PRACS Meals

I was just released from PRACS after my third and final weekend of this study. It was notable for all the papers (of my students) that I was able to read and comment on while there each weekend, for all the pleasure reading I had time to do (read this and this for media updates), and for the awful food.

I don't mean to imply that PRACS food is inherently awful. On the contrary, I have usually been perfectly happy with the food they serve. First of all, it's free. Second of all, they serve night-time snacks to tide you over, since most studies don't include breakfast. Third of all, it's often stuff that I would eat at home anyway: salads, burgers, chicken, stew, cookies, cake, milk, etc.

But this study was different. For some reason, the drug company wanted everyone served a low-calorie (read: "low-flavor") diet while there. The exception was breakfast, served to only half the group (thankfully, that included me), which was supposed to be high-fat: two eggs fried in butter, two strips of bacon, one carton of whole milk, two fried hashbrown patties, and two pieces of "toast" with one pat of butter (toast should, in my opinion, have been in the toaster long enough to acquire some color and some crispness; PRACS' "toast" is notorious for being cold and not much darker or firmer than bread from a bag; no amount of the butter ever melts when put in contact with their "toast"). Otherwise, here was my meal schedule (identical each of the three weekends of the study):

Friday night supper (6:30 P.M.): 1 carton low-fat milk and 1 glass water, 2 ounces of flavorless steamed chicken breast (2?! nearly invisible!!), shredded lettuce with no-fat Ranch dressing, some corn, a slice of no-fat angel food cake, and the world's largest baked potato served with no-fat imitation butter product and no-fat sour cream-like product

Friday night snack (9:30 P.M.): nothing!

Saturday morning breakfast (7:30 A.M.): (see above)

Saturday dinner (1:00 P.M.): 1 carton low-fat milk and 1 glass water, 1 slice of flavorless processed turkey or chicken product on 2 slices of whole-wheat bread with shredded lettuce on it, 1 packet of prepared mustard, 1 bag of oven-baked potato chips, two-thirds of a stalk of celery, 1 bag of "baby carrots" (shavings of a carrot), no-fat Ranch dressing for dipping the raw veggies, a dill pickle spear, and a dish of canned peaches

Saturday night supper (6:00 P.M.): 1 carton low-fat milk and 1 glass water, 2 ounces (?!) of flavorless steamed chicken breast, 1 mound of flavorless rice pilaf, some canned green beans, a sour-dough roll, shredded lettuce with no-fat Ranch dressing, and a dish of fruit cocktail

Saturday night snack (9:30 P.M.): nothing!

Sunday morning breakfast (7:30 A.M.): nothing!

When I do a PRACS study, I'm getting paid to do it, and I accept the inconveniences involved, including eating whatever they happen to offer. And it certainly didn't kill me to eat some healthy meals for the past three weekends; but I can tell you, I much prefer my wife's healthy-yet-flavorful cooking to what I ate at PRACS during this study!