- Apr
- 11
- 2018
Better quality calories. Better choices.
If we are what we eat, then it matters what’s in our foods and how they’re grown or raised!
The animal farming industry has long been giving chickens and cattle antibiotics in their feed and drinking water to accelerate their growth and compensate for dirty conditions in factories. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the majority of all antibiotics sold in the United States are given to farm animals.
With the rise of antibiotic misuse in people, we have seen an increase in the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can cause prolonged sickness and in some cases death because their bodies don’t respond to the antibiotics meant to fight infection. If chickens, cows and fish are full of antibiotics, then when we eat chicken, beef or seafood, we are eating antibiotics.
As part of the Food and Nutrition Transformation underway across the organization, the Northwell Healthy Choice is a commitment to purchasing and sourcing foods that taste good and are good for you. Specifically, a focus on better quality calories and better choices drives every food purchasing decision so that each prepared meal — whether in our cafeterias or at the bedside — is the most nutritious and clean food we can provide and supports the premise that food is medicine.
Antibiotic-free proteins for better nutrition and cleaner eating
Protein performs many important functions in the body. Adequate protein intake in your diet is important for building, maintaining and repairing body tissues, and is a key nutrient to helping our patients heal. Food sources of protein include poultry, meats and seafood as well as plant-based forms like nuts, beans, legumes and seeds.
Over the past two years, we have eliminated foods that have been raised with routine use of antibiotics and sourcing more sustainable, clean options. We source only healthy, cage-free chickens raised on 100% vegetable-based feed with no added hormones, steroids, or animal by-products. Our chicken, as well as our turkey and beef burgers never receive antibiotics, ever. We’re also serving only hormone-free milk.
In addition, the seafood we’re serving is antibiotic-free, sustainably harvested or organic. Our fish is responsibly caught, harvested regionally in the North Atlantic as much as possible, and served fresh.
Eat your fresh, local veggies
Northwell Health has made a commitment to reducing our reliance on frozen produce and focusing more on fresh, locally sourced fruits and vegetables. By choosing farms that have sustainable practices, we can offer healthier, better tasting produce while supporting the environment. Foods that are sourced locally are fresher, have better tasting flavor, and are harvested closer to the time we eat them, which maximizes the amount of nutrients. Even though frozen produce has similar vitamin and nutrient content to fresh produce, it lacks the same texture and freshness.
When farms have diverse crops and rotate their crops every season, they improve the health of their soil, which improves the nutritional benefit of the produce we eat.
“High quality food contributes to higher quality nutritional value, giving us better support for higher quality personal well-being,” says Michelle Milgrim, Registered Dietitian and Manager, Employee Wellness. “Our goal is to have our team members, patients and visitors look at hospital food differently, and these changes are a key component to supporting that commitment.”