Anyone who has been a patient, visitor, or employee at Montage Health has likely benefitted from the services provided by one of the organization’s approximately 120 Nutrition Services department staff.
The department’s clinical dietitians, food service workers, and outreach initiatives meet community members where they are to improve health through good nutrition.
The menu is vital to a patient’s comfort and healing, and the food service team makes healthy food that is appetizing. Our food service workers who make and deliver this food play such an important role in nurturing and feeding our patients and community every day.
— Angelica Phillips, Clinical Nutrition Manager, Montage Health
Clinical nutrition support
Montage Health’s inpatient and outpatient nutrition services help patients who have special dietary needs and those who have or are at risk for chronic illnesses like diabetes and obesity.
Inpatient nutrition support
Patients receive doctor-ordered nutrition guidelines to ensure their food is as nourishing and healing as possible with respect to special dietary requirements.
For example, a clinical dietitian works with the chef and food service workers to tailor carbohydrate amounts for patients with diabetes, or to ensure food is the right texture for patients with dysphagia.
“The menu is vital to a patient’s comfort and healing, and the food service team makes healthy food that is appetizing,” says Angelica Phillips, Clinical Nutrition Manager, Montage Health. “Our food service workers who make and deliver this food play such an important role in nurturing and feeding our patients and community every day.”
Outpatient nutrition support
Those living with or at risk for chronic illnesses like diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or obesity can get help managing their condition through custom one-on-one and group counseling sessions with a clinical dietitian.
Certified diabetes care and education specialists provide medical nutrition therapy personalized to patients’ individual needs, taste preferences, and lifestyle. Care focuses on the patient’s eating habits and diet, health goals, and medical history.
Dietitians also work closely with weight-loss surgery patients for preoperative nutrition assessments and guidance after surgery.
Community outreach
Nutrition Services’ family workshops, community outreach, and educational programs help people learn healthy nutrition habits and prevent chronic health issues like diabetes or obesity.
The programs emphasize small changes that can lead to big, long-term impacts with guidance including increasing fiber intake, hydration, and physical activity, and limiting the consumption of sweetened beverages and processed foods.
Kids Eat Right
Kids Eat Right brings curriculum for 4th and 5th graders into Monterey County schools, featuring five weekly sessions that use fun activities to teach the importance of eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, reading and understanding nutrition labels, and staying active.
Each session includes a fun physical activity or preparation of healthy dishes like rainbow penne pasta, fresh fruit burritos, and tasty tostadas.
The program also offers opportunities for the community with Fitness and Nutrition 101, a workshop that focuses on healthy recipes, nutrition guidelines, and physical activity, and Health in Action, a free, hour-long event where families prepare and enjoy a meal together while covering nutrition basics and ways to improve family fitness.
Healthy Together
The program provides six sessions with topics including goal setting, creating a healthy plate, moderating screen time and stress, getting enough sleep, staying active, understanding sugar, meal planning, and cooking.
Participants are connected with Everyone’s Harvest, which provides fresh bags of produce to families in need, and Double-up Food Bucks, which supports low-income households by doubling the amount of fresh California-grown produce families can purchase in locally owned grocery stores.
Meet our Nutrition Services team
Registered dietitians, Community Hospital.
Nutrition services staff, Community Hospital.
Nutrition services staff, Community Hospital.
Start your nutrition journey today
Montage Health’s Nutrition Services experts are here to help community members achieve their dietary and wellness goals.
“We support a healthy relationship with food without telling people what they can and can’t eat unless it’s medically necessary,” Phillips says. “If your favorite food is pizza, you should be able to eat pizza while incorporating ways to optimize your nutrition and blood sugar outcomes like adding greens to the meal to increase fiber and nutrients, eating mindfully, and sustaining healthy movements habits.”
