What Makes a Medically Tailored Meal?

To start us off, when we say medically tailored meal, what does that actually mean?

Well, at Open Hand, I usually like to say something like, at Open Hand, we provide meals that are friendly to a condition you may have.

So, for example, if you have diabetes, we'll provide you a meal already portioned that has the right amount of carbohydrates.

Or if you have heart disease, we'll provide you with a meal that's low in sodium.

But I also add that our team of dietitians will work with you to help better manage your condition and make sure you're receiving the right meals to help you get better or that your doctor told you that you need to eat.

You know, so meaning that our dietitians have already looked at the nutrients in the meals and make sure that they're nutritious, yet still very flavorful.

You'll want to eat them and have all the good stuff.

You know, we talk about balance and color, variety, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, etc.

And so all of our meals have those components in them.

And as an added bonus, we'll deliver these meals directly to your house.

That is such an important distinction, Laura, that in addition to the nutrition standards, home delivery is part of this intervention.

Because to build on what you described, medically tailored meals are more than just the meal itself.

It is an intervention, a comprehensive process of delivering medically tailored nutrition where a client's referred to the agency with the involvement of healthcare personnel and various assessments are conducted, including a nutrition risk assessment and a nutrition assessment with a registered dietitian that then creates the meal plan.

that is tailored for the specific medical conditions of the client.

The food that that is corresponding to is then cooked in the kitchen under the control of the agency, likely frozen to preserve nutrients and then home delivered to address any accessibility issues.

And then at periodic intervals, the client is reassessed and can also enjoy nutrition counseling and education.

That's exactly right, Alyssa.

You've talked a little bit about living with different conditions.

How is a medically tailored meal different from what most people would think of as a healthy diet?

We find that our clients are really dealing with a lot of different chronic conditions and our meals can be used as a support to support all the conditions that they're dealing with, really.

So if you're someone that may have recently been released from the hospital, you may not feel up to cooking for yourself or even going out to go shopping for those groceries or strong enough to stand and cook those meals.

So if we can provide these meals directly to your home and then you can just pop them in the microwave, then that's really going to help somebody feel better and feel supported and do better once they go and have those checkups with the doctor again.

So, Laura, it sounds like this isn't just about eating healthier.

It's about accessibility and about aligning nutrition with someone's medical needs.

Yes, that's right.

To start us off, when we say medically tailored meal, what does that actually mean?

Well, at Open Hand, I usually like to say something like, at Open Hand, we provide meals that are friendly to a condition you may have.

So, for example, if you have diabetes, we'll provide you a meal already portioned that has the right amount of carbohydrates.

Or if you have heart disease, we'll provide you with a meal that's low in sodium.

But I also add that our team of dietitians will work with you to help better manage your condition and make sure you're receiving the right meals to help you get better or that your doctor told you that you need to eat.

You know, so meaning that our dietitians have already looked at the nutrients in the meals and make sure that they're nutritious, yet still very flavorful.

You'll want to eat them and have all the good stuff.

You know, we talk about balance and color, variety, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, etc.

And so all of our meals have those components in them.

And as an added bonus, we'll deliver these meals directly to your house.

That is such an important distinction, Laura, that in addition to the nutrition standards, home delivery is part of this intervention.

Because to build on what you described, medically tailored meals are more than just the meal itself.

It is an intervention, a comprehensive process of delivering medically tailored nutrition where a client's referred to the agency with the involvement of healthcare personnel and various assessments are conducted, including a nutrition risk assessment and a nutrition assessment with a registered dietitian that then creates the meal plan.

that is tailored for the specific medical conditions of the client.

The food that that is corresponding to is then cooked in the kitchen under the control of the agency, likely frozen to preserve nutrients and then home delivered to address any accessibility issues.

And then at periodic intervals, the client is reassessed and can also enjoy nutrition counseling and education.

That's exactly right, Alyssa.

You've talked a little bit about living with different conditions.

How is a medically tailored meal different from what most people would think of as a healthy diet?

We find that our clients are really dealing with a lot of different chronic conditions and our meals can be used as a support to support all the conditions that they're dealing with, really.

So if you're someone that may have recently been released from the hospital, you may not feel up to cooking for yourself or even going out to go shopping for those groceries or strong enough to stand and cook those meals.

So if we can provide these meals directly to your home and then you can just pop them in the microwave, then that's really going to help somebody feel better and feel supported and do better once they go and have those checkups with the doctor again.

So, Laura, it sounds like this isn't just about eating healthier.

It's about accessibility and about aligning nutrition with someone's medical needs.

Yes, that's right.