Together toward a healthy food culture at Vitalité Health Network

Bathurst, Monday, February 26, 2018 – Given its mission and responsibilities, Vitalité Health Network must ensure that the food available to patients, staff and visitors is of the highest possible nutritional value. The Network therefore adopted a policy on healthy food environments in 2015.  A number of improvements have since been implemented and work is ongoing.

Menus for patients

According to Linda Sunderland, director of Professional Services, a lot of work was done during the past year to improve the regular menus for patients across the Network. “The goal was to provide patients with healthy options by prioritizing food with high nutritional value,” she said. Here are some of the initiatives undertaken:

  • Offer more fruits, vegetables, and fibre-rich cereal products;
  • Add fish-, seafood- and legume-based meals;
  • Emphasize grilling and baking and eliminate frying and breading;
  • Limit the amount of fats added to recipes;
  • Increase the availability of low-sodium foods and drinks;
  • Emphasize fruit- or milk-based desserts and snacks;
  • Reduce the availability of foods with sugar as their main ingredient and reduce as much as possible the amount of sugar added to desserts;
  • Promote water as the best source of hydration by eliminating sugary, energy, and sweetener-based drinks;
  • Reduce the size of available beverages.

The cafeterias' menus have also been modified, again to improve healthy food options for employees and visitors. "Some facilities have eliminated fried foods and offer healthier dessert choices," continued Sunderland.

Work continues

According to the Network, there is still work to be done to fully implement all elements of its vision of a healthy food culture.  Over the next year, health care professionals aim to focus on the issue of sugary drinks and the measures needed to promote proper hydration of patients.

March is Nutrition Month

The theme for 2018 Nutrition Month is “Unlock the Potential of Food” and reminds us once again that healthy eating plays a major role in preventing obesity and chronic disease. It also plays a major role in preventing malnutrition, which has a big impact on the length of hospitalizations.