Physician Hopes Better Health Blossoms from New Plant-Based Menu

People are surprised healthy food can taste so good

By: Rossana Passaniti

Growing up with meat and potatoes always on his plate, Robert Capozzi had never had much use for a plant-based diet.

Fast forward a few decades, however, and Capozzi’s physician, Monica Aggarwal, M.D., FACC, knew it was time for him to learn about nutrition based on his health issues. Aggarwal started seeing 58-year-old Capozzi after his triple-bypass surgery in early 2018, when she introduced him to the new plant-based menu for patients at UF Health Shands.

“So much of the time, we are focused on giving people medicines after they become seriously ill,” said Aggarwal, director of integrative cardiology and prevention in the UF College of Medicine cardiovascular medicine division. “Treatment of patients, unfortunately, is primarily focused on treatment with medications. We are trying to change the focus to lifestyle changes, which include diet and exercise.”

This is why Aggarwal came to UF a year and half ago. She wanted to build a program to teach patients, students and caregivers how to eat healthier to help lower their risks of contracting a chronic illness.

“We began conceptualizing the menu with Dr. Aggarwal in the fall of 2017,” said Lara Zamajtuk, UF Health Shands associate vice president of operations. “Gathering a team of hospital dietitians and nutrition experts, along with our senior executive chef, we created a menu that offers healthy food options that are plant-based.”

The team experimented with meals high in lentils, fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains and eventually scheduled tastings with hospital staff.

“We created entrees that looked and smelled appealing,” said Andrew Hennis, senior director of UF Health Shands Food and Nutrition Services. “We had to overcome people’s resistance to trying them. It’s a matter of taste and feeling full. If people feel satisfied after finishing a delicious, healthy meal, they may change what they eat.”

The new menu, which includes entrees like lentil Bolognese over pasta and chickpea potato coconut curry, is now available to inpatients in the UF Health Heart & Vascular Hospital. The goal is to expand the menus to other facilities in the future as well as offering the healthy plant-based options in the UF Health Shands Hospital Cafeteria, 1329 Deli and UF Health Heart & Vascular and UF Health Neuromedicine hospitals’ Raising Hope at Work Cafe locations on Thursdays and Fridays.

In addition to black bean burgers, tofu vegetable stir-fry and oatmeal, patients also will find the American Heart Association’s recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Aggarwal hopes the new menu will help her cardiac and vascular patients lower their risk for heart disease.

“When a patient comes into the hospital and they have chest pain, for instance, and they’re told that they’ve had a heart attack and get stents put in their heart, usually they get a list of medications,” Aggarwal said.

Her goal is to broaden the conversation to include this: “You’ve had a heart attack, but don’t worry, we’ve got you. We’re going to show you some of the foods we want you to eat so you can start incorporating some of those foods into your diet at home, and teach you how eating the right foods can make you feel better. We are going to give you tools so you can work on healing yourself,” she said.

Hawthorne, Florida, resident Capozzi said the menu was an adjustment after what he had been used to eating his whole life, but the change has been worth it.

“As someone who was eating steak all the time, to have to eat plant-based, I mean, that is a big shift and lifestyle change,” he said. “But I’ve been holding extremely true to the diet, and most people can’t believe (my health) has changed that much.”

Capozzi said all his bloodwork has improved and he is off the medication he was originally taking. He said he even thinks his nutrition is helping him better manage his diabetes.

“It is hard to argue something that is working. It’s OK to turn your nose up at it, but give it a try,” he added.

Aggarwal told him that he can have treats, but Capozzi is using this plant-based diet as a way to lose weight, so he is sticking to it completely.

“One of the neatest things Dr. Aggarwal said to me was, ‘If you eat my diet, I don’t care what your weight is,’” Capozzi said. “That is so down-to-earth because back when I was 30, I had a doctor who put me on a diet to lose weight based off my height and my age.”

Plant-based menu items are being introduced to the retail cafeterias in the UF Health Shands hospitals. Aggarwal said the reaction has been positive.

“People say things like, ‘Wow, I really didn’t expect that eating plants would taste so good,’” she said. “When patients come into the clinic, they’re super excited about making changes. Just giving them that first step in the hospital with the plant-based menu gives them hope for what they can do.”

ARE YOU READY TO TURN OVER A NEW LEAF? Try the new plant-based menu on Thursday’s and Friday’s at our UF Health Shands Hospital Cafeteria, 1329 Deli and UF Health Heart & Vascular and UF Health Neuromedicine hospitals’ Raising Hope at Work Cafe.