Well Wisconsin Radio

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Hello and welcome to Well, Wisconsin Radio, a podcast discussing health and well-being topics with experts from all around the state of Wisconsin. Thank you for joining us for this special on-site podcast event. I’m your host Renee Fox, and today my guests are Lisa Bote, Breanne Thornton, and Taylor Johnson.

Lisa is the Manager of Culinary Services for UW Health. She brings 23 years of culinary knowledge to her role and is responsible for the direction and leadership of food production for retail food venues and patient meals along with retail and catering services. She believes that food has the power to not only nourish and heal, but that what we eat plays a role in our overall health and well-being.

Breanne is a Program Manager of Lifestyle Medicine and oversees the UW Health Lifestyle Change Program, which is based on the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program. She is a registered dietitian with a Master of Science degree in Integrative and Functional Nutrition, and she is passionate about supporting whole person care by addressing social determinants of health, including food security.

Taylor is the Program Manager of Culinary Medicine for UW Health. Her background is in Culinary Arts, Project Management, and Sustainable Food. And she is responsible for leading the direction of UW Health’s Learning Kitchen, which we’re located in today at East Madison Hospital, to support patient and community needs.

Thank you all for joining me today to talk about putting sustainability on the menu. So Lisa, let’s start with you. How does the culinary team at UW Health look at sustainability and how is your team intentional about improving what hospital food can be while also strengthening the UW Health commitment to environmental sustainability throughout culinary operations?

Well that can be a very long answer to that question but thank you Renee for the introduction and the kind words and welcome everybody to the Learning Kitchen. I love this question because it really allows us to talk about how we’ve been changing the perception of hospital food and elevating it. Um, and it also allows us to share some approaches to how we are working with sustainability and trying to make our food system sustainable.

You know, for the most part, hospital food can certainly play, um, can be a vehicle to nourish patients and to help them be able to get better and to leave our buildings, um, and help them on their wellness journeys. And so our team works with a lot of different partners, uh, whether it’s local farmers or artisans or ranchers. There’s many facets to sustainability, and if you ask one person, what does sustainability mean to you, you’re going to get a different answer from every single person. It can mean. Um, buying local at the, at the farmer’s market, it can mean, uh, looking at the, at waste reduction, there’s many ways to be sustainable.

Um, at UW Health. I feel like my job, I’m very lucky to have my job here because I, um, many of us didn’t start our culinary journeys in hospital or healthcare. Um, we come from hospitality backgrounds, the world of chefs, restaurant management and ownerships. But we all come to the job that we do with a commitment to make things better for our patients and for our staff and for the physicians and staff that come to our retail environments.

Um, so with every decision that we make, we look at how is this going to affect our patients, how we make sure that this decision is something that we can live with for a very long time? And so we have a lot of different criteria that we look at when we talk about sustainability and that can be looking at how Workers are treated, what kind of impact what we’re buying has on health or on the environment and on the planet. Um, and when we have the opportunity to make these decisions, we feel very charged with making some really right decisions. UW Health is a large organization. We serve about 1. 8 million meals per year. So the footprint that we have is, is very large.And so we feel responsible for making some really good decisions and to make sure that what we’re doing with our food system is sustainable for the long term.

I love it. So tell me a little bit more about why it’s important to prioritize sustainability in the work that you all are doing?

So this will be a two part answer. I’ll start and then Taylor’s got some thoughts on this as well. You know, we think even making a small step when you think about making changes sometimes that can be a little stifling, right? If you want to change, change something big or small, but starting with a small change can have a really big impact.

Again, we produce almost 2 million meals a year. And we don’t make huge changes all the time because that’s not a sustainable way to run a business or an operation. So, on the large organization side, making small changes can have a large impact because of the volume of what we’re working with.

Yeah, and as Lisa said, you know, it’s, it’s just making those, those changes that we can make, um, you know, sustainability is all about meeting the needs of the current generation, um, without inhibiting future generations from being able to meet their own needs. So as, as participants in the food system, it’s kind of our responsibility to do what we can to ensure that we have a viable future food system. Um, so yeah, anything we can do can contribute to reducing our own carbon footprint.

