Meals and Nutrition

St. Mary Medical Center knows that nutritious, well-balanced meals are an important part of your recovery process so we make every effort to provide meals that are prepared according to your physician’s orders while accommodating special dietary needs.

At St. Mary, registered dietitians oversee your nutritional requirements in conjunction with doctor's orders. The dietitians also provide nutritional assessment for all patients, including therapeutic diets and education, tube feeding, and total parental nutrition. The dietary staff ensures that you receive the correct menu to support their recovery.

Salt In Your Meals

At St. Mary Medical Center Long Beach, our menus are written and planned in accordance with national guidelines for healthy eating. One effect of this is serving meals with less salt. We also no longer place salt packets on your meal tray. If you are on a regular diet and prefer to have a salt packet, please ask your physician to write an order for a regular diet that includes a salt packet.

Patient meal trays are delivered to the nursing units during the following times:

Breakfast 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Lunch 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Dinner 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Please note that patient meal times may vary. If you have any questions, please ask your nurse.