Culinary Medicine

Food as Medicine

Mediterranean Heart Healthy Diet

Food Plays a Central role in Health and Well-being

Searches to find cures for many incurable diseases have failed leaving scientists and physicians only lifestyle changes to recommend to combat obesity and chronic illnesses. It is widely known that food plays a central role in health and well-being. More and more physicians and clinics are employing registered dietitians to counsel patients on exactly what diet to follow according to their individual health needs, as busy doctors do not always have the time to spend on the subject of diet and nutrition, but in truth many doctors themselves lack the knowledge.

Culinary Medicine

In light of this. more and more medical schools are adding culinary medicine to their curriculum. So far, these have proved to be very popular with medical students. The idea behind this is to train doctors how to cook for special diets like the NASH diet or the Mediterranean Diet. Usually, the doctors work alongside of nutritionists-in-training, registered dietitians and chefs in the Culinary Medicine Class. Most of these programs are still in their infancy, but every year the classes get bigger. The pioneer in culinary medicine was Tulane University in New Orleans. Culinary medicine is now offered in 40 more medical schools across the United States including the University of Central Florida in Orlando and the University of New Mexico.

Cheaper to Invest in Healthy Foods than to Pay for High-cost Drugs

Poverty and the rising costs of conventional medicines are also leading researchers and people to eat good old healthy foods like Grandma made. There are reports that some people cannot afford good healthy food because most of their money goes to pay for high-cost prescription drugs.

Preventive Medicine at its Best

Students are taught a lot about nutrition and how to read labels, read recipes and plan meals. They learn how people who live in certain parts of the world do not have the same kinds of diseases in large amounts that are seen in the high fat western diet of fast foods, junk snacks, too much sugar, lots of red meat and few fresh fruits and vegetables. This is how the Mediterranean Diet became popular, as it was observed that in countries around the Mediterranean there was less heart disease, strokes, dementia, fractures, diabetes and cancer than in other countries.

Doctors Will Carry the Message to the People

Medical students have shown themselves to be very enthusiastic about the new health knowledge they are gaining, which they hope they will be able to convey to their patients like eating whole grain brown rice instead of white rice, foods like salmon instead of high fat meats, all sorts of fresh vegetables and fruits like raisins and dates to get natural sweeteners into dishes instead of a lot of refined white cane sugar.

The hope is that doctors will be able to get the word out to their patients who will hopefully spread the word, so that people will form better health habits and prepare healthier meals for themselves and their families.

Research

A 10 year study has been launched at Tulane University. This clinical trial labelled Cooking for Health Optimization with Patients (CHOP) is a prospective cohort study in culinary medicine for preventive cardiology.

Check out Cuisine When Searching for a Short or Long-term Care Facility

When searching for a short-term rehab or long-term care for yourself or your loved one check out what kind of cuisine they offer. You want the tastiest and healthiest food you can find and you should also pick a facility that offers alternatives instead of only one main dish at a meal.

The Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Syracuse, New York

The Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Syracuse, New York has a varied cuisine under the skilled hands of a professional chef. Residents are actually offered a menu and can choose what they want from two main dishes. This gives them the feeling that they are dining out in a restaurant. To read more about all the wonderful amenities at Van Duyn that will Make you or your loved one feel at home read out blog from May 30, 2018.

Conclusion

Eating healthy is preventive medicine at its best. It is to be hoped that the new field of culinary medicine will soon results in a more widely educated public who will understand that it is better to pass up on junk foods than to have to fork out money for all kinds of expensive drugs and treatments.