Tag F741 Non-pharmacological Approaches starts with Food Preferences: What is your Personal Biography of Nutrition?

One example of individualized, non-pharmacological approaches to help meet behavioral health needs of all ages listed by CMS at Tag F741 is

• Ensuring adequate hydration and nutrition (e.g., enhancing taste and presentation of food, addressing food preferences to improve appetite and reduce the need for medications intended to stimulate appetite); exercise; and pain relief;

Everyone who works in any kind of LTC home runs into food preferences on the part of those who live there no matter our role really. Share this with your dining team for sure and really everyone. Make it fun to intentionallyknow individuals’ food preferences.

We all know food is important… to all of us. What are Baby Boomers most known for? Could it be “I want what I want when I want it”? I contend we should be so good at this by now.

I was very blessed to facilitate Creating Home II: A National Symposium on Culture change and the Food and Dining Requirements co-sponsored by CMS and the Pioneer Network which resulted in a task force I also facilitated that developed the New Dining Practice Standards (2011). The Standards are so helpful to all professionals. I highly recommend you go get them at www.pioneernetwork.net and share copies with your team. In a nutshell they help professionals help people eat what they really want to eat.

Something we ran across was a small research study in a nursing home whereby the team discovered that each person has their very own Individual Biography of Nutrition. Even without me explaining it, what would yours be? It starts to be self-explanatory when you think about it, doesn’t it? My individual/personal biography of nutrition would be… what I like to eat, want to eat, can’t eat, etc. It is the story of you – biography – related to food and nutrition for you. It’s so much more than likes and dislikes.

Here is the rich work we ran into:

As we know that residents have their very individual biography of nutrition and are experts in preparing meals, the cook meets every week with small groups discussing a variety of food- and meal- related topics. The cook gets to know each individual resident, learns their wishes, expectations, skills, and expertise….

We observe life becomes normal, livelier, residents eat much better, loneliness,
helplessness and monotony are reduced. Residents need less medicine and sleep much better.(Hoffmann, AT. Quality of Life, Food Choice and Meal Patterns – Field Report of a Practitioner. Ann, Nutr Metab 2008; 52 (suppl 1): 20?24).

Whoa. Did you take that all in? So, what is your Individual Biography of Nutrition?

Start with you and then ask those who live where you work. Look up the referenced field report. Start your own list of what that might mean to you. I have a long list I will start to share in the next article. For those of you in certified nursing homes, this is basically required. It is here in Tag 741 for behavioral health. Does food help your behavioral health? Mine too. It is very apropos that CMS listed food preference first.

Then, did you know? There are 232 references to preferences in all of the CMS regulations, in the State Operation Manual!

Get your team to rally around talking about food preferences proactively all the time. Don’t let it belong only to the dining team (note not dietary department which is old, institutional, military language). Honor those who live where you work and their food journey. Ask more questions about their experiences with cooking, baking, grilling, smoking, canning and for their opinions and tips. They’re experts. Notice the outcomes of the study… normalcy, people are livelier, eat better, experience less loneliness, helplessness, monotony, need less medication, and sleep better! Wow. You could help this be the story of the home where you work in honor of those who live and eat there.

Carmen Bowman, MHS, Regulator turned Educator of Edu-Catering: Catering Education for Compliance and Changing Institutional Culture is an activities/engagement/community life, regulatory compliance and culture change consultant.  She offers new or not-yet-qualified activity director consultation and personalized continuing education for professionals/teams/associations. At www.edu-catering.com join The Be Encouraged Blog, Become a Leader of Normal Life with the eResource GUARDIANS OF NORMAL LIFE: How Activity/ Recreation/ Engagement/Community Life Professionals can Save the World of LTC and share with your team the eBook Individualizing Medication Administration using Regulations. At the Edu-Catering YouTube channel, see the documentary that highlights changing institutional