Making Hospital Food Healthier
By Joan Fox Rose, MA, RN, contributor
Meeting federal and state guidelines to provide good patient care, reduce short staff situations and ensure patient and family satisfaction are major goals among hospital administrators. To do their share, dieticians keep abreast of hospital trends in their effort to maintain excellence in all culinary matters.
And in honor of National Nutrition Month in March, two hospital dieticians and a cafeteria manager share their insights about recent dietary trends.
“In the past few years, more variety of healthy foods has been introduced and included in our menus for patients, staff and visitors,” said Sharmila Shahani-Sewrathan, MS, RD, LDN, CNSC, CDE, clinical nutrition manager at Mercy Medical Center and Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Massachusetts. The restaurant-style patient menus highlight foods that are prepared and served to provide good nutrition in three or four entrée selections for lunch and dinner.
As recipes can be easily modified to fit all diet types, Mercy patients have several meal options, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free items. Patients diagnosed with health conditions such as congestive heart failure, diabetes, kidney disease, ostomies, swallowing difficulties and eating disorders receive dietary consultations to ensure they’re getting proper nutrition that meet their special needs.
Hospital fare for staff and visitors
Mercy Medical Center’s cafeteria accommodates 1,000 people per day and offers a hot entrée, soup, grill, deli stations and a salad bar with fresh vegetables and proteins, Shahani-Sewrathan explained. The smaller café provides food service for 400 people and daily fare includes soup, “grab and go” sandwiches and healthy food selections.
Today’s hospital food service providers are including more fresh ingredients that contain much less sodium and fats than in the past. “The ability to utilize fresh vegetables instead of canned or frozen vegetables is the preferred choice for patients, staff and visitors,” said Neil Walker, cafeteria manager. “Although we do our best to feature healthy choices by providing healthy food samples, many customers instead choose to select hamburger instead of veggie burgers, and chicken tenders rather than roasted or baked chicken dishes that contain less sodium and fats.”
Staff and visitors can also purchase fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs every Thursday during spring, summer and fall when Mercy’s farmers market is open.
Nationwide trends
Offering more healthy food options is the name of the game, according to Lisa Roberson, RDN, LD, corporate director of wellness for Morrison Healthcare, a nationwide food and nutrition services company based in Atlanta. At the 600-plus hospitals and health systems that Morrison services across the country, restaurant-style patient menus include up to 28 meal combinations that meet the nutritional needs of those who are on regular or special diets, and include limiting starch, sugar and sodium. And a growing number of hospitalized patients are taught the basics of healthy meals, and on release to home they’re given a folder with recipes and a short DVD. The DVD covers how to prepare a home pantry for healthy foods and a culinary demonstration about food preparation.
Nurses’ nutritional concerns
“It’s important for hospital caregivers to be in good health to perform job tasks required of them; tasks that call for mental acuity and high energy,” Roberson said. “An important hospital trend is to educate staff about the benefits of eating healthy foods instead of those filled with salt, fats and sugar. Whole grains and fresh vegetables and fruits prepared with herbs and other healthy ingredients are tasty and energizing.”
Many nurses and other staff enjoy a popular, company-sponsored educational program that features seasonal table displays. Refreshed monthly, these displays highlight seasonal foods that may include a Southwestern salad for summer, apple pancakes made with whole grain flour for fall, or the health benefits of dark chocolate for a winter display. “When the first ingredient listed is 70 percent dark chocolate, that’s a good choice because there’s less sugar included,” Roberson commented.
Becoming mindful about food choices evolves from learning more about healthy foods and making a commitment to enjoy them as part of a daily diet; good intentions may be sabotaged by the lure of a fast food eatery. Healthy meals and snacks don’t have to be complicated, but they do require prior planning and time for food preparation, dietary experts agree.
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