A “Fresh Start” for Patients

Valentin Guset, M.D., FACP. 

Susan Friedman, M.D., M.P.H.

Highland introduces the Fresh Start Menu for inpatients, one piece of Highland’s ongoing effort to address root causes of chronic illness.  The menu is a suggested four-day rotation of whole-food, plant-based breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  No specific diet order is required for patients to be able to order these items.   Handouts are available to educate patients about the field of Lifestyle Medicine, and the connection between diet and health.

“Diet has been identified (since 2010) as the primary risk factor for early mortality in this country,” said Susan Friedman, M.D., M.P.H., FACLM, DipABLM, Professor of Medicine.  “With steps like this we are going beyond treating acute illness and helping patients with their journey to better health.”

The roll-out is being supported by a “Dissemination and Implementation (DIG)” grant from the UR Quality Improvement team. Valentin Guset, MD, FACP, DipABLM, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, is the PI on a 2.5 year grant to reduce CHF readmissions through lifestyle medicine interventions. “A whole-food plant-based diet is the only dietary pattern that has been shown to reverse heart disease, the number one cause of death in the US,” said Dr. Guset. The Highland Food Services department, led by Anna Gallwey, MS, CDM, CFPP and the Clinical Nutrition department, led by Jean Wingard, RD, developed the four-day rotation that patients can order, to enable them to try out these foods while they are in the hospital.

For more information on Lifestyle Medicine, contact Susan Friedman at Susan_Friedman@urmc.rochester.edu.  For more information on the Fresh Start menu, contact Anna Gallwey at Anna_Gallwey@urmc.rochester.edu.

7/1/2023