DR. YONI FREEDHOFF (Bariatric Medical Institute): You can actually buy a pizza.
AVIS FAVARO (Reporter): Dr. Yoni Freedhoff is a doctor with a camera and a mission.
FREEDHOFF: There's a bottle of sugar water being sold in a hospital.
FAVARO: To show what he calls disgraceful food served in hospital cafeterias.
FREEDHOFF: Pizza where the pizza laden with cheese. Not healthy options. I just wanted to document what was being served in our hospital cafeterias, and unfortunately they look just like no-name junk food restaurants.
FAVARO: He went to three Ottawa-area hospitals and filmed what he says are high calorie, high sodium foods being sold to staff, patients, and visitors.
FREEDHOFF: Onion rings, gravy, all the things you'd expect in a greasy spoon, except here we're selling them in a hospital.
FAVARO: It's popular food that makes money. But he says it's hypocritical for hospitals to sell food that contributes to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
FREEDHOFF: The hospital's still serving food that the people working in the hospital would advise patients not to consume. And really I just don't think that's an acceptable thing.
FAVARO: The association that speaks for Canadian hospitals declined to be interviewed, but this campaign is really part of an international trend to clean up hospital food, and an Alberta hospital may be leading by example. This is the cafeteria at the Glenrosa Rehab Hospital in Edmonton. No deep fryers, no greasy food, lots of veggies and whole grains.
DR. ARYA SHARMA (Canadian Obesity Network): We have an opportunity to really tell people what healthy eating needs to look like. I'll have some of this.
FAVARO: As a doctor who specializes in diseases caused by bad food, Dr. Arya Sharma is impressed by the healthy foods and smaller portions.
SHARMA: One of the most exciting things I learned here from the people running the cafeteria was that they can actually make money by providing healthy food.
FAVARO: And the Alberta Health Services now has three of these healthy cafeterias in local hospitals.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This soup is very, very good.
FAVARO: It's the message that matters, according to doctors, who say hospitals need to set an example by dishing up food that heals, not harms. Avis Favaro, CTV News, Toronto.
