Nutrition

The Mount Sinai Fit team brings together nutritional information as an essential part of our Wellness Program for faculty, employees, and students, because how and what you eat has a marked impact on your overall well-being. Our goal is to support your overall health and fitness, enjoyment, and satisfaction.

Mount Sinai faculty and staff members who have questions about nutritional needs can email wellness@mountsinai.org.

Nutrition and Wellness Coaching Program

As a UMR Plan member, through the Nutrition and Wellness Coaching program, you can get one-on-one coaching from a dietitian for an entire year to work towards a healthier lifestyle and body weight. Mount Sinai’s qualified and dedicated dietitians provide support to incorporate evidence-based nutrition changes in a way that drives long-term, positive behavioral change. You will receive:

Education about lifestyle practices that support sustainable, healthy weight, including a movement/exercise plan
Guidance in setting achievable goals
Nutritious meal plans

Throughout your participation, our dietitians will work in close collaboration with Mount Sinai physicians, pharmacists, and other members of your care team to ensure you have the support you need to achieve your highest level of health and well-being.

Learn more in this Mount Sinai Daily article:

The criteria for participation in the Nutrition and Wellness Coaching program
An alternative path for those not meeting the program’s criteria

For more details, please refer to these Frequently Asked Questions about the Nutrition and Wellness Coaching program.

A Heart-Healthy Approach

We are pleased to provide you with our new Heart-Healthy and Weight Management Guide to provide you with nutritious and delicious meal planning options and a way to record your health-related activities.

We encourage you to take advantage of as many Mount Sinai Fit nutritional meal planning resources, recipes, and tips as you like, trying new ways to make your meals and snacks healthy and enjoyable.

Meal Planning

By planning meals, you boost your ability to make the right choices. When you think about what you eat and follow the best practices that appeal to you and that you can envision adopting for your well-being, you are taking your well-being into your own hands.

To get started, you may want to download and print this 30-Day Meal Plan to guide your daily eating routine. It is complete with meal-by-meal suggestions and tracking pages for recording your meals and progress.

Epicured Prepared Foods

Another option for busy days is to have a prepared meal delivered for lunch or at the end of a long day. The Mount Sinai Health System is collaborating with Epicured, a health care company dedicated to using amazing food-as-medicine recipes.

Epicured’s meals are prepared by their Michelin-star chefs, reviewed by dietitians, based on clinical research, and delivered to your door so that you can enjoy fresh, healthy, delicious, and easy meals. Prices range from $8 to $20; free delivery is available, and Mount Sinai employees will receive a 20 percent discount on all orders. Visit the Epicured website to learn more and place an order. For assistance, the Epicured team is available via e-mail at service@getepicured.com.

And we share tips to for happy, healthy holidays that you can adopt all year round. For an easy-to-follow example of how our Wellness team adopts a healthy lifestyle, read about the C-H-E-S-S approach.

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is eating with attention and intention. By being mindful while planning and eating, you are more likely choose nourishing foods that are pleasing to your body. Living a healthy lifestyle does not mean eating foods you dislike, as there are many healthy options to choose from. By adopting the following behaviors, you are on the path toward eating mindfully.

Rate your hunger with a hunger scale: Mindful eating involves learning to be aware of physical hunger and satiety or sufficiency cues to guide a decision to begin and end a meal or snack. You can learn to do this by practicing rating your hunger on a scale ranging from 1 to 10, with 1 being starving and 10 being completely stuffed. When creating a hunger scale, imagine the feelings of hunger and different levels of fullness. As you are about to eat and as you are eating, rate these feelings on your personal hunger scale. As a good practice, instead of waiting until hunger is at a 1 (starving) to start eating, eat when hunger is at a 3 or 4. And it is a good idea to stop eating when hunger is about a 7 or 8. By being aware of your levels of satisfaction or fullness, you are allowing your brain’s satiety signs to communicate with you. Practice makes perfect. Try keeping a journal of a hunger scale and tracking the way it feels at each number.

Making the right choices: To assist in making mindful food choices, our Registered Dietitians created a healthy eating plan full of suggestions about what healthful foods to eat and nutritious replacements for unhealthy foods. By following an eating plan, you are putting yourself on the path of making mindful choices.

