Transforming Hospital Food Service with Whole-Food Plant-Based Meals on the Menu

Patient menus in most hospitals center on “comfort foods” of conventional meat and cheese-heavy dishes that do not reflect the cultural foodways of many patients or the scientific evidence on healthy and sustainable dietary patterns. Hospital foodservice has a tremendous opportunity to address the Quintuple Aim, carbon emissions reduction, and cost savings with the inclusion of whole-food plant-based (WFPB) meal options on the menu. Lifestyle medicine practitioners have a crucial role to play in advocating for WFPB meals for hospitalized patients, which aligns with and expands upon the lifestyle medicine leadership competency related to creating environments that support healthy behaviors. Additionally, WFPB hospital meals can support the competency of helping patients manage and sustain healthy lifestyle practices by exposing patients to a range of plant-based foods during their hospital stay. As such, lifestyle medicine health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dietitians, and the interdisciplinary team, as well as food/culinary professionals are key stakeholders in driving leadership support of WFPB menu initiatives. Presenters will discuss specific ways that lifestyle medicine professionals can engage in and support this important institutional change, as well as highlight the gaps in research on WFPB meals in the hospital setting. Audience interaction will be incorporated in the form of polls and a brief activity to assist attendees in identifying actions they can take to advocate for WFPB menu options at their healthcare institution. This topic is important for all lifestyle medicine professionals as well as healthcare leadership and food/culinary professionals because shifting hospital menus to include more plant-based options is good for the business of healthcare, planetary health, and the long-term health outcomes of patients.