Exploring the Impact of Nutrition in Modern Healthcare Strategies
At Food & Friends, we know that food heals. For thousands of neighbors we serve each year, Food is Medicine is the key to better health and a higher quality of life.
Since 1988, we have been at the forefront of this vital movement, helping over 49,000 seriously ill neighbors lead healthier, happier lives. Today, we are an expert on Food is Medicine and a leading authority on medically tailored meal interventions and medical nutrition therapy.
Defining Food is Medicine
As defined by the U.S. Department of Health, “Food is Medicine encompasses a broad range of approaches that promote optimal health and healing and reduce disease burden by providing nutritious food—with human services, education, and policy change—through collaboration at the nexus of health care and community.”
Research studies have found that Medically Tailored Meals (MTM’s), Medically Tailored Groceries (MTG’s) and Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is a groundbreaking, integrative approach to managing illness symptoms and treatment side effects to improve health outcomes, reduce hospitalizations and save on health care costs. Our nationally recognized programs integrate with a clients’ care plan to enhance nutrition, manage symptoms, reduce the side effects of harsh treatments, and lower the risk of rehospitalization.
History of The Movement
The Food is Medicine movement traces its roots to the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis, when stigma, social isolation, and malnutrition were endemic among those diagnosed with the virus.
Activists, healthcare providers, and caring neighbors quickly realized the power that a nutritious, home-delivered meal had to combat the devastating health impacts and isolation facing individuals with HIV/AIDS.
The first medically tailored meals were prepared by volunteers in cramped church kitchens and restaurants that served the LGBTQ+ community. Each meal was delivered directly to a client’s home by a volunteer, providing a lifeline of social support.
Organizations providing Food is Medicine rapidly emerged in cities across the country. And it quickly became clear that home-delivered, medically tailored meals could also benefit those living with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and an array of other conditions.
Today, Food Is Medicine is national movement comprised of dozens of organizations across the United States. It has been recognized by the White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as critical to advancing individual and community health.
Food & Friends continues to be a leader in the field, becoming the first agency in the nation to receive accreditation by the Food Is Medicine Coalition for medically tailored meal interventions in 2024.
Our Approach
The Medically Tailored Meal
At the core of our Food is Medicine services is the medically tailored meal. Each meal is specially designed by a team of registered dietitians to address an individual’s unique medical needs. Dietitians collaborate closely with professionally trained chefs to craft delicious meal options that help clients improve their health and quality of life.
Meals like our Baked Salmon Cakes provide key nutrients and important health benefits to the neighbors who rely on them.
We offer 11 different meal plans, including Medically Balanced, Dialysis Friendly, Mild/Low Fiber, High Calorie, Vegetarian, and more. Dietitians consult with clients to find the right combination of meal types to fit their unique health profile.
How They Are Made
Every medically tailored meal delivered by Food & Friends is designed and prepared by our team of registered dietitians and professionally trained chefs. Our recipes and 11 meal plans are developed to meet the specific needs of individuals living with a variety of conditions, treatment plans, and symptoms.
First, our dietitians perform rigorous nutrient analysis of recipes drafted by our culinary team. They ensure that all meals meet evidence-based, research-backed nutrition standards established by the national Food is Medicine Coalition.
Our meal plans contain a daily average of:
- 1,800 calories
- 80 grams of protein
- No more than 2,000mg of sodium
Meals are sorted into 11 different medically tailored meal plans that can be layered and combined to address different clinical needs. Plans include medically balanced, low lactose, dialysis friendly soft, no fish, high calorie, vegetarian, no beef/no pork, mild/low fiber, shelf stable, and pureed.
Why are Medically Tailored Meals Different?
The medically tailored meal is a unique intervention in the Food is Medicine toolkit. It is more targeted and sophisticated than healthy food programs or produce pantries, which also play an important role in individual and community health.
Our medically tailored meals are designed to fulfill the complex needs of people living with serious and chronic illnesses–many of whom face multiple conditions at once. Our registered dietitians layer different diets together in order to produce optimal health outcomes for clients.
FIMC Accreditation
In April of 2024, Food & Friend became the first agency to earn accreditation from the Food is Medicine Coalition. The FIMC Medically Tailored Meal Intervention Accreditation Criteria and Requirements set a new standard for agencies delivering medically tailored meal interventions.
FIMC’s rigorous new accreditation is designed to ensure the highest quality of care for individuals living with life-challenging illnesses. The FIMC MTM ACR was developed through a collaborative process involving nationwide partner agency staff with decades of experience in MTM service provision. This process resulted in standards that ensure all FIMC-Accredited agencies provide the same level of high-quality service, tailored to meet the diverse nutritional needs of their clients.
Nutrition Counseling and Education
As part of our integrated approach to Food is Medicine, every Food & Friends client is eligible to receive nutrition counseling from one of our registered and licensed Community Dietitians. Clients work closely with our Nutrition Services team to develop personalized diet plans, address specific symptoms and conditions, manage treatment side effects, and much more.
We consider nutrition to be a vital part of treatment for the neighbors we serve. In fact, 93% of Food & Friends clients learned to eat better for their health condition after talking with their dietitian.
Clients have access to one-on-one nutritional assessments, virtual classes and workshops, and educational material on increasing protein and calorie intake, food safety, recipes and more.
Impact
Food & Friends’ medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling have remarkable impacts on the neighbors and communities we serve.
Kim Jones, a neighbor from Maryland living with renal disease, shares how Food & Friends’ meal and nutrition counseling services changed her life:
Our services have also shown dramatic impacts on our community and the health care system, reducing healthcare costs by 32%, lowering rehospitalization by 63%, improving patient satisfaction, and creating a strong return on investment for healthcare providers.
Keywords: Food is medicine, Nutrition and health, Chronic disease prevention, Healthcare innovation, Dietary interventions
#FoodIsMedicine #NutritionMatters #HealthInnovation