Creating a healthy plate: An ideal plate has the following components and mindful proportions:

Fill half the plate with non-starchy vegetables (peppers, mixed greens or lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus)
Add to that a quarter of the plate with a lean protein (fish, chicken, turkey)
To the remaining quarter of the plate, add a high fiber grain or legume (whole wheat pasta, brown rice)

Healthy nutritionally balanced plates may include these foods in the half-quarter-quarter plate proportions:

Grilled chicken (quarter) with sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, garlic (half) and brown rice (quarter)
Salmon (quarter) with whole wheat pesto pasta (quarter) and broccoli (half)

Healthy fats: It is important to be mindful of the types of fat you consume. Monounsaturated fats (olive oil and olives, canola oil, avocado, almonds, peanuts, nut butters, pumpkin and sunflower seeds) can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood, which can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. These healthy sources of fat can also add flavor, help satisfy your appetite and are a great source of vitamin E.

Sugar: To maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is important to be mindful of the ingredients, especially sugar, in the foods and beverages you are consuming, and to make thoughtful choices. When purchasing prepared foods, you must check the amount of sugar on the nutrition label.

Be mindful about your sugar consumption:

Notice the serving size and the amount of sugar per serving. Try to choose foods that have less than eight grams of sugar per serving.
Pay attention to hidden sugars (high fructose corn syrup, cane juice, etc.) in the ingredient list.
Soft drinks like soda have a lot of sugar in them, and it is important to recognize that fruit juices like orange juice have a lot of sugar, as well. One serving of orange juice has 22 grams of sugar. Instead of mindlessly reaching for sugary drinks, try water or seltzer, which you can add orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, ginger, cucumber slices, or mint leaves to.
Rather than adding sugar to your coffee, try cinnamon or nutmeg.
Consider eating foods that are high in dietary fiber and that have naturally occurring sugars that your body can more easily break down. It takes your body longer to break down fiber in the body, creating a sense of fullness (refer to your hunger scale) longer. Choose foods with three grams of dietary fiber or more. Some examples are black beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, kidney beans, apples, raspberries, strawberries, and almonds, pistachios, walnuts (beans, fruits, and nuts).

Shopping list: Making healthy choices while shopping can seem overwhelming. Here are a few tips to help you be mindful during grocery shopping:

Plan what groceries to buy before arriving at the market. This makes it less tempting to buy unnecessary items. You may want to use this list as your own grocery checklist.
Try not to shop when you are hungry (refer to your hunger scale), so you are not tempted to buy less healthy options.
Most stores have their fresh produce on the perimeter of the store. Be mindful of shopping the perimeter to ensure making wholesome food choices. Avoid temptation by wandering down the inner aisles where processed foods are stocked, especially if there is nothing on your list in those aisles.
Plan meals for the week and shop only for those ingredients.
Cook in bulk so there are leftovers for the week or freeze them to eat for a future meal.
Visit green markets for local seasonal produce. Mount Sinai’s green market is open June to November. Read about it here.

Mindful Snack Choices

Set yourself up for success and satisfaction by planning to enjoy these snacks to manage your hunger scale:

Greek yogurt
One-fourth cup of dried fruit with 12 almonds
Half cup low fat cottage cheese with half cup fresh fruit
One string cheese with one medium apple
Whole wheat crackers with one tablespoon peanut butter or one tablespoon Nutella®
Two tablespoons of hummus with crackers
One cup berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, or raspberries) layered with vanilla yogurt
Smoothie made with one cup low-fat yogurt, half banana, and half cup strawberries
20 peanuts or 15 almonds
Two tablespoons guacamole with bell pepper slices or baby carrots
Eight-ounce milk (skim, soy, or almond) with one package of Carnation Breakfast Essentials
Albacore tuna salad on one piece of whole wheat bread
Smoothie made with four ounces vanilla yogurt, half banana, three tablespoons peanut butter, one-fourth cup milk, and one-fourth cup ice
Two squares of dark chocolate with one-fourth cup dried cherries or cranberries

Nutrition Tips

Mount Sinai Fit encourages you to take a common-sense approach to your daily eating regime. Follow these tips to help you manage what you eat and drink, and to reduce your risk of diabetes.