Love it. Wonderful. So Breanne, how do you support sustainability in your role through the nutrition education that you provide?

Yeah, so when I work with patients, I naturally support sustainability by working with meal planning and so you can look at what’s already in your pantry in your fridge and you can see what needs to be used up and you can consider that when you’re picking out recipes. And when you are looking for recipes, you can go with your tried and true traditional favorites or I like to incorporate one new recipe a week to keep it interesting and then you can incorporate all these different new foods that you might want to try with fruits and vegetables.

You also can support sustainability when you’re grocery shopping. So ideally, we are sticking to our grocery list and only buying what we need. And you really want to buy what you can realistically go through in that week. We don’t want to buy more than we need and end up wasting that food. And it’s also important to be really realistic when you think about your time and your energy.

If you live alone, you know, maybe it’s not best for you to buy fresh food. Maybe you should consider if frozen is better. And you know, if you have a really demanding schedule, maybe it’s better to choose pre-chopped fruits and vegetables so that you are again not wasting it and it’s ready to go. So I think, you know, grocery shopping and meal planning are really easy ways to support sustainability.

Um, and I also encourage gentle guidance towards a food forward, um, eating pattern, which we’ll talk a little bit about.

Those are some really good strategies. I love it. So tell me more about what is plant forward eating and how does sustainability relate to this?

So according to Have a Plant, the foundation of a plant forward eating pattern is flavorful fruits, vibrant vegetables, satisfying whole grains, and a variety of wholesome, nutrient packed foods, such as legumes, nuts and seeds, edamame, and tofu.

Dairy products, seafood, lean meat, protein, from poultry, and eggs are also part of this balanced diet and can complement plant foods. So I do want to highlight that there’s really no best way or one way to have a plant forward diet. You don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian in order to be plant forward. A plant forward diet does not exclude or limit foods and it’s really just about adding foods that you enjoy and you can just get more plants into your diet each meal or snack.

So related to sustainability. Not all foods have an equal impact on the environment, and I’ll share some statistics about that. So, animal proteins, especially beef and lamb, generally are more resource intensive, which puts a big stress on our forests and our waterways and our climate. So, we use about 16 million square kilometers of land, which is comparable to the size of South America for all of our crops. And then we use about 34 million square kilometers of land, which is about the size of Africa to graze animals, including cattle. So to put that in perspective, we use about 38 percent of the Earth’s land surface to raise crops and cattle, and only 1 percent of the Earth’s land surface is our cities. So really, our food system takes up a dominant part of our land and animals dominate that food system.

So, Taylor, I’m interested now just to hear a little bit more about sustainability in the work that you do. So can you tell us like how sustainability can support community health and then with your efforts at UW Health, how you are contributing to that?

Sure. Absolutely. Um, you know, community health kind of ties into the social pillar of sustainability and, you know, social sustainability is a very important but often overlooked pillar of sustainability. Um, its focus is on the people aspect and really working to build long term community resilience through increasing quality of life, equity, and relationships within a community.

Um, our culinary medicine department here at UW Health is relatively new, um, but as we are building out the new programming, it’s, um, really, it’s really based on a people-focused mission to improve access to nutrition and culinary education in our community. We’re working on building in community partnerships to expand our programming reach as well as developing accessible recipes and cooking basics, and teaching basic cooking skills.

Um, so empowering community members to feel confident in the kitchen and to have access to adaptable, nutritious, flavorful recipes really aims to boost those, you know, quality of life and overall community health factors. Um, and making a recipe is adaptable in order to consider accessibility and affordability of ingredients allows people to use whatever they have on hand and also it allows people to use ingredients that are important to their own cultural food traditions. So, um, having those recipes that consider cultural and economic facets can help remove so many of the stigmas that make people feel like outsiders. And it kind of creates a community cohesiveness in the kitchen and also has an environmental benefit because when you can use what you have on hand in your pantry, there’s a reduction of food waste there, which helps with the carbon footprint.

