Until recently, such fare was as difficult to find at a meeting as vacant rooms on a peak room night. However, that is no longer the case as planners strive to put together healthier menus.

"Increasingly, planners are seeing the strong connection between the food that's served to meeting delegates and those participants' ability to make the most of their meeting experience," said Phil Haberstro, executive director, National Association For Health & Fitness (NAHF). "They're recognizing that the more empty calories and 'bad' foods participants consume, the less productive they are."

Demand from attendees themselves is also coming into play. "Things are definitely changing," noted Sally Bedwell, CMP, meetings manger at PMA. "People want better food at meetings - and we need to give it to them." Here's how.

Breakfast

Incorporating more protein into breakfast menus is a must; it sets the productivity tone for the entire day. This can be as simple as adding one or two new protein-based items to the mix of continental breakfast options, according to Karen Lechowich, MBA, RD, vice president, professional development and meeting services, American Dietetic Association (ADA). "As an example, if we provide breakfast for our attendees, we'll select a continental breakfast with juice, fresh fruit, and rolls, and we ask for yogurt to be in the package," Lechowich explained. Similarly, continental breakfasts served at PMA meetings generally include hard-boiled eggs.

On a more elaborate note, a bok choy and low-fat Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese quiche with a Chinese eggplant crust appeared on the Saturday breakfast menu at Fresh Summit 2007. Vegetable strudel; egg- and vegetable-stuffed brioche; and a combination of hard-boiled eggs, wilted spinach, and carmelized onions rank among healthy breakfast selections served during PMA events in recent years.

Full breakfasts offered by PMA also feature breakfast meats produced from ingredients other than beef and pork. In addition to chicken apple sausage, these include turkey sausage and turkey bacon. According to Bedwell, attendees' reaction to the products has been positive.

As for baked goods, neither Bedwell nor Lechowich believes in eliminating such favorites as donuts, croissants, oversized muffins, and Danish from the breakfast bill of fare. "That would probably cause a protest; it's better just to serve minis or cut big items into smaller portions," Bedwell stated. Lechowich works with catering departments to make bakery items less of a focal point than they may once have been. "Since we focus on a variety of healthy choices, we don't necessarily eliminate anything, but we might ask for a change in emphasis," she explained. "So at breakfast we'll include sweet rolls, but not as the primary offering on the table. We'll ask for whole wheat or rye bread and rolls."

Conversely, the American Heart Association (AHA) has banished eggs, Danish, pastries, croissants, donuts, and breakfast meats from the table, noted Tayri Roe, manager, scientific and corporate meetings. "We serve low-fat muffins, bagels, and whole wheat toast, and turkey bacon," she said. "We also use egg whites or egg substitutes and offer fresh fruit, low-fat yogurts, and cold cereals with skim milk."

Lunch/Dinner

At the very least, Haberstro said, lunches and dinners should be brought into the healthy realm by offering low-fat salad dressings on the side rather than pre-mixed into the salad, and featuring low-fat mayonnaise, mustard, and cranberry sauce (for turkey) as sandwich condiments. A combination of low-fat mayonnaise and plain yogurt - in small quantities - can be used to dress coleslaw and potato salad; "no one will notice," he advised.

At NAHF luncheons, sandwiches are made healthier by being cut in half before being placed on the buffet; it accommodates attendees with smaller appetites and encourages portion control, Haberstro said. Vegetable-packed wraps made with smaller portions of lean protein, as well as "make-your-own-sandwich" stations where attendees have complete control over the contents of their food, rank among staples of PMA lunch menus.

Toward the same end, PMA limits the amount of protein included in plated meals to four ounces, taking up the slack with at least two servings of vegetables.

One caveat to remember when deciding on the elements of a lunch or dinner menu - or a breakfast one, for that matter: No matter how healthy the item, attendees will probably not touch it if it isn't presented with a keen eye toward aesthetics. "In addition to taste and variety, most attendees appreciate extra effort in presentation of the food," Lechowich asserted. "They notice when a facility has done a good job of displaying food on a buffet or adding an extra touch to a plated item, like a sprig of mint or an edible flower."

Lechowich deemed balancing the size of lunches and dinners served on the same day critical as well. If she knows that a certain dinner is going to be "substantial," she plans an especially light lunch to precede it.

Refusing to take "no" for an answer from chefs and catering departments is equally important. According to Roe, planners assume that chefs and catering departments will not deviate from set menus and, consequently, "don't think to ask for adjustments for their attendees." However, quite the opposite is true: More and more chefs have come to consider devising special menus a creative challenge and will rise to the occasion, sources said.

