食物和空气一样重要，我们需要它才能生存. Food can also have the opposite effect, instead of helping you thrive, it can kill you.
根据一篇文章 营养学进展, 国际评论杂志, most deaths in the United States are preventable and related to nutrition. 那么，为什么. Steven Chen – a family medicine physician and the Medical Director of 太阳城博彩’s Hayward Wellness Center–was not required to take any nutrition classes in medical school?
If you’re wondering where he studied medicine, that would be 斯坦福大学该校是全美排名第二的医学院. This phenomenon of not taking nutrition classes in medical school is not a 斯坦福大学 faux pas, 这是美国的. 在美国.S.A., the traditional medical approach has been to focus on treatment rather than prevention. The expression “you are what you eat” has been around for a long time, 但它似乎已经失去了光彩.
Fortunately for 唯有通过 patients, Chen had a fellowship with Dr. Andrew Weil whose goal is to transform healthcare through an approach called 结合医学. 结合医学 is a healing-oriented medicine that takes into account the whole person including all aspects of their lifestyle.
“我们所面临的许多问题 糖尿病, 高血压, 心脏病都有食物的成分。. “I can treat the issue with a pill but the healing method really should be multidimensional.”
陈，出生于美国.S.A., to parents who immigrated from Taiwan, has been with 唯有通过 since 2012. 他能说流利的台湾话和普通话, has spent time working in Taiwan at a Buddhist hospital and has spent time in Paraguay, 危地马拉, 在厄瓜多尔做志愿者，学习西班牙语. Through his travels and his training he truly believes that doctors should look at the patient’s total health which includes mind, body, 精神与社区.
The integrative medicine philosophy recommends using both conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body’s innate healing response. Integrative medicine asks how or why did the patient get sick, whereas traditional medicine asks what drug can treat the disease. As a way to bring the integrative medicine philosophy to Hayward Wellness, Chen和他的同事Sweena巴勒斯说, 家庭护士和扎拉克·特里维迪, 注册营养师, 认证糖尿病教育工作者, decided to create an innovative intervention focused on helping patients with, 或者有风险, 糖尿病和其他严重慢性疾病.
太阳城博彩基金会从 Kaiser Permanente’s Greater Southern Alameda Area Community Benefits Program and the Hayward Wellness Center team was able to design and implement Food Is Medicine. Since 2015, Kaiser has provided three grants totaling $100,000 for the program.
为《太阳城博彩》奠定基础, Chen used some of the grant funding to bring in a “Chef MD” named Dr. 温迪Kohatsu. Dr. Kohatsu is a doctor who also became a chef through culinary school training. She developed a three session “食物是药” training program designed for busy primary care providers to use food to treat chronic conditions during 20 minute office visits. She worked with Chen and Elibet Jimenez (Hayward’s Group Visit Coordinator) to co-design evidence based nutrition handouts to guide patients on what to eat for common conditions like 糖尿病, 贫血, 高血压, 等. These handouts also served the dual function of reinforcing key messages to the providers. Prior to the training, provider confidence in using food as medicine was 3.5分中的8分. After the training, there was a statistically significant rise in provider confidence to 4.5分中的6分.
The second part of 食物是药 is to offer food prescriptions, also funded by the Kaiser grants. 例如，当一个病人被看到时, 心脏病, they might be written a prescription for a variety of fresh dark green leafy vegetables like spinach or kale, 作为地中海饮食建议的一部分.
One might think, this is great, but where will patients find these foods? Chen has that part covered too, as he has implemented a food delivery system. 病人 can use their food prescription voucher at the “Food Farmacy” that can be found at least twice weekly at the Hayward Wellness Center. 海沃德健康与 深挖农场, a community supported agriculture program in Alameda County, 把农贸市场带到他们的大厅. This convenient location of the “Food Farmacy” led to patients redeeming 74% of the roughly 1000 food prescriptions that were prescribed.
For some, these prescriptions might be for foods they’ve never heard of or cooked before. Part four of the 食物是药 program, is the “Cooking is Medicine” group medical visits.
海沃德健康中心（Zalak Trivedi）的员工, Sweena巴勒斯, 医务助理比阿特丽斯·瓦伦西亚, and group visit coordinator Elibet Jimenez) host these weekly group medical visits that integrate medical care and with teaching patients of all ages how to cook healthier foods. This picture shows them preparing for one of the family classes where they were going to teach the parents and their children how to make mini cauliflower pizzas. It also included an arts and crafts component to keep the kids busy while the food was baking.
对陈, the Cooking is Medicine group medical visits reinforce the community component that is needed to reduce the social isolation that many patients experience. Getting to know your community and engaging together in healthy activities becomes a win-win for everyone as the patients and providers learn and become resources for each other.
“我们的国家没有伟大的饮食文化. 我们吃的是“SAD饮食”——“标准美国饮食”。. 我们吃得过多, 或者吃错了食物, 比如快餐，它不是真正的食物, 而是一种类似食物的物质,陈说. “Our 食物是药 program has the ability to change patient and staff mindsets about food, 改变行为以支持患者的康复过程, 并最终带来更好的健康结果.”