As a nutritionist and agronomist engineer with a PhD in food science, I marvel everyday at how food can transform people’s lives.
It’s something I see everyday at my workplace, one of the largest private hospitals in Brazil where Sodexo serves almost 5,000 meals a day. As an example, patients may have high blood pressure and be on a reduced salt diet. We serve delicious meals full of flavor, seasoned with herbs. They leave feeling better and have been introduced to a new way of preparing healthy meals.
You have to get creative with adults. We have formed habits over a lifetime, and it’s difficult for us to change. But it is possible. I’ve discovered that many of the same strategies I perfected when I planned menus for elementary school students work with adults too. We are all human, and we can all retrain our palettes. What’s more, when we pay attention to how good our bodies feel on a healthy diet, we begin to fuel it with those foods.
Food as Medicine
The human body is an amazing creation, and when you feed it the proper nutrition, it can often recover faster and heal itself.It’s something I see everyday at my workplace, one of the largest private hospitals in Brazil where Sodexo serves almost 5,000 meals a day. As an example, patients may have high blood pressure and be on a reduced salt diet. We serve delicious meals full of flavor, seasoned with herbs. They leave feeling better and have been introduced to a new way of preparing healthy meals.
Getting Creative
As product manager, I love coming up with creative ways to add more diversity to a menu. We can combine different foods for optimal nutritional value. Or we can add more color to a plate with simply prepared fruits and vegetables.You have to get creative with adults. We have formed habits over a lifetime, and it’s difficult for us to change. But it is possible. I’ve discovered that many of the same strategies I perfected when I planned menus for elementary school students work with adults too. We are all human, and we can all retrain our palettes. What’s more, when we pay attention to how good our bodies feel on a healthy diet, we begin to fuel it with those foods.
My Dream Job
This is my second role with Sodexo after nearly 18 years in the profession. I joined the company three years ago as area manager, overseeing Sodexo’s contracts at five hospitals and three nursing homes in Sao Paulo.
When this current opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance to work at such an important hospital and be part of the clinical community. I’m also excited by the idea of creating positive change, because together with my 300 colleagues, we are standardizing the nutrition service here before introducing it to other hospitals.
Find out more about a career with Sodexo Health & Care
This article was created by Ana Paula Fioravante Bernardes Silva, a product manager for Sodexo Health & Care in Sao Paulo.
