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Female Speaker: This program is a community service and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice. Listeners having questions about their health should make an appointment to see their personal physician. Any opinion or statements made during the program are those of the individuals or physicians making the statements and are not the opinions or statements of the hospitals.

Prakash Chandran (Host):   This Healthy Conversations COVID-19 podcast was recorded on October 13, 2020. Being in the midst of a pandemic means that we’re all taking extra precautions with just about anything that we do, but what precautions are necessary when it comes to what we eat during COVID-19. We’re going to talk about it today with Andrea Nenow, the director of food and nutrition services, and Alli McDonald, a registered dietician and the clinical nutrition manager both at Twin Cities community hospital. This is Healthy Conversations, the podcast from Tenet Health Central Coast. I'm Prakash Chandran. So first of all, it’s great to have you both here today. Alli, my first question is directed at you and it’s a fairly simple one. Is it actually safe to eat during COVID-19?

Allison (Alli) McDonald, MS, RD (Guest):   Absolutely. It’s actually very much encouraged. So we definitely want to avoid malnutrition during a pandemic.

Host:   Yeah. I think that there is so much fear around basically going outside and doing anything. So maybe this kind of leads into how we acquire our food. Shopping at the grocery stores or figuring out the right items to select. So Alli staying with you, I’d love to hear any tips that you might have around how to shop at the grocery store or select items that might be better choices than others.

Allison:   Yeah, I mean it’s absolutely important to follow the guidelines that whatever grocery store you're going to and whatever state you're in, follow the guidelines for social distancing. Making sure that you're using hand sanitizer as you enter the store if that’s provided, staying a healthy distance away from other shoppers, but really keep in mind that there is no current concrete evidence that the virus is being transmitted by good or food packaging. So while you want to maybe avoid touching high touch services like door handles, it’s really not something you need to worry about when it comes to selecting out your produce in the produce department for example like a fruit or a vegetable. That’s not really a high touch surface that we really need to worry about. It’s more we want to make sure that you're getting the foods that you need, and just keeping in mind that the virus really hasn’t been proven to be transmitted by food or food packaging.

Host:   Yeah, that is certainly a relief to hear. I do still think that there's going to be some apprehension just around how people their food home and handle their food. So Andrea, do you have any tips around how people can best do that?

Andrea Nenow, RD (Guest):   You know, to follow along what Alli said, there's really nothing to show that you need to wipe down all your boxes when you get them in your house. General food safety rules still apply in COVID. When it comes to fruit and vegetables even before COVID, it’s a good practice before you wash them before you're going to consume them because you're not going to heat them up to a point where if there was any bacteria on it that it would get killed. So following just safe standard food practices that have kind of always been around. So washing those fruits and veggies. A big thing when it comes to meat is thawing it appropriately. Not leaving it out on the counter at room temperature. We always want to thaw our meat either in the fridge or threw a microwave or with running water constantly pouring over it, not just sitting in a bowl of water. All of that still applies. Watch your dates on your items, especially if it’s a product that can spoil. Just make that you're consuming it when it’s at its adequate amount and appropriate shelf life and not kind of exposing yourself to something harmful at that point.

Host:   Andrea, I want to stay with you for a moment. I know Alli touched on this how there’s no real proof that anything is transmitted through the food itself, but I know that people listening to this will be wondering about the safety around going out to eat and eating outdoors. Are there any tips that you might have for them or things to be aware of if they do decide to eat outdoors at a restaurant?

Andrea:   No. I think going out is something that could be really valuable. I think sometimes we have to put our emotional health first. I think going out to eat, getting a different change of environment is really healthy. Kind of just like Alli said, when you are in those situations follow the guidelines with social distancing and everything like that. Restaurants are taking the same amount of precautions as the rest of us. So, again, when it comes back to the food itself, we know there’s not really a concern with that. So just following the general guidelines when you are out in a public area is all you really need to do.

Host: Alli I want to move onto you here. I just want to ask a little bit about any foods that we might consume that can help boost immunity or are just in general helpful for helping us keep healthy during this time.   

