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How to Create a Heart-Healthy Menu in Long Term Care

Today, older adults are looking for nutritious dining options with qualities that support cardiovascular health—for instance, a low sodium content—and variety can be key.¹ When asked about what’s most important to senior citizens when considering long-term care, a prospective resident said, “I think good-tasting food with friendly staff is one thing I would be looking for. Healthy options and variety, too.”¹

Balancing heart-healthy options with taste can be a tall order. Thankfully, Campbell’s Foodservice helps operators provide a positive experience for long-term care residents by offering a selection of nourishing, delicious soups and easy-to-execute recipes. Of course, you’ll need to consult patients’ medical teams before introducing new menu items.

Read on to learn how Campbell’s Foodservice can make menu planning easier for long-term care kitchen staff.

What Is a Heart-Healthy Diet?

In addition to monitoring calorie intake and engaging in regular physical activity when possible, the American Heart Association recommends eating nutrient-rich foods—including fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats—and limiting the consumption of saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugar.²

Some of the following relatively small dietary changes can potentially provide considerable cardiovascular benefits.

What to Avoid for a Heart-Healthy Diet

Foods That Can Benefit a Heart-Healthy Diet

Use olive or canola oil instead of saturated and trans fats like butter and margarine.
Feature lean proteins like boneless, skinless chicken breast, lean ground meat and poultry, and fish to reduce saturated fats.
Add in sources of omega-3 fatty acids like tuna, nuts, and seeds. Residents with difficulty chewing or swallowing may have trouble with whole nuts, so grinding or powdering the nuts makes them easier to digest while still offering the nutritional benefits.
Add beans and legumes such as black beans, chickpeas, cannellini beans, or lentils. These foods are a great source of lean protein and fiber. Foodservice staff can mash, puree, or finely mince beans into soups for added protein, depending on residents’ chewing abilities. It’s best to introduce beans gradually in smaller portions so consumers can get accustomed to the texture.
Fit more fiber into your menus with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain menu options. Most people do not consume enough fiber, so adding more at every meal and snack occasion can help residents meet their needs. Fruit compotes, smoothies, or stewed fruits can be a fiber-forward, easy-to-digest side.

Making Heart-Healthy Meals a Reality

Determining how to incorporate multiple servings of fiber, protein, and other healthy elements into long-term care menus daily may seem challenging. Soup can be an easy way to incorporate these positive nutrients into a diet. Given that 84% of U.S. consumers say they either love or like soup, this format should appeal to a number of residents.⁵

Varieties like Campbell’s® Low Sodium Chicken Noodle Soup can help operators trim prep time and provide a delicious, fulfilling snack or component to a meal. The blend of tender chicken, egg noodles, carrots, celery, and savory chicken stock needs only to be heated and stirred before being served.

Campbell’s Foodservice also offers other reduced-sodium selections, like its Low Sodium Vegetable Soup, composed of a rich beef stock, chunks of potato, toasted barley, and other hearty ingredients, and its Low Sodium Tomato Soup with Tomato Pieces, a combination of diced tomatoes, butter, and a splash of Sauternes wine—an ideal afternoon snack or first course.

Long-Term Care Menu Planning Strategies

Offer Variety and Balance

Nutrient-rich soups can add variety to long-term care dining plans in numerous ways—whether they’re presented on menus as a standalone item or used to infuse dishes with an array of flavors and textures.

Offering a rotation of seasonal soups lets operators utilize ingredients that are available at different times of year to provide a continuously diverse dining experience for residents.

Lean In to Global Flavors

Operators can also opt to include heart-healthy menu items based on types of international cuisine, which has become increasingly popular with U.S. consumers in recent years. Baby Boomers are seeking global flavors, increased variety, and higher-quality dining options—and the lack of them may be why patient and resident satisfaction has declined since 2022.^{1, 6}

Regularly serving themed-soup menu items, such as a midweek Mexican selection, could palatably introduce novel tastes. More than half (62%) of Boomer-age Americans say they prefer to try new foods as part of a familiar menu item, making soup the perfect way to introduce new flavor profiles.⁷

Recipes with a Global Twist to Consider

Lightened-Up Chicken Enchiladas made with Campbell’s® Condensed Healthy Request® Cream of Chicken Soup and Pace® Picante Sauce

Recipe

Santa Fe Chicken Sauté made with Campbell’s® Healthy Request® Condensed Tomato Soup

Recipe

Using Soup to Boost Hydration

Soup can possibly provide other health-related benefits. Soup dishes may be easier to tolerate and more comforting than solid food for patients in long-term care, and can supply electrolytes that have been lost due to illness.⁸

Soups can also help long-term care residents increase their overall fluid intake. Research has found that as people age, their thirst response decreases, which can lead to dehydration.⁹

Be sure to offer top-selling soups like Campbell’s® Culinary Reserve Healthy Request® Chicken with Egg Noodles Soup, Campbell’s® Culinary Reserve Healthy Request® Mediterranean Style Vegetable Soup, and Campbell’s® Culinary Reserve Healthy Request® Harvest Tomato with Basil Soup to keep menu options varied.

Implementing a Heart-Healthy Foodservice Program

For maximum menu effect, foodservice team members need to fully comprehend how soup can be nutritionally beneficial as a standalone or as an ingredient in a meal.

Workshops on nutrition can also be advantageous to employees, whether hosted by your senior cooking staff or outsourced to other professionals with experience in long-term care. Look for classes or webinars on the following topics:

The importance of understanding heart-healthy cooking:

How to add flavor without using salt:

How to make soups appealing and nutritious:

With the ability to pack a hefty amount of nutrient-loaded ingredients, soup can play an important role in maintaining cardiovascular health.

Whether Campbell’s Foodservice soups are combined with inventive ingredients for a new take on flavor profiles or used as an ingredient in dishes, they can help address resident nutritional needs—and simultaneously allow operators to save time, stay within budget, and have an opportunity for culinary creativity.

1 Technomic, Healthcare Multi-Client Study, 2024

2 American Heart Association, The American Heart Association Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations, July 30, 2024

3 American Heart Association, Sodium

4 American Heart Association, Saturated Fat, August 23, 2024

5 Datassential, Global Soups, September 2023

6 Mintel, U.S. Regional and International Cuisines Market Report, 2024

7 FONA International, Consumer Insights – Baby Boomers, August 2, 2022

8 Elise Mandl, “The 14 Best Foods to Eat When You’re Nauseous,” Healthline, January 12, 2024

9 Emily Eng, “Dehydration in Middle-Aged and Older Adults May Lead to Attention Challenges,” Penn State, May 22, 2024