Page 5 - Nourish.pdf

Diamond stirred up support for a greater focus on food with a “soup- of-the-day” contest. Staff and family members brought in cauldrons of their favorite chicken soup from recipes representing the diverse ethnicities and cultures at Idylwood. Residents rated each soup and the winner was added to the organization’s regular menu. An annual residents’ recipe book was inaugurated with the contest entries.
As interest in the new focus grew, dining rooms were remodeled into more inviting gathering areas. An activities space became a kitchen with a stove, sinks and a “family table.” Here, residents sit discussing current events amid the smells of coffee brewing, bread toasting and soup simmering.
Diamond’s soup-aroma theory was validated when a woman fed through a gastric tube for seven years began eating again. “I smell the food and I want to start eating,” she told Sandy Narasimhan, Registered Dietician. Under a doctor’s guidance she began with a puree diet and slowly transitioned to solid food.“Now she attends our food activity groups and loves everything we prepare,” says Narasimhan. She gained 20 pounds after starting to eat by mouth. Now she wants to be on a diet so she can be more active.
In all, half a dozen residents have traded in their g-tubes for a place at the table.
Mrs. C’s Fava beans sprout magic
Not everyone was so easily enticed. The reclusive, 93-year-old Mrs. C avoided the initial food activity and became ever more withdrawn. She complained about the “lousy” meals she was served, and her health declined with poor eating habits.
Using food as an ice-breaker, caregivers sat down with Mrs. C to chew the fat. She told them her passion for preparing Italian dishes at home. She was especially fond of Fava beans, so they planted a handful outside her bedroom window. As the beans grew, Mrs. C’s interest was aroused, and she ventured out to harvest.
Her caregivers didn’t know beans about Favas, so Mrs. C showed them how to pick, shell and cook the legume. They convinced her to lead a Fava-bean cooking class for the other residents. She came out of her room more to cook and play cards with her new friends around the family table. She began eating tasty, nutritious food and she ourished until her death three years later.
Her legacy lives thanks to her habit of giving dried beans to everyone she met. Fava plants now are so pervasive at Idylwood, “we could have the market on the gourmet bean,” says Diamond. “I have 15 plants in my home.”
Mrs. C’s magic transformation con rmed for Diamond that residents would become involved if offered familiar and meaningful activities. It also fed staff’s enthusiasm for the gastronomical approach to culture change: If Mrs. C could change so dramatically, maybe they should put more stock into how meals were presented and the ingredients going into them.
Diet techs and test kitchen inspire better eating habits
As part of that strategy, a couple of
diet technicians were hired to help link residents’ special dietary needs with the new focus on enriching culinary experiences. While progress was being made in many areas there was still a kink in the food chain: residents wouldn’t eat their vegetables. A survey to determine their favorite foods showed discouraging results. “They hate vegetables, they don’t want to eat turkey--all the good things we want them to have, they don’t like,” says Narasimhan, the registered dietician.
Then it struck her: Why not establish a test kitchen to try out scrumptious new recipes that incorporate the nutritional food items residents say they don’t like? Now, test kitchens are conducted three times a week on dishes weighed heavily with vegetables from Idylwood’s garden. Residents taste and judge the results and help slice, dice and cook if they choose.
Since the test kitchen began, resident consumption of lettuce, alone, has more than doubled, says Elizabeth Velazquez, Food Service Manager. Plus, residents are discovering the delights of mustard greens, arugula, Swiss chard and much more. Eight new recipes from the test kitchen have been added to the organization- wide menu. “We haven’t had unplanned weight changes in months,” says Narasimhan.
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