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With walls made from post-harvest sunflower seed husks and a heart-healthy menu, O’Naturals is a natural fit inside the LEED-certified Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, where the restaurant opened on the ground level last month.
“When BWH was selecting a restaurant for the Shapiro Center, we knew it had to have delicious, healthy food and operate in an environmentally-friendly way,” said Kathy McManus, RD, director of BWH Nutrition, who has worked with the restaurant since July 2007 to ensure that at least half of the items on the menu are heart-healthy. “O’Naturals met all of our criteria.”
“Heart-healthy” indicates that a food has no trans fat and low in saturated fat and moderate to low in sodium per serving. But just because a meal is healthy doesn’t mean it can’t be tasty, McManus said. For example, the heart-healthy Chicken TMB sandwich, which combines chicken, balsamic dressing, tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella on flatbread, has emerged as a favorite among those who frequent O’Naturals.
“Chicken TMB is one of our top-selling sandwiches,” said Michael Ciurczak, general manager for O’Naturals. “Out of 150 sandwiches sold one day, 50 were the Chicken TMB.”
McManus continues to work with O’Naturals to offer additional foods that meet heart-healthy criteria.
“We have a heart-healthy menu for patients in Shapiro, so we want to be consistent and make sure we offer healthy items to staff, visitors and patients’ families,” McManus said.
The restaurant also is consistent with the environmental standards of the Shapiro Center, which was named one of Boston’s Greenest buildings last year. O’Naturals uses low-chemical paints on the walls, energy-efficient lighting, tables made from recyclable materials and reusable order forms, not to mention the natural kraft paper packaging used for wrapping sandwiches.
Catering is available.