Finding healthy food and keeping track of calories, fat and sodium content can be a challenge, especially when you're on the go. That’s why the Lancaster General Wellness Center’s Healthy Weight Management initiative and Food Service Department have teamed up to help make healthy eating a lot easier.

The “Eat Well for Life: Stay on Track” program is designed to give Lancaster General visitors and employees clear signals that will help them stay on the road to good nutrition.

Here’s how it works: Eat Well for Life flags are placed on signs near the foods at all of the cafeterias at Lancaster General to help diners make educated food choices. The green flags indicate a healthy food choice, yellow flags are fairly nutritious and should be eaten in moderation, and foods bearing red labels are high in calories, fat and/or sodium.

Easier Choices

“The program enables our employees and visitors to make easier food choices,” says Rosemary Search, RN, BSN, Manager, Community Health and Wellness. “None of the menue items were changed. Our dietitians did an analysis on the food items we prepare and placed them into categories according to nutritional value.

Janelle Glick, Wellness Dietitian, helped introduce the Eat Well program at Lancaster General.

“One of our major initiatives at Lancaster General is healthy weight management, and this important initiative is a way to assist us in this endeavor," she says.

Eat Well for Life began in November at Lancaster General Hospital Duke Street Café. It will be introduced in early 2009 to the Today’s Taste Café at the Health Campus, Great Expectations Café at Women & Babies Hospital, and the James Street Café at Lancaster General Hospital.

Janelle Glick, RD, Wellness Dietitian, helped introduce the program at Lancaster General and provides tips on healthy cooking and samples of healthy cuisine twice a month at cooking demonstrations. According to Janelle, the program is all about awareness.

“A main goal of Eat Well for Life is to help our employees and visitors become more aware of the nutritional value of the foods they eat,” Janelle says. “Hopefully with that awareness they'll make healthy food choices. Making these small choices every day will have a positive impact on long-term health.”

Eat Well for Life offers more than just food labeling.

“We provide weight management programs for individuals of all ages,” Rosemary says. “In addition to exercise and relieving stress, we emphasize making healthy eating part of our daily lives and the hospital wants to offer healthy food choices.”

For the Community’s Health

Eat Well for Life is designed for the Lancaster community, says James King, Food Service Director at Lancaster General. “A lot of people who visit our facility aren't familiar with how to count calories, fat grams or sodium content,” he says. “The color-coded system makes it easy. “We’re always trying to come up with creative ways to provide healthy alternatives and give everyone a variety of nutritious foods.”

Janelle says the response to the program has been favorable. “When I’m in the cafeteria giving out samples of healthy foods, most people say that they appreciate the system and they're glad to have the information," she says. “People want to see more ‘green’ items on the menu and we're changing items to make them healthier.

“It’s great to hear people say they're feeling better and have more energy because they’re making better food choices,” she adds.

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