The Christ Hospital Restaurant Partnership offers heart healthy fare at independently owned eateries

Nearly two dozen local restaurants across Greater Cincinnati have teamed up with Christ Hospital to offer easily-identifiable heart-healthy eats on their menus.

Part of The Christ Hospital Restaurant Partnership launched in February, participating restaurants are all independently owned, and dishes in the program are made to meet guidelines set by the American Heart Association's Step I Heart Healthy Diet. Each qualifying menu item is marked by the Christ Hospital tower symbol. 

"We applaud these restaurants for taking an active role in caring for their customers' heart health," said Susan Croushore, President and CEO of The Christ Hospital. "They have created some spectacular dishes that taste great without excess calories, fat and cholesterol."

The participating restaurants include Cincinnati Sports Club Deli in Fairfax, Chalk Food + Wine in Covington, Lavomatic Café downtown, Café Bella in Mason and The Polo Grille in Mason.  You can find a complete list here.

Before displaying the hospital's tower symbol, partnership restaurants must submit recipes to The Christ Hospital for confidential analysis using NutriBase nutrition software. To be considered "heart healthy" each meal must be less than 650 calories, have less than 20 grams total fat, less than seven grams saturated fat, less than 800 mg sodium and less than 100 mg cholesterol.

"The initial response from local restaurants has been phenomenal and includes a wide range of foods for all kinds of tastes," said Cheri Miller, M.S., coordinator of The Christ Hospital Restaurant Partnership. "As additional restaurants express interest in joining the program, we expect to be able to expand the list of dining options well into the future."

Heart Healthy isn't code for bland. Check out these options from one of the newest partner's Andy’s Mediterranean Grille in Walnut Hills: Salmon with Lebanese salad; Tuna with hummus and Lebanese fries; Andy's Vegetarian kabob with rice and Baba Ghannouj, Andy's Greek salad or Lebanese salad; Andy's shish kabob (beef) with rice and Lebanese salad.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: The Christ Hospital

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