Alright, it's 8:43 all new at 8, we've all
heard the saying that we are what we eat.
That's why it's so important to consume
a healthy diet. That's right. It's the
idea behind a new program at MedStar
Health. People battling diseases are
taking part in the Savory and Fresh
culinary medicine program and it's
helping people get better. It's great!
Joining us this morning is Dr. Theresa
Stone, the director of Fresh & Savory
at MedStar Health at Lafayette Centre.
Along with Miss Sherri Fennell, one of
the participants, and Chef Anthony
Imamura. Good morning to all of you! Yes, so
let's start off with you, Dr. Stone. Tell
us about the program. So Fresh & Savory
is a culinary and lifestyle medicine
program that we started at MedStar
Health to help one of our cardiologists
who wanted to introduce his patients to
lifestyle changes and cooking and eating
healthier. We concentrated on the Five
Pillars of Health, so we introduced the
patients to sleep, exercise, nutrition,
stress reduction, and we build a sense of
community. And these are all proven to
help build longevity. And this concept of
food is medicine, I mean we're not
literally putting medicine into the food
or anything like that, it's just that the
food itself can make big changes in your
life. Exactly, so the food -- the food
is loaded with antioxidants. They help
reduce risk of diabetes, heart disease
and some cancers. Okay, so you know it
just all sounds so easy on paper, but
when you try to really apply it to your
life, it takes a bit of work, a little bit
of organization, and some thought. So
you've brought us some ideas and some
things that we can be doing to really be
ingesting good things. Tell us a little
bit about -- Chef, why don't you tell us
a little bit about the foods that we
have here, and then Sherri, what you've
participated, so we want to find out
about that. Chef tell us. So one of the
goals of Fresh & Savory is we take
ordinary food items and we make
different combinations with them. So this
is a typical -- or a typical fruit display
and this is a vegetable display. We like
to get people engaged to eat with their
eyes or just a sense, so these are all
the same vegetables you would see on a
store-bought crudité or vegetable tray
just cut differently. So it engages you
to think, well we'll try this or maybe
I'll try some radishes. I've never
tried before. This is a spicy hummus to go with it
and then on this one we have a
watermelon, mint, strawberry and lime
juice salad. So again, everyday items, just
mixed differently. Right, right. I like
that. Alright, Sherri. Yes? You've taken
part in this? Tell us, was it hard?
Did you benefit from it? No, it wasn't
hard, actually, because I was born
with a heart condition, so I've been
cardiac patient almost all my life, but
lately I've been gaining a lot of weight,
not exercising or anything, so it just so
happened the doctor that started the
program is my cardiologist, as well. And
he's like, "Hey, we're starting this new
program. I think you should try it." And at
first I was a little skeptical but I
followed it for eight weeks and so far
I've lost 16 pounds. Wow. Just making lifestyle adjusments. So can you kind
of share some of the program? Like, what
are you starting your day off with? What
are you eating? Well, one thing I've
started that's really crazy for me is I
drink a lot of water. Most of the day, I
started out water before I leave the
house, it's in the car, it's at work, it's
everywhere. Another thing I do a lot of, a
lot of fruit in the morning or yogurt or
something like that, instead of having a
lot of carbs I really cut out most of
the carbs. Exercising four or five days a
week when possible. I've learned that I
like competition with my exercise, so I'm
with the group of people and we try to
keep up with each other. So just small
lifestyle changes for me has made a
really big difference. So that's why I like that.
Speaking of a group of people, Dr. Stone,
there's another concept involved here,
the shared medical appointment. What what
is that?
So typically in your traditional
practice, when you see your doctor you spend
15 minutes with your doctor. A shared
medical appointment is a group of
patients and they get to spend two hours
with the doctor out all together.
Interesting. Shared medical appointments
increase behavior change. Patients
can share challenges, they can share
obstacles, and in our group they share recipes as
well. Great! For people who want more information
about this, where can they get that? They
can go to our website, MedStarHealth.org/Lafayette.
Very good. Thank you very much! Glad things are working so well for you too.
Thank you so much.
