Teaching patients how to cook healthy
To combat diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, clinicians can educate patients about nutrition through methods such as hands-on cooking classes, according to experts.
A March 18 Alabama Public Radio article featured a class held in a teaching kitchen, where high school students learned how to cook healthy snacks—an alternative to ultra-processed foods. The class, organized by a health and wellness program at the University of South Alabama, was taught by a doctor affiliated with the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, a nonprofit that aims to teach people how to eat, cook, and move healthy.
According to David Eisenberg, adjunct associate professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and founder of the collaborative, improving health requires discussions between patients and their clinicians about food, cooking, and shopping.
“It matters so much because probably more than half of the deaths in the United States every year are either accelerated or in some way impacted by people’s diet and lifestyle,” he said.
Read or listen to the Alabama Public Radio article: Gulf coast doctors dish up a recipe for good health
