Mission: Nutrition Frequently Asked Questions About the Cafeteria, Vending and Gift Shop Food and Drink Changes September 2012

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1 Mission: Nutrition Frequently Asked Questions About the Cafeteria, Vending and Gift Shop Food and Drink Changes September 2012 What is Mission: Nutrition? Who is involved in this initiative? What changes will take place at Children s? When will these changes take place? Why are we making these changes? Where will these changes take place? Will Mission: Nutrition also affect patient menus? Why aren t we offering regular soda? What drinks will Children s offer? Why are we offering diet drinks aren t artificial sweeteners bad for you? What new food items will be added to Children s menu? What if I want to bring something that is no longer offered at Children s? Will Starbucks at Children s make changes to their menu? How can we share ideas for menu items and future changes? Is Children s the first hospital to make these menu changes? How do your patient families feel about these changes? Can patients who need fattier foods as part of their diet still get them? What if a patient needs a regular soda for a medical reason? What changes has Children s already made to food and drink options since 2007? How can I support Mission: Nutrition? Q. What is Mission: Nutrition? A. Mission: Nutrition is an initiative beginning this fall to help Seattle Children s offer new healthy food and beverage options in our cafeterias, gift shop and vending machines. It supports our mission to prevent, treat and eliminate pediatric disease like obesity. Q. Who is involved in this initiative? A. Mission: Nutrition was developed by a broad multidisciplinary team including staff from Children s Nutrition Program, Dietary Services Department and the Obesity Program, along with support from Children s executive leadership team. Page 1

2 The strategy for Mission: Nutrition was also informed by obesity-related studies conducted at Seattle Children s Research Institute including those looking at the impact of access to healthy and unhealthy foods. Q. What changes will take place at Children s? A. Improving our nutritional offerings will happen in several phases over time. In addition to changing what we offer, we will also incorporate nutrition education (like signs to help people make good choices) in areas where food and drinks area available. In phase one of Mission: Nutrition: Foods like french fries, onion rings, egg rolls and empanadas on cafeteria menus are now baked instead of deep-fat-fried. We will no longer offer sugar-sweetened drinks that have more than 10 calories per 8- ounce in the cafeteria, gift shop and vending machines. This includes regular sodas; sweetened tea and coffee drinks; lemonade; sugar-sweetened fruit drinks; sports and energy drinks; and flavored whole and 2% milk. We will still have diet sodas; unflavored milk; flavored skim and 1% milk; 100% unsweetened fruit juices; and regular, vanilla and chocolate soy milk. Other healthy drink options are coming later this fall, and we expect more changes to come from ideas from patients, families, volunteers, visitors and staff. If you have a menu idea to share, missionnutrition@seattlechildrens.org. Q. When will these changes take place? A. We replaced deep-fat fried foods with baked foods in the Sound Café in early August. We will make changes to drink options in the gift shop and cafeterias at the hospital and 70 th and Sand Point by the end of September We will remove sugar-sweetened drinks from vending machines by the end of October. Additional changes to food and drink options will occur gradually in phases. Q. Why are we making these changes? A. Patients, families, staff and visitors tell us they want healthy food and drink options at Children s. We have already made some changes, like removing deep-fat-fried items from patient menus in But we can do more! Nearly a third of U.S. school-age children and adolescents, including those in Washington state, are either obese or overweight. The rate of childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity puts children at greater risk of suffering severe obesity as adults and developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses. Nearly 63% of U.S. adults are obese or overweight. Page 2

3 In 2007, Children s partnered with Health Care Without Harm and signed the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge, which provides steps to improve the health of our patients and community by eating healthy and fighting obesity. We want to be a model and leader of health and wellness for our patients, their families and our workforce! Q. Where will these changes take place? A. During the first phase, we will make changes at all of Children s properties including the main hospital campus, Roosevelt Commons, 70 th and Sand Point and Building 1 (vending machines at West 8 th are not owned by Children s and therefore will not be impacted). Changes will also be made at offsite locations including the Odessa Brown Children s Clinic, Bothell Home Care Services, catering, and clinics in Bellevue, Federal Way, Olympia and the Tri-Cities. Q: Will Mission: Nutrition also affect patient menus? A: Changes to make patient menus more healthy have been happening for several years even before Mission: Nutrition and will continue along with Mission: Nutrition. Q. Why aren t we offering regular sodas? A. Drinking sugar-sweetened drinks can cause cavities and is associated with obesity. One of the easiest ways to reduce this risk is to remove sweetened drinks from your diet. Water, milk, unsweetened fruit juice and diet sodas are better choices than sugar-sweetened drinks. The American Academy of Pediatrics says sugar-sweetened drinks like soda and fruit drinks are the number one source of added sugars in a child s daily diet. Each 12-ounce serving of regular soda has 39 or more grams of sugar and often more than 140 calories. Similar to rates seen nationally, 31% of King County high school students or 26,000 youth report drinking at least one regular (non-diet) soda daily. 8,000 of these students are drinking two or more sodas daily. For a child who drinks one can of soda a day for a year a total of 34 gallons that s about 31 pounds of sugar and 51,000 extra calories with no added nutritional value. Q. What drinks will Children s offer? 100% fruit juice with no added sweeteners Unflavored milk (whole, 2%, 1% and skim) Flavored fat-free and 1% milk Zero or low-calorie drinks (less than 10 calories per 8 ounce serving) Diet drinks Flavored water Carbonated water Unsweetened tea and coffee (sugar packets will still be available) Page 3