Allison:   Yeah. So first off I think it’s important for us to note that the immune system is a very complex system. Just like we don’t want an underactive immune system, we also don’t want an overactive immune system. So boosting it isn’t really what we’re looking to do. We’re really more looking at supporting it. So yes. There are nutrients that play a role in the immune system like vitamins A and C and zinc. However, really the evidence doesn’t show that a higher level of these is really going to cause the system to function better but rather just an adequate level. How do we get this? Really just by eating a balanced diet. So getting your fruits and veggies in. Getting your starches, your protein, your dairy. It’s all going to be really important in maintaining your health and really giving your body the best chance at fighting things.

Host:   Andrea, we talked a little bit about this earlier, but there are people, for example, that need to come into the hospital for whatever reason that might be just nervous in general to do so during a pandemic. They might also be thinking about food safety. So what exactly are the hospitals doing to keep food safe for patients?

Andrea:   Yes. Food safety in a hospital has always been a super high priority. It’s probably the number one priority I have being the director of a food operation in a hospital. To be honest, since COVID started there's nothing new that we've had to do because we’ve already had such strict processes in place to keep our patients safe and healthy especially when they might be in a situation where their immune system is more compromised, and their body is already trying to work to fight something off. So we have a lot of practices in place. We take temperatures at the end of every cooking process to ensure that that food item has gotten to a safe temperature where we know we don’t have to worry that bacteria or viruses are still potentially present in the food. We take temperatures before anything even goes on a patient plate and then, again, when we’re in the middle of our service to make sure that that food is maintain that correct temperature. Then we have domes and bases that the food actually gets put on and sealed under so that that food once it is plated can hold a safe temperature before it gets to the patient. We always try to get our food to the patient within 15 minutes of it being plated. Those domes and bases can actually hold that food at that temperature without it even dropping for upwards of 45 minutes. So if a patient has a procedure or they're busy with their nurse or something else, it’s okay for it to sit for a little bit and it will still be safe for them to eat.

Host:   Alli, I’d love for you to expand a little bit further on the actual delivery of the food to patients. Can you talk a little bit about how COVID has changed things in that respect?

Allison:   Yeah. So I mean we’ve taken some precautions in making sure that patients who maybe do test positive, we’re not going from room to room and spreading anything. So that patient population, we have the nurses deliver the food rather than having the same individual go from room to room and potentially spread something.

Andrea:   I can add onto that too. We also tend to deliver those patients on disposable dishware so that we’re ensuring that anything basically that goes into a COVID positive patient room doesn’t need to come out which also limits the exposure for the nursing staff but also ensures that a used plate doesn’t need to come back to the kitchen to be washed. It can be thrown away in the room once the patient’s done eating.

Host:   Yeah, that is very reassuring to hear. So just as we wrap up here, I would love to know what you both are doing just as people on the frontlines. What are you doing at home to keep some normalcy in your life since COVID began? Andrea, why don’t we start with you?

Andrea:   For me, the biggest thing has just been getting outside. I love the sun. I feel like I get a lot of energy and clarity and emotional health and mental health when I'm outside and just getting to breathe in fresh air. So even if it’s something small of just going in my backyard and sitting on the grass for 15 minutes a day or anything like that. Just very simple little things that have kind of refreshed me is just simply getting outside to be honest.

Host:   Alli, what about you?

Allison:   Yeah. I think that really making sure that I still have a lot of interaction with others, even if it’s not face to face. I've found during all of this that there are some pretty ingenious apps that let you facetime with your family and play games and that kind of thing. So really continuing to interact. I heard someone we shouldn’t call it social distancing as much as we should just call it physical distancing. Because really just like diet and exercise are really important and a part of a healthy lifestyle, so is relationship and interaction with your loved one. So taking advantage of the wonderful technology that we have these days.

Host:   Well, I think that is great advice and a perfect place to end. I thank you both so much for your time today. That’s Andrea Nenow, the director of food and nutrition services and Alli McDonald, a registered dietician and the clinical nutrition manager both at Twin Cities Community Hospital. Thanks for checking out this episode of Healthy Conversations. For more information, please visit tenethealthcentralcoast.com/about/podcast. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. This has been Healthy Conversations, the podcast from Tenet Health Central Coast. Thanks and we’ll see you next time.