culinary medicine

Culinary medicine blends nutrition science, cooking skills, and evidence-based medicine to help people improve their health through food.

Instead of only telling patients what NOT to eat, culinary medicine teaches people which foods to eat and how to prepare them in ways that are easy, tasty, and aligned with their health goals.

Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of men and women aged 65 and older? How we fuel our bodies when we are younger influences this risk. To prevent heart disease we want to control our blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar; maintain a healthy diet and weight; get good sleep and manage stress; and avoid alcohol and tobacco and vaping.

• Nutrition Prescriptions: I love this website, built by a family physician who completed a PhD in nutritional sciences. (Hint: most of the prescriptions for blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and everything else involves lots of fruits and veggies! Pop over to this other page for my 4 top free online resources for recipes to use produce!)
• Non-Drug Ways to Lower Cholesterol from the University of Wisconsin: I have my patients focus on the diet portions of this handout more than the supplements, and specifically advise them not to start supplements without talking to me first.

Most of us know what foods are healthy and which we should avoid (see the link to Nutrition Prescriptions above if you need a refresher or additional quick diabetes resources), but finding strategies to shop for and prepare food can be challenging in our fast-paced world. Below are resources that help with that guidance along with resources to help us prepare more food at home.

• American Diabetes Association: The ADA has a Diabetes Food Hub with recipes, meal planning and grocery list help, and cooking classes! You will need to create an account with them for anything beyond the recipes.
• Sohla El-Waylly's "What to cook when you're too tired to cook anything" Instagram posts: When you are feeling totally unmotivated you can watch Sohla whip something up with humor as you start thinking about the two carrots and celery in your fridge that could be turned into a quick stir fry if you cut them on the diagonal and threw them into a pan
• The Recipe with Kenji and Deb: A new podcast with two chefs who want to inspire home cooks by simplifying recipes and doing the work for us to make sure we are using the best techniques for taste and satisfaction