Exploring Cultural Diversity in Nutrition

Culture significantly impacts the meals a person eats and their relationships with food. Delivery services offering a range of culturally preferred foods can give vulnerable populations a sense of home and familiarity. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web page, “The term ‘culturally preferred foods’ is used here to describe safe and nutritious foods that meet the diverse tastes and needs of customers based on their cultural identity.” For example, individuals following the principles of certain religions may prefer halal or kosher meals. LifeSpring Home Nutrition is committed to meeting people’s nutritional needs by focusing on cultural diversity and inclusivity when preparing new dishes and developing meal plans.

What Is Cultural Diversity?

Everyone has different dietary needs and food preferences. If the foods people eat are familiar and comforting, they are more likely to make healthy changes to their diet. LifeSpring Home Nutrition offers various foods to meet people’s personal, religious, cultural, and medical needs. Cultural diversity in meal delivery allows people to try new types of foods, expanding their tastes and nutritional knowledge. Those who receive home-delivered meals benefit from eating culturally diverse foods.

LifeSpring offers a range of meals to meet people’s cultural preferences, which ensures the following:

• Clients can explore new foods and diets outside their own culture
• People have access to familiar meals tailored to their medical needs
• Clients feel confident their delivered meals will adhere to their personal dietary beliefs

Individuals taking advantage of home-delivery services choose from an extensive catalog of meal options, including Halal foods. These diverse offerings ensure everyone finds something to match their needs. LifeSpring Home Nutrition considers people’s religious, cultural, and personal preferences during meal planning and preparation. In addition, the meal preparation and delivery teams are educated to accommodate cultural diversity. Providing nourishing, culturally appropriate foods increases people’s pleasure from eating high-quality home-delivered meals.

Culture and Diet

A person’s living environment, general health, and desire to adhere to cultural norms or expectations directly impact their diet. According to Clinical Liver Disease, “Awareness and understanding of cultural beliefs and practices as it relates to nutrition, such as eating patterns and sources of nutrition, is important.”

In addition, “[A]n understanding of frequently consumed protein sources among various cultures is essential because high‐protein foods are a common component of nutrition education for various diseases and conditions, such as liver disease.” Individuals with special dietary needs should be able to eat healthy foods that meet their cultural preferences and medical needs.

How Does Cultural Diversity Impact a Person’s Diet and Health?

Culture often impacts how people think about food from a very young age. In addition, cultural beliefs about food may increase or reduce the diversity of a person’s diet. A limited diet often contributes to malnutrition and other conditions.

People experiencing health issues may have difficulty preparing or accessing diverse foods without the help of outside resources like meal delivery services. Nutritional diversity addresses multiple health issues people may experience and reduces the risk of preventable diseases by ensuring that people eat a varied diet containing essential vitamins and minerals.

Culture Offers Positive and Negative Influences

A person’s culture may affect their nutritional health in negative and positive ways. A few examples of positive and negative cultural influences include the following:

• Southern diets are often high in sodium and saturated fats, increasing the risk of preventable diseases.
• Vietnamese diets offer a healthy variety of vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins, folate, biotin, zinc, copper, magnesium, and potassium.
• Halal meals have the potential to reduce foodborne illnesses.

LifeSpring Home Nutrition respects every person’s culture and attempts to provide the healthiest versions of well-loved cultural dishes. For example, Southern dishes are prepared using whole foods and lower sodium to increase nutrition while giving people a taste of home. Clients choose from a catalog of dishes inspired by cultures from all over the world.

Sensitivity to Cultural Diversity at LifeSpring Home Nutrition

Home-delivered meals allow people to try new cultural dishes they may not otherwise have access to, bringing comfort and joy to the table. Every meal provides people with a balance of nutrients and delicious taste. Culturally diverse foods can improve a person’s diet by increasing the types of healthy foods they consume regularly. The meal-planning team practices cultural sensitivity by ensuring that each dish is carefully researched and prepared.

High-quality ingredients and a wide variety of dishes allow people to try new things while also enjoying the comfort foods they have enjoyed since childhood. LifeSpring Home Nutrition understands that many feel emotionally attached to certain meals and ingredients. Many meal options are available to ensure clients choose the meals that appeal to their personal and cultural preferences.

Halal Meal Options

Millions of people follow halal principles. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), “Halal diets typically do not permit pork products, alcohol and products that contain alcohol, or products containing ingredients that use non-halal animal-derived products.” LifeSpring Home Nutrition follows strict meal preparation rules and guidelines to create halal meals. In addition to providing halal meals, LifeSpring also offers other religious and culturally specific foods, including vegetarian dishes.

Food is an integral part of many cultures. The foods people eat are often directly tied to various aspects of their identity. Cultural diversity in meal delivery allows people to experience familiar foods or explore new dishes. LifeSpring Home Nutrition understands the importance of offering people the dignity of choice. Many people find familiar cultural dishes comforting. Nutritional planning and meal preparation offer people another way to improve their overall health and emotional well-being by helping them build a positive connection with food. LifeSpring Home Nutrition provides a variety of culturally diverse meal options. To learn more about our delivery services and the foods we offer, contact our office today by calling (800) 798-5767.