Um, and I also think it’s important to consider the younger generations when we talk about community health. So right now, many children and teens are dealing with climate anxiety, which is putting a strain on their mental health. Um, feeling powerless is a big part of that anxiety. So when we talk about sustainability, we need to consider how to empower the youth to take action and finding actionable ways for kids to get involved with sustainability and food, such as helping with the gardening, or composting, or the plant forward cooking can help alleviate some of that climate anxiety. Um, and it helps young people to feel acknowledged, provides tangible ways they can help and can build overall community resilience in the long term.

Oh, I love it. It’s been really interesting just hearing about all the work that you all are doing to put sustainability on the menu on a larger scale. Um, and I’d love just to, you know, shift gears a little bit and focus more on a smaller scale for those of us joining us today in our live audience for those of us tuning in through our podcast platform, I’m curious if you can share more about how our listeners can support sustainability at home. You know, what are the most important areas that we can focus on at home when it comes to food and reducing our impact on the climate?

Yeah, I can kick this one off and then I think Lisa has some ideas as well. Food waste is a really great area to focus on at a smaller scale. So about half of the global food system’s total CO2 emissions come from food lost during harvest, storage, transportation, and consumer waste. So at home, we can work on that consumer waste portion by reducing our own food waste. Um, there’s a lot of really great online resources that people can check out, such as, uh, food waste calculators or ideas for upcycling the waste. And composting is a really great option. Um, I know a lot of counties have free drop off composting services that they can access often at their local farmers markets. And while composting is not totally emission free, it does turn the waste into a nutrient rich natural fertilizer, which you can then use in your home garden or, you know, give to a local farm.

Wonderful. And our listeners can find links to those resources in our episode show notes.

I think, adding on to that, again, when we start to make changes, if you think about an architect, an architect doesn’t start by building a skyscraper, right? At the beginning of their career, they’re taking small steps. Maybe they’re helping in a design, maybe they’re designing a small home. And so thinking of the changes that you can make with sustainability on your own, taking one small step to begin with, and looking at what can work for you, not thinking how is that going to look to anybody else.

But think about what works for me and what can I start small with? I’m a big fan of starting small because you can you could really get some wins at the beginning and then just build that momentum.

I love that. It’s such a great approach to starting small and building upon that. Um, so some of our listeners are participating in our Well, Wisconsin 5 to Thrive Challenge.And so we’re focusing on adding more produce to our plates. And, um, what are some tips that you have for discovering how delicious fruits and vegetables can be and ways that we can be more sustainable with our diets?

Sure, I’ll lead this one. So I think the best approach when it comes to fruits and vegetables is to focus on the ones that you like and how you like them prepared. So if you prefer raw vegetables, you can make a really fun, flavorful dip like a Greek yogurt ranch dip. If you like them cooked, you can try roasting them to bring out the flavor. With fruits, it really you pick your preference. If you like fresh or you can get them canned and juice if you prefer and you can even use frozen for smoothies.

So just focus on what you like and how you like it prepared. Um, with each meal and snack, you know, just try to add something colorful to your plate. So if you’re making your protein and your starch, just think about, you know, what’s my vegetable? And when you’re out to eat, You know, you could consider maybe swapping your fries for a side salad or a steamed broccoli, which would be a really great start.

One of my favorite tips that I learned from a colleague is to have a pro snack, which is produce and protein. So if you are at home and you’re waiting for dinner to be done, you can have veggies and hummus as a snack, or if you’re on the go, fruit with some nuts is a really great option to take with you wherever you’re going. So yeah. Focus on what you like, how you like it, and consider how to add that color to each meal and snack.

Yeah, and I think, too, if you’re a little adventurous and you want to try some new fruits and vegetables, you can go to your local farmer’s market or farm stand. The producers are usually very happy to talk to people, and they’re excited about what they grow, and sharing the produce that they have and their knowledge of that.

And many of them also have great ideas for recipes or just how to use the produce. Um, and then if fresh is out of season or if you just don’t have a lot of time. You know, see what you have in the frozen vegetable section of your supermarket and, you know, incorporate vegetables that way, or do a combination and, and buy some new things at the farmer’s market and freeze them at home. And then you have them for the winter months.

