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Healthy choices debut at Mercy
Mercy Health Systems dietitians keep tight control over what patients eat, but employees and visitors, not so much.
Jerry Campione, executive chef for the Sisters of Mercy Health Ministry, has been visiting all the facilities under the Sisters of Mercy banner introducing new, healthy items to the cafeteria menus. Recently, he offered tastings of new menu additions at the Fort Scott hospital. Foods tried were barley risotto romesco sauce, chimichurri sauce and yogurt dip with fresh fruit and vegetables.
"It's not just these dishes. It's one of many we're rolling out a little at a time," Campione said, showing a book of recipes and different ways to make them.
A chef for 30 years, Campione has been with Mercy for eight years and served as executive chef at St. John's Mercy in St. Louis prior to his appointment at the Ministry level. He was trained at Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
"We always have healthy choices," Dietitian Sara Patterson said, adding the items offered recently were very good, especially the romesco sauce.
The sauce is typically made from almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and nyora peppers, a smaller, sweet, dried variety of red bell pepper. Other common ingredients include roasted tomatoes, red wine vinegar and onion, Internet references say.
"We have healthy things daily," Cafeteria Manager Mike Conlon said, adding some people take advantage of that. "But a lot of people go for the chicken tenders and French fries. That's the way it is everywhere."
Campione is working to change that. A Mercy nutritionist, Dr. Lance Luria, found a scoring system for food called NuVal, which has a scale from 1-100. The higher the score, the better the nutritional quality of the food, he said.
In the past 30 years, research has found fresh fruits, and vegetables in particular, have phytonutrients.
Phytonutrients are certain organic components in plants thought to promote health. Fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and teas are rich sources of phytonutrients, WebMD says.
"What we'd like to do is see people increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables because they have a tendency to prevent diseases like heart disease and cancer," he said.
The first chemical to do this was found in broccoli in the 1980s. It was found to help prevent breast cancer. "Those who ate broccoli in a raw or slightly cooked state benefited most," Campione said.
Used in moderation, extra virgin olive oil as been found to fight heart disease as well. The oleic acid in olive oil reduces arterial plaque and actually softens arteries, he said.
Canola oil, nuts and avocados are also said to contain "good fats," he said.
Sushi, salmon and lake trout are some of the beneficial fish types as well.
Despite any aversion to the idea of raw fish, Campione said the Japanese do live longer than we do. The fish has Omega 3 fatty acids in them.
"We're also talking about whole grains," he said, pointing out a risotto dish made with barley.
Campione is passionate about getting people to eat right. He says portion sizes have tripled in the past 50 years and children are not predicted to live as long as their parents. Every decade it gets worse, he said.
More and more children are obese and acquiring Type II diabetes, which was previously found mainly in adults. "More than half the states are in the 38th percentile in Type II diabetes," largely because youngsters are eating improperly, he said.