Eating out doesn’t have to mean consuming too many calories or too much fat. That’s why Cathy Fitzgerald is so passionate about her job as a registered dietitian for the U-M Health System MFit Health Promotion Division’s MFit Healthy Dining Program. She is on a mission to provide people with healthy options when they dine at their favorite restaurants.
“As Americans, we should be eating heart-healthy meals, since more people die from heart disease than any other disease,” she says.
Fitzgerald started her quest in 1995 when she became a dietitian after teaching elementary school and preschool.
She found her dietary purpose in life when the MFit Healthy Dining Program began in 1997. The goal of the program is to guide people to healthier food choices in restaurants and cafeterias.
“This is kind of my baby,” she says. “I have been on it since ground floor.”
In her job as an MFit dietitian, Fitzgerald works to determine what items on participating restaurants’ menus meet the requirements to qualify as an MFit sanctioned item.
“As a dietitian, I can tell from reading a description of a meal whether there is a possibility that it will meet our guidelines. From that we take a closer look at the recipe,” she says.
This closer look involves determining the fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium of the food, as well as the portion size of each salad, soup or entree.
For example, “if we are looking at a meat dish, such as a chicken breast or steak, we have limited the size of that meat to six ounces cooked, and in that way we help people limit the calories and fat they get from that piece of meat,” Fitzgerald says.
Fitzgerald works closely with the owners, managers and cooks in local restaurants, including Arbor Brewing Company, Stillwater Grill in Brighton, Mac’s Acadian Grill, Afternoon Delight, Lucky Kitchen and all Wendy’s in Washtenaw County. Many of these people have personal experiences with heart disease and are great advocates for the program, she says.
“I like hearing personal stories from the restaurant owners and mangers we work with. They really understand now that food can impact your health and food choices can make a difference,” she says.
Fitzgerald is not trying to undertake a sweeping revision of restaurant menus, but rather to identify the heart-healthy options already on them. Making healthy options more visible will increase the likelihood people choose them, she says.
“To work with us to identify four or five menu items is a great step in the right direction,” she says.
A growing number of people recognize the MFit logo as a symbol of health and wellness after seeing it at the more than 30 participating restaurants, grocery stores and other places, she says.
“People in this area associate health and wellness with our logo, so they are learning about healthier food choices every time they open a menu” at a participating restaurant, she says.
Fitzgerald uses MFit in her own life as a way to install healthy eating habits in her family.
“As a mom it makes me feel good to know that I’ve helped them develop habits that will reduce their risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity,” she says.
For more information about the program, visit http://www.mfitnutrition.com .