Dessert

While some meeting attendees may still clamor for heavy desserts at lunch and dinnertime alike, lighter options, such as fresh fruit, a fruit crisp or cobbler, or small cookies, work equally well, Haberstro has discovered. He noted that offering both a heavy dessert, like large slices of cake, and a light one, like fruit, often presents a difficult choice for delegates. "If you only have the light item, very few people will notice the difference, and some might actually thank you for not forcing them to decide by themselves," he observed.

Planners who prefer not to eliminate cakes, pies, and similar goodies from dessert menus might compromise by presenting fruit alongside miniature versions of richer fare. Catering departments have become increasingly willing to assist in this regard, according to Roe. For example, one AHA dinner featured bite-size portions of dessert presented buffet style, along with fresh fruit cup. "The presentation was amazing, and it showed that sweets in small portions can be part of a healthy diet," Roe said.

Bedwell frequently takes the same tack. To keep fruit-based desserts interesting, she frequently requests a new twist. A frozen lemon soufflé was served at PMA's most recent meeting.

Breaks

When it comes to breaks, making simple substitutions is a good jumping-off point for designing healthier menus, planners said. During morning breaks, ditch donuts, Danish, and croissants in favor of whole grain, low-fat mini-muffins or muffin pieces, bagel halves/quarters, and cut-up fruit. In the afternoon, swap potato chips for popcorn, low-salt pretzels (hot soft or regular hard), and cut-up vegetables. Graham crackers, Fig Newtons, dried fruit, and trail mix also qualify as healthy break offerings, Haberstro said.

Many "alternative" break foods can be easily jazzed up to render them more fun to eat. For example, provide mustard dip as an accompaniment to pretzels and season popcorn with a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese or low-calorie, low-fat popcorn seasoning. Low-fat flavored cream cheeses and low-sugar jams lend interest to bagels, and yogurt dip provides a little zip for fruit. Bedwell favors individual packages of carrots and celery with a yogurt dip; "I'd love to find individual packages of salsa for the vegetables, too," she said.

In a more unusual vein, the Hilton Anaheim offers to groups an afternoon snack program called "Trail Mix Martinis." The hotel's catering department sets up a "bar" covered with a wide array of nuts, dried fruit, and a few sweet touches, such as chocolate chips. A "bartender" fills a martini shaker with each attendee's selection, shakes it, and pours it into a martini glass. TrojanHospitality, which handles catering at the Davidson Executive Conference Center, the Town & Gown, and other facilities on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, features a medley of grilled vegetables and hummus with pita chips on its afternoon break menu. n ° Contributing Editor Julie Ritzer Ross is a freelance writer in Glen Ridge, N.J.

Less Food For Thought

The New York State Department of Health has developed a set of general guidelines for healthy meetings. Its recommendations for planners include the following:

• Serve low-calorie and low-fat foods.
• Serve fruits and vegetables whenever possible.
• Use low-fat cheeses in pasta dishes.
• Feature soups and sauces made from a base of vegetables or low-fat milk rather than cream.
• Serve small portions (for example, cut bagels into halves or quarters).
• Serve milk (fat-free or 1 percent), 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, water, or iced tea (unsweetened) instead of soft drinks.
• Present a vegetarian option at all meals.
• Provide reduced-fat or low-fat milk for coffee rather than cream or half and half. Evaporated skim milk also works well with coffee, but ensure that isn't sweetened condensed milk.
• Provide space on registration forms where attendees can indicate food allergies or dietary restrictions. 
•  Place pitchers of water in meeting rooms.

Partnering for a Healthy Conference

The health care industry estimates that healthier food choices could save Americans $90 billion a year in health care costs and lost productivity. That reality has spawned a unique partnership between Harvard Medical School (HMS) and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The two educational institutions co-hosted Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives: A Leadership Conference Bridging Nutrition Science, Health Care, and the Culinary Arts at the CIA's Greystone campus in Napa Valley, Calif., in October. At this unique, semi-annual gathering, health professionals from around the country participated in seminars led by Harvard scientists and in hands-on healthful cooking workshops led by CIA chef-instructors. The crisis of obesity in America was a focus of the conference.

"The obesity challenge is too complex for either food professionals or the medical community to solve on their own," said Mark Erickson, C.M.C., vice president of continuing education for the CIA, and co-chair of Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives. "It's going to take working together to effect essential change in one of the most pressing health issues of our times."

For more information, visit www.healthykitchens.org.