A well-managed, healthy diet is arguably the best medicine a person can give to themselves. The only problem is eating healthy isn’t as easy as popping a pill. For some, healthy foods simply aren’t available. And if they are, they aren’t affordable. That’s why a number of hospitals and physicians are taking actions to break down these barriers in order to improve their patients’ health. In cities where fresh produce is harder to access, hospitals have worked with local grocers to provide discounts on fruits and vegetables when patients provide a “prescription” written by their doctor; the Cleveland Clinic sponsors farmers’ markets where local growers accept food assistance vouchers from federal programs like WIC as well as state-led initiatives. And some doctors at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco hand out recipes instead of (or along with) prescriptions for their patients. Ask any doctor how to avoid or mitigate the effects of the leading killers of Americans and you’ll likely hear that eating healthier plays a big role. But while knowing intuitively that food can influence health is one thing, having the science and the confidence to back it up is another. And it’s only relatively recently that doctors have started to bridge this gap. Have a look here to see how recipes, not pills, are being prescribed to patients more and more in America.
Doctors are starting to prescribe recipes, not pills, to heal their patients
More of Today's Solutions
New method uses sound waves to map soil health, stop famine, and restore farm...
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Across the world, soil scientists are trading in their shovels for something unexpected: seismic sensors. In a breakthrough ...
Read MoreThis simple 15-minute mindset exercise can ease anxiety, science shows
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A growing body of research is revealing how a short, simple activity that is done in just 15 ...
Read More3 habits of the happiest people
Think of the happiest people you know. Do you find yourself often wondering what they are doing to maintain a general level of joy? ...
Read MoreChangemakers of the week: GRuB and SparkNJ
Every day on the Optimist Daily, we report on solutions from around the world. Though we love solutions big and small, the ones that ...
Read More
