Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team

Overview
The mission of the Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team (NHLT) is to advance healthful, sustainable food and beverage practices in San Diego County healthcare systems through collaboration. Over a dozen San Diego County hospitals and health systems regularly participate in the NHLT. The NHLT is one of several statewide hospital leadership teams affiliated with Healthcare Without Harm’s Healthy Food in Healthcare Program. The vision for the NHLT is that San Diego County healthcare systems promote optimal health by ensuring all foods and beverages served are healthy, fresh, affordable, and produced in a manner that supports the local economy, environment, and community.

Impact
Over the last six years, NHLT hospitals have reduced meat offerings and serving sizes, increased purchases of meat and poultry raised without the routine use of medically important antibiotics, increased their purchases of local and sustainable foods, improved their beverage and vending policies, and reduced or eliminated sugar-sweetened beverages.

History
The NHLT started in 2011 as a subcommittee of the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative’s (COI) Healthcare Domain. The COI is a 10-year Collective Impact initiative to reduce and prevent childhood obesity in San Diego County through policy, systems, and environmental change.The Farm to Institution Center (F2I Center) serves as the “backbone organization” that facilitates the NHLT.

Co-Chairs of the NHLT

• Jill Martin, UCSD Health
• Alicia Bell, District Executive Chef, Palomar Health

Click here to view NHLT resources.

The Strategies to Support Healthy Hospital Food Offerings videos, developed by Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP) Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team (NHLT) features strategies around healthy hospital food offerings. These strategies are presented by Nutrition Service representatives from San Diego County hospitals and healthcare facilities. This project is based off of Health Care Without Harm’s 2017 Menu of Change Report.

Thank you to Palomar Health, Rady Children’s Hospital, Scripps Health, and UCSD Health or your involvement with developing these videos.

Click here to view the full video.

Click here to view Health Care Without Harm’s Menu of Change.

The 2019 Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team (NHLT) Cookbook Calendar is a collaborative project featuring healthy recipes served on patient and/or cafeteria menus at San Diego County hospitals and healthcare facilities. Recipes emphasize the use of Harvest of the Month ingredients seasonal to the San Diego County region. The calendar highlights the healthy, fresh and local food NHLT hospitals serve on their menus to advance healthful and sustainable food practices. Seven NHLT hospitals and healthcare facilities contributed to this project, including Kaiser Permanente, Palomar Health, Plum Healthcare, Prime Healthcare, Rady Children’s Hospital, UC San Diego Health, and the VA Hospital. These hospitals understand the value of food as medicine.

Click here to view the 2019 NHLT Cookbook Calendar.

Click here for printable document.