Dinners for Life Introduced at the ADA’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo

Notes from Sunday, October 18th

Colorado Convention Center in Denver

Dream Dinners is proud to showcase the introduction of our new division, Dinners for Life at this year’s American Dietetic Association’s Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (ADA FNCE), held this week in Denver, CO. Dinners for Life offers delicious meals specifically designed to address the nutritional concerns of individuals with diabetes and will have its official launch next month to coincide with American Diabetes Month in November.

During the next three days 8,000 to 10,000 registered dietitians, nutrition science researchers, policy makers, health-care providers and industry leaders from across the United States and around the world are expected to attend the Denver conference.

Today was the first day of educational sessions and the opening of the Expo with 300 plus companies exhibiting emerging trends in the food and nutrition industry as well as the latest technologies, new resources and educational tools.

We had five people representing Dream Dinners at our booth today (#1922): Cindy Farricker, MS, RD, CDE, Dream Dinners corporate dietitian, Leslie Thomson, MS, RD a Dream Dinners Seattle store owner, Terra Loftman, regional manager and Parker Colorado Dream Dinners store owners Rhiannon Cochran and Sheila Klockow.  We had lots of traffic to our booth today and had the opportunity to personally talk with over 300 dietitians about the benefits of Dream Dinners and how it can help make the task of getting dinner on the table easier for themselves and/or for the individuals they counsel. We explained that Dream Dinners guests select three or six serving meals from our monthly menu of 17 different entrees on-line and assemble a month of tasty and healthy meals in one to two hours in one of our stores.

Dietitians attending were quick to understand the value, convenience and timesavings for themselves as well as usefulness as a tool in counseling their patients.  Traditionally patients are taught label reading, grocery shopping, recipe modification and restaurant ordering techniques as a means of improving the quality of the diet. Additionally they are taught methods to estimate appropriate portion sizes.  Many patients are unable to successfully implement all of these techniques and methods and over time fall back to old habits, a fact not lost on the dietitians we spoke with today.  Dream Dinners is the perfect solution to help patients learn first-hand about food ingredients, recipes, cooking without having to develop skills or take more time from their busy schedules to get dinner on the table.  In fact, a typical Dream Dinners entrée can be prepared at home in about the same amount of time that it takes to get “take out” or have a pizza delivered.

Our new division, Dinners for Life (DFL)and the diabetes friendly menu created quite a buzz.  Many dietitians shared their stories about how frustrated and confused their patients with diabetes feel about food.  When first diagnosed patient tends to focus almost entirely on carbohydrates and when they are prescribed as reduced sodium or reduced fat/heart healthy diet they simply throw up their hands and ask, “What can I eat?” Dinners for Life’s diabetes friendly menu allow individuals with diabetes to select delicious meals from a menu specifically designed to address their health concerns that the whole family can enjoy. The DFL diabetes menu was seen as an effective tool dietitians can use to help their patients eat healthy, reduce their risk of complications and allow them to be successful with lifestyle change.  Clearly DFL is a tool dietitians can use to improve the effectiveness and clinical outcomes of their counseling.

Check in tomorrow to learn more about what dietitians have to say about Dream Dinners and Dinners for Life and how they plan to use our menus to transform lives.