ABSTRACT
The Oklahoma Geriatric Education Center located in the Oklahoma Center on Aging at the University of Oklahoma sponsors a Summer Geriatric Institute each year to provide an educational enhancement experience for health care providers who care for older adults. At one of the more well-attended sessions for the 1997 conference, a geriatrician began her talk with a story about one of her patients, who recently had undergone heart surgery. The geriatrician projected
on a screen a plate full of food items the cardiologist had recommended for this patient to eat following surgery. The plate of food consisted of the most bland assortment of vegetables imaginable. This new diet represented a very common practice for patients recovering from heart surgery. The diet is meant to provide a healthy lifestyle to prevent further heart problems. This particular recovering patient was male, well over 70 years, who loved cake. The geriatrician next showed a slide depicting a wonderful tray of many slices of delicious cake. The geriatrician said that once or twice a week, she made sure her patient ate cake.