Love all of those great ideas. Um, Taylor, I know earlier you talked about, you know, influencing the younger generation. So I’m curious if any of you have recommendations for, you know, getting everyone in the family involved. So maybe it’s children, adults, other everyone involved in the sustainability efforts. How could we, um, particularly with children and teens, how could we really get them excited about this?

I think it’s really about exposure, right? It’s about taking your kids to give them the experiences, whether it’s going through the grocery store aisles, going through the farmer’s market, maybe you’re picking up, maybe you are buying a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, and you’re getting that every week.

There’s different, right, different vegetables that are in there, different fruits, and having the kids have that experience of seeing something new or trying something new, can really have an impact. Um, the same thing, having kids help with preparation. They don’t have to be gourmet cooks in the kitchen. They can help chop, they can help wash, peel vegetables, and once they get their hands into it and have a little, kind of like a little bit of a, a stake in the game, it, it really matters then what, what is coming out of what they’re producing, and they might be even encouraged to try something that they haven’t tried before, and on any kitchen table that is a total win.

Yeah, I have to agree with Lisa that I think getting them in the kitchen is crucial. So if you have a young child, there’s really unique things out there like a kitchen tower that can get them to counter height, there’s cooking classes out there like Chop Chop Cooking Classes alongside your child and get them excited about being in the kitchen. I think growing a garden is just a really great way. I have a young son and he does not like tomatoes.

But the second they were growing in the garden, he picked them and popped it in his mouth. And every day now he’s going out to pick those vegetables. So, um, I think just making it fun and exciting and getting them involved is a really, really easy way to get started. And having family-style dinners as well, where people can serve themselves. Hopefully we can decrease food waste because they’re, they’re taking what they think they need versus what we think someone else should eat. So that could be another nice tip.

I love that. Yeah, I’m curious if you have more suggestions. That’s a great example. And we’ve had a few examples come up through our conversation, but just additional steps that we can take at home to reduce food waste. And with that in mind, are there any special, um, appliances or equipment, things that might come in handy that we want to consider as we work to reduce food waste?

Yeah, I think one of the great things is reducing food waste really can be tackled without needing to buy any special equipment. Uh, Brianne talked it earlier about meal planning. Meal planning is a great way to reduce your food waste and you can do meal planning with an app on your phone or just a piece of paper and a pen. Um, And, and including items in, into that meal planning that you can make in batches and freeze can help reduce waste as well as finding recipes that you can maybe make as a base and then use in different ways throughout the week so that you’re also getting a little variety in your diet as well.

I think also again, when we’re grocery shopping, really sticking to our list is important. Often if we go to the store hungry, our eyes get a little big and we tend to buy things that weren’t on our list. So, if you can try to have a snack before you go, I think that can really help you just really focus on the essentials, um, and, and reducing food waste.

I think, right, being very intentional with what you are picking up at the store. I think, too, sometimes when you have leftovers, um, I remember, um, growing up, my mom had a pie plate, and, right, she would make a pie for someone, give it to the neighbor, and then the next week, that pie plate would come back to us with a different pie or something else in it. And I think about, right, if you have some extra, if you like your neighbors next door, or you they’re across the street, right, if you make something that you like, maybe share that with your neighbors as well. Not everybody eats the same way that you do, and there’s an opportunity to share your culture and your food diversity with others.

Oh, I love that strategy of sharing and the, the saying of never return a dish empty. I love that approach. Um, thank you all. Um, any final words of advice that you all might have for our listeners who may be interested in getting started with putting sustainability on the menu in their homes?

Yeah, I think it’s important for people to know that every small step or action really does make a difference if everyone took small steps towards supporting sustainability at home, such as shopping more locally and seasonally or learning how to reduce food waste. Those small steps would add up exponentially to a huge impact on a global level. And I think it’s always easier to do it together. So get your kids involved, get your partner involved, get your friends involved. And you know, when everyone’s doing it together, it feels a lot easier.

Absolutely. And I think I can close this out by saying, right, you never know when you’re being a role model, right? The actions that you take are being observed by others all the time. And you have that opportunity to kind of be a leader and maybe lead with some quiet inspiration with what you’re doing.

Love it. Thank you all so much. I really appreciate everyone joining us today.

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