH and it’s really none of the government’s bloody business what people choose to buy from the hospital cafe.