Your patient is married and has two children living at home and has either diabetes or celiac disease. You are to create one meal plan for each of the following scenarios; a typical day to include three meals and two snacks, one special holiday meal and one meal from a local restaurant. The special holiday can be a birthday, Thanksgiving or other family celebrated meal where the food can take center stage and the restaurant meal will be from a local restaurant in your neighborhood. You will write a 3-5 page (750 words – 1,250 words), paper, 12 point font, 1 inch margin covering the questions below. Please write a five paragraph essay, one paragraph for each section below.
Describe the type of diet the patient needs to follow to maintain his or her health and what some of the restrictions are. Included in this will be your thoughts about what some of the challenges are to maintaining this diet while having to provide meals for the whole family, while dining out (or take away) and while celebrating a holiday at a family member’s home.
In the next paragraph, describe what feelings this patient might have as it relates to their disease and to their food plan. What are some of the challenges related to finances, availability of appropriate foods, etc.? What are some of the long term challenges? Who might this person turn to for support?
Visit a local grocery store, read food labels and develop menus including ingredients for the menus. What are some barriers that you are noticing? Are some foods more expensive than others? Are other foods more appealing than the healthier ones? You will write out the menus; please include a minimum of five packaged food items that you reviewed and what your reaction to them is. Include in the paragraph your thoughts and feelings about your visit to the grocery store. What food items will your patient be bringing to the holiday meal and how well do you think they will be received by the other family members? What other food might be served by other family member? How do you think your patient feels about this?
Visit a local restaurant and select a meal for your patient. Hand in a copy of that menu or give the name of the restaurant and its location. Did you have to make any modifications when ordering this meal? How do you know it is appropriate for your patient? Did you have to ask clarification from the server? Please list the meal items and what research you had to do to ensure its safety.
Finally, talk about some of the issues this person would face while trying to manage their illness. What would be your role as a health counselor to assist this patient with their diet? What feelings could sabotage your patient’s diet? What role does the family play in the illness? What are some of the lessons you learned by visiting the local store and restaurant, what feelings came up for you while doing this assignment?
