Northwest Medical Center Offers Plant-Based Meal Options
3/6/2018
Tucson, AZ (March 5, 2018) — Northwest Medical Center is now offering plant-based menu options for patients, visitors and staff through inpatient menus and at the hospital’s cafeteria, Saguaro Café.
“As a hospital, we’ve always offered a variety of options to our patients and staff, including meals covering a wide range of dietary needs, but the options we had for vegetarians and vegans were limited,” said Jennifer Schomburg, Chief Administrative Officer at Northwest Medical Center. “One of our board members, Anne Palmer, suggested we introduce more plant-based options into our menu, and we decided to give it a try. As Hippocrates said, food is medicine, and we used that principle as a guide throughout this process.”
“Plant-based” refers to foods that come from plant sources with no animal products. It is not the same as a vegetarian diet, which often includes eggs and dairy, but is also different than veganism, since the focus is on whole, plant-based foods and vegans may include processed foods in their diets that are not derived from plants. Plant-based diets focus on minimally processed items.
“I began my own plant-based diet nearly seven years ago, and as a board member at Northwest Medical Center, I thought this might be a way I could make a difference for our patients and staff,” said Anne Palmer. “I’m proud our team is setting the example and introducing the community to delicious plant-based meals!”
Bringing a new set of ingredients and a new mindset to the table was a commitment, so Northwest Medical Center partnered with The Humane Society of the United States to participate in their Forward Food program (which encourages society to focus more on plant-based foods as a means of creating a better food system). Forward Food provides an intensive, onsite training program with plant-based food experts. A chef and a food service manager spent two days showing the entire nutrition services team the latest in plant-based cooking, merchandising, and menu-planning.
“We’re always keeping an eye on food trends, so when the idea of incorporating plant-based menu items came up, we knew it was something that more and more people are following,” said JD Martin, Executive Chef at Northwest Medical Center. “Adding a few plant-based entrees has allowed us to be creative – serving delicious food like chickpea sliders or mushroom street tacos with fresh pico de gallo shows our visitors and staff that eating healthy can be flavorful and fun.”
Why plant-based? Research has shown a plant-based diet can help prevent and sometimes even reverse chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and even cancer.
“Six years ago, I suffered from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gastro-esophageal reflux disease. I was overweight, had low energy, and was on five prescription medications,” said Ted Crawford, D.O., a family practice physician at Northwest Allied Physicians. “After switching to a plant-based diet, I lost 30 pounds and was able to discontinue my medications within four months. It is a lifestyle I wholeheartedly encourage my patients to move toward.”
Northwest Medical Center offers several plant-based and vegetarian menu options daily like tofu veggie rice bowls, pasta primavera, and avocado and black bean wraps. Twice a week, the featured entrée is a plant-based option like carrot osso bucco with creamy polenta or a portabella mushroom torta sandwich with corn and jicama salsa.
“At first, we got mixed feedback from staff,” said Chef Martin. “If you’ve never tried them, ingredients like tofu or quinoa can seem intimidating. But as our staff has gotten a chance to try the food, more people are getting excited about eating it, and are starting to ask when their favorites, particularly buffalo cauliflower, will be served again.”
“Working in healthcare can be a stressful job, and when we are busy, it’s easy to prioritize convenience over health,” Schomburg said. “By providing healthier options in the cafeteria, we’re making it easier for our team to take care of themselves, so they can continue to provide extraordinary care to our patients.”
Saguaro Café, inside of Northwest Medical Center, is open to the public, Monday through Sunday. Breakfast is served from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dinner is available Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
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