Drink for hydration: Hydration is imperative to good health. We recommend water as the best choice to stay well hydrated. You may choose sparkling water, unsweetened tea, or water with mint or a squeeze of lemon or lime. Also, consider carrying around a reusable water bottle. Avoid high calorie juices or soda that can increase blood sugar and that do not provide good hydration.
Add protein: Protein can help your body maintain muscle and build bones. Choose lean sources of protein like fish, white meat of chicken with the skin removed, or pork tenderloin, eggs, beans, tofu, nuts, low fat and fat-free milk and yogurt. Beans are a great source of protein and fiber; a half cup of cooked chickpeas has about 20 grams of protein. Beans also supply potassium, magnesium, and iron. Add more beans to your diet by including chickpeas in salads, choosing lentil soup, or adding mashed beans to a quesadilla.
Healthy fats are good for you: Various fats have different effects on health. Some fats offer health-protective benefits, such as monounsaturated fats (nuts, olive oil, and avocados). Avocados have vitamins E, C, B6, potassium, and fiber that improve blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of heart disease. Try adding avocado to salad, soup, smoothies, and sandwiches.
Eat seasonally: For better taste and nutritional value, choose local produce that you can eat close to the place and the time it is harvested.
Check labels: Scan labels for added sweeteners (cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, agave, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, and raw sugar). Try using fresh fruits and vegetables (bananas, sweet potatoes, and apples) that are naturally sweet when baking or cooking. You can avoid sugar by adding a mashed banana to your oatmeal in the morning for sweetness.
Satisfying combos: By combining protein with fiber, you will feel more satisfied for meals and snacks. You may also want to try carrots with hummus or a sliced apple with touch of peanut butter for a satisfying snack.
Stick with your plan: One of the best ways to maintain your good eating practices is to have a meal plan. To stay on track, you may want to bring your own meals and snacks from home when you are going out or to the office. Cooking extra the night before assures you have a ready-made lunch for the next day. Have healthy snacks on hand, such as nuts. Create a schedule and make the time for your meals and snacks.
Prep to enjoy: Take some time to prepare red, green, or yellow peppers, broccoli or cauliflower florets, carrots, celery sticks, cucumbers, snap peas, or whole radishes. Keep cut vegetables handy for mid-afternoon snacks, side dishes, lunch box additions, or a quick nibble while waiting for dinner.

Food Fit for Life Nutrition Series

Registered Dietitians lead our Food Fit for Life program, available here in presentations mode for your use. Refer to this information at your own pace. Set up as a week-by-week guide, this series can help you achieve long-term lifestyle changes as you enjoy nutritious and delicious food.

Recipes for Life

When you eat well, you are on the right path to being well. By preparing healthy, delicious recipes you are actively involved making it possible to improve your quality of life. What you eat can have a positive effect on your well-being, especially when you plan, prepare, and enjoy your food.

We suggest adopting some of the following practices around your meals to help enhance your well-being:

Start lunch or dinner (or even breakfast) with a salad or vegetable
Top your salad with one of our delicious and healthy salad dressings, like this one
Follow your meal with a walk for an invigorating “dessert”

The Mount Sinai Fit team offers these recipes in the hope that you find pleasure and satisfaction as an essential part of your cooking and dining experiences.

Mount Sinai Fit Cookbook Shelf

Each of our cookbooks has a unique theme and is full of delicious recipes and beautifully illustrated pages—our gift to you, just as preparing, sharing, and enjoying new recipes is a gift you can give to others, and to yourself. We encourage you to follow the recipes as written or modify them to suit your tastes.

Reach Your Peak Recipes

Reach Your Peak is a team-based wellness walking challenge designed to reinforce the benefits of setting, achieving, and sustaining personal health goals. During the challenge, you will have many unique opportunities to focus on movement, exercise, and nutrition to encourage a balanced approach to managing life’s daily stressors.

Here are some our teams’ favorite recipes to fuel walking:

Families Cooking Around the World

Throughout the Health System, hospital leadership, senior executives, and clinicians have participated in these events as our executive chefs, demonstrating how to cook tasty and nutritious recipes that we share here with you. Watch this cooking demo and be sure to join us when you come to a location near you.

Mount Sinai families share their favorite recipes, along with their stories, which our executive chefs have prepared during lunch-and-learn cooking demonstrations.

Meet Our Dieticians

Rachele Paolucci, MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES, is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist who specializes in chronic disease prevention and weight management. Rachele works with the Diabetes Alliance Team at Mount Sinai, supporting the Employee Nutrition and Wellness Coaching and Employee Weight Management programs. Rachele is committed to working with employees to build individualized action plans that support sustainable change and lifelong well-being. Rachele's focus is on making small healthy habit changes overtime that can lead to the kinds of impactful changes that will allow you to unlock your healthiest self yet.

Kailey Ogilvie MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES, is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist. She is passionate about helping people move away from restrictive dieting and toward sustainable, lifelong habits that support their health. She specializes in weight management and believes that improving your health doesn't have to mean cutting out the foods you enjoy. Kailey will collaborate with you to find a balanced, realistic approach to nourishing your body to align with your goals, fit your lifestyle, and support your overall well-being. Her mission is ensuring that you feel confident and in control of your health through personalized nutrition, mindful choices, and a focus on progress rather than perfection.