4 Regular, vanilla and chocolate soy milk Q. Why are we offering diet drinks aren t artificial sweeteners bad for you? A. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tracked the safety of artificial sweeteners for decades. They have not found evidence that low-calorie sweeteners have negative health effects in humans. For instance, in carefully controlled studies, they have not seen adverse or allergic reactions to aspartame, the sweetener used in most diet sodas. Q. What new food items will be added to Children s menu? A. French fries and onion rings are now being baked instead of deep-fat-fried. Wild salmon with tomato pesto, cod fillet and country baked steak have also been added to the cafeteria s rotating menu as healthy alternatives. More new food options will come later this fall and in future phases. Q. What if I want to bring something that is no longer offered at Children s? A. Patients, families, volunteers, visitors and staff are welcome to bring your own food and drinks. However, we hope everyone will join together to model healthy eating! Q. Will Starbucks at Children s make changes to their menu? A. No. At this time Starbucks menu at our Children s locations will not change. Q. How can we share ideas for menu items and future changes? A. You can send questions, comments or ideas to: missionnutrition@seattlechildrens.org. Q. Is Children s the first hospital to make these menu changes? A. In Washington state, Children s will be the first hospital to make these particular changes to the drinks we offer. However, we are also learning from other hospitals that have made similar changes, like Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and Lucile Packard Children s Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. They eliminated all sugar-sweetened drinks in Also in 2011, Public Health - Seattle & King County created Healthy Vending Guidelines for organizations in King County to use as a guide for increasing access to healthy food and beverages in vending machines. We used these guidelines to inform our beverage selection changes. There are other hospitals in our state that do not offer deep-fried foods on their menus. Q. How do your patient families feel about these changes? A. We surveyed over 300 current and prospective patient families to learn what they thought about the changes we re going to make through Mission: Nutrition: 87% think Children s should take steps to make its menu more healthy 77% think hospital cafeterias should offer healthier options than non-hospital cafeterias Page 4

5 64% said they are more likely to visit our cafeterias after the first phase of Mission: Nutrition changes take place 5% are less likely to eat in our cafeterias after changes take place Here are some other survey results: 95% say they very likely or somewhat likely support baked alternatives to foods that are deep-fat-fried. 90% agree that Children s should offer healthy options in vending machines. 82% feel it s important or somewhat important for their family s food to have no added sugar. 82% feel it s important or somewhat important for their family s food to be low-fat. 94% would very likely or somewhat likely support replacing sugary fruit drinks with 100% fruit juice drinks. 52% would very likely or somewhat likely support removing sugary sodas and drinks. Q. Can patients who need higher-fat foods as part of their diet still get them? A. Yes. Higher calorie/higher-fat foods will still be available for patients who need it. Q. What if a patient needs a regular soda for a medical reason? A. We will have some flavors of regular sodas and sugar-sweetened juices for patients when medically necessary. Q. What changes has Children s already made to food and drink options since 2007? A: Changes include: Removing deep-fat-fried foods from patient menus Adding more healthy food and drink options to hospital vending machines such as vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free choices Using hormone-free milk Replacing white bread and tortillas with wheat on patient menus Changing the inpatient lunch menu to fruit for dessert Using only trans-fat free canola and olive oils in cooking Removing soda from patient menus (if needed, they can still order an 8-ounce can) Q: How can I support Mission: Nutrition? A: Become a Mission: Nutrition advocate! See what healthy changes you can make in your food and drink choices, and talk with your friends and family about how and why we are making changes. Page 5