Hospital puts vegetarian meals on the menu<\/p>\n
Melinda Hewitt, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
In our meat-focused world, it was a brave step to take.<\/p>\n
In 1998, Medika Griya Hospital (RSMG) in Sunter, North
\nJakarta, became the first hospital in Jakarta to embrace a
\nvegetarian diet, both for its patients and staff, in an effort to
\nincorporate holistic health principles in the treatment of
\ndisease.<\/p>\n
Hospital founder and president of the Indonesian Vegetarian
\nAssociation (KVMI) Bambang Sumantri, sees it as his dharma to
\npromote vegetarianism. A picture of radiant health with a
\ncomplexion that would be the envy of most women, Bambang also
\nshuns alcohol and cigarettes.<\/p>\n
Six years ago, he and his family became vegetarian and he set
\nout to introduce others to a meatless lifestyle. Employees at his
\nNirwana Sunter Asri real estate office, 300 hospital staff and
\nhis 15 household staff are provided free vegetarian meals.<\/p>\n
At the hospital, not only patients are encouraged to go
\nvegetarian; doctors, nurses and all non-medical staff, including
\nsecurity guards, are provided two free vegetarian meals per
\nshift. In this way, Bambang reasons, two-thirds of their diet is
\nvegetarian, and \"the rest is up to them\".<\/p>\n
\"Although our doctors treated patients with a lot of love, I
\nrealized that an incorrect diet could become a source of illness.
\n'You are what you eat.' ... So, I eliminated meat. Medika Griya
\nbecame a vegetarian hospital where doctors not only treat the
\neffects of illness but remove the cause itself,\" Bambang said.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the switch to vegetarianism at the hospital,
\nestablished in 1991, was a process they all went through
\ntogether. The move took six months -- three months training
\nthrough seminars and discussions, and then a three-month trial
\nperiod before introducing it to the patients.<\/p>\n
Some people were resistant to giving up their traditional
\nstaples.<\/p>\n
\"Before I introduced a vegetarian diet to the patients, I
\nstarted with the staff and doctors first, in particular the heads
\nof each section. Initially I was bombarded with tough questions
\nby my medical staff, but later I found the doctors more receptive
\nto the idea than the layman.\"<\/p>\n
Hospital caterer Anna Retno Widiasih explained that the
\nhospital offers three choices of menu for lunch and dinner. An
\nexample of two typical lunch menus is spinach and sweetcorn soup,
\nsauteed bean sprouts and carrots and spicy gluten stewed in
\ncoconut milk, followed by fruit, or carrot and vermicelli soup)
\nsauteed mushroom, snow peas and carrot, tofu in vegetarian oyster
\nsauce, soya balls, Bali-spiced tempeh and fruit.<\/p>\n
Helda Mailoa, a nutritionist of 12 years and a consultant
\ndietician at the hospital, says that a vegetarian diet is
\nstrongly endorsed by the American Cancer Association, which
\nrecommends four steps for cancer prevention: reduce saturated fat
\nintake by 30 percent; increase fiber content in diet; maintain an
\nideal body weight and eat lots of fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n
Likewise, she said, the American Heart Association and the
\nEuropean Arteriosclerosis Society recommended in 1988 the
\nfollowing to reduce the risk of cardiac arrest: avoid animal fat;
\navoid snacking between meals; eat lots of fruit and vegetables
\nand quit smoking.<\/p>\n
Helda says she spends about 10 hours a day talking and never
\ntires of counseling people on a healthy diet. A strong believer
\nthat most degenerative diseases can be controlled through the
\nright diet, Helda can quote many cases to support her conviction.<\/p>\n
She tells of a patient who was alarmed by the results of a
\nrecent blood test that revealed that he had a triglyceride count
\nof over 700. He had taken medication to reduce the triglyceride
\ncount, with little success.<\/p>\n
Helda recommended he changed his lifestyle. Along with a
\nvegetarian diet she recommended he avoid fried food, tea and
\ncoffee, took adequate rest, did light exercise such as walking
\nand tried to be more patient and calm. In two weeks his
\ntriglyceride count dropped to 178 and remained at that level.<\/p>\n
Former director of RSMG and secretary of the Organization for
\nComplementary and Alternative Medicine (PKKAI), Dr. Petrus
\nStefanus Purwono, elaborated on the process of digestion.<\/p>\n
\"The advantage of a vegetarian diet is that we reduce
\nsaturated fat intake and the high fiber content of vegetables
\nhelps the contractions of our digestive tract as a whole and
\nincreases absorption. Bowel movements are made easier and are
\nmore frequent because the fiber stimulates the contractions of
\nthe digestive tract.<\/p>\n
In the colon (large intestine) we have both good or useful
\nbacteria such as lactobacillus bifidus and harmful bacteria such
\nas E. Coli and staphylococcus aureus. The useful and harmful
\nbacteria coexist in balance within our colon.<\/p>\n
However, if we do not eat enough fiber the undigested food
\naccumulates in the colon, resulting in higher acidity in our
\ncolon. This acidity destroys the good bacteria tipping the
\nbalance in favor of the harmful bacteria.<\/p>\n
These bacteria produce toxic gases that can cause malignancy
\nin cells. To avoid this, undigested food should be eliminated
\nquickly from the body and this can be achieved with a high fiber
\ndiet. This is the great advantage of a vegetarian diet.\"<\/p>\n
Dr. Hendry Wijaya, a doctor in the emergency department at
\nRSMG, explained human physiology vis-a-vis carnivores and
\nherbivores that eat only fruit or grass.<\/p>\n
\"Humans have a similar physiology to that of a fruit or grass
\neater.<\/p>\n
\"The human intestine is 12 times the length of the body, as in
\nfruit eaters such as apes. Grass eaters such as cows, sheep and
\ngoats have an intestine 10 times the length of the body.<\/p>\n
\"On the other hand, the intestine of a carnivore is only three
\ntimes the length of its body. Why? So the meat can be eliminated
\nfrom the body quickly before it putrefies. Likewise carnivores,
\nto enable them to digest meat, have high acidity in the stomach,
\nwith a concentration of hydrochloric acid 20 times that of the
\nstomach of human beings.\"<\/p>\n
On a more alarming note, Hendry warned that eating food high
\nin animal fat stimulates the gall bladder to produce acid, which
\nin turn reacts with an intestinal bacteria clostridium, to form
\nmethylcholanthrene, a known carcinogen.<\/p>\n
To respond to frequently asked questions of patients on
\nvegetarianism, the hospital has produced a book titled: A Guide
\nto a Life of Health and Happiness, which is given free of charge
\nto patients.<\/p>\n
The hospital hopes to shift its focus to preventative
\ntreatment rather than the treatment of disease. \"We would be
\nhappy to see other hospitals following suit,\" said Bambang.<\/p>",
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