FamilyFarmed Launches : Good Food is Good Medicine Initiative
Feb 26, 2018 ● By Adam Murphy, M.D.
Dr. Adam Murphy with Charlotte Flinn, FamilyFarmed Board Chair and Good Food is Good Medicine advisory board member, at a Northwestern Medicine GFGM event on July 13, 2017.
Good Food is Good Medicine is a new FamilyFarmed program that reflects the organization’s vision of “good food on every table” because they know good food is a key ingredient for a healthy and fulfilling life. They will be presenting more information at the 14th annual Good Food EXPO on March 24 at the UIC Forum. FamilyFarmed CEO Jim Slama states, “Encouraging better eating habits will result in healthier, happier people and prevent illnesses, thus reducing the potentially crushing burden of healthcare costs on individuals and our society.”
Science clearly demonstrates that good food provides prevention and treatment for growing epidemics of food-related illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, gout and cancer. Most people understand that eating fruits and vegetables are good for us, but do not translate this knowledge to individual meal preparation and shopping decisions.
When we consider the complexity of different cultural cuisines, tight budgets and dietary restrictions, these recommendations become more difficult for people to apply to their own lives. Good Food is Good Medicine is here to address the problem.
One of the key activities in this developing program has been to convene an advisory board of opinion leaders across several industries to develop a strategy to best engage the public. The community will also be at the table to shape and implement Good Food is Good Medicine to reduce the burden of preventable chronic diseases.
This advisory board will have input from nutritionists, dietitians, chefs, primary care and integrative medicine physicians, endocrinologists, food producers and grocers. These advisors will be ethnically and socioeconomically diverse to ensure that interventions are culturally relevant and affordable to optimize their effectiveness.
FamilyFarmed is partnering with trained chefs and nutritionists with expertise in the array of cuisines in America. Their task will be to develop culturally targeted menus that include 10 to 15 healthy meals appealing to the palates of each of the country’s major ethnic groups. Physicians, dietitians and the community will be engaged to assess the feasibility of these menus, and there will also be a focus on pricing and the accessibility of the menus across socioeconomic boundaries.
Another component of the program will leverage FamilyFarmed’s trusted relationships with Whole Foods Market, community grocers and restaurateurs to host community cooking demonstrations. Chefs will teach people how to use spices and minor recipe modifications to transform familiar foods into delicious, nutrient-dense meals.
UIC Forum location: 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago. For more information, visit FamilyFarmed.org.
An assistant professor and urologist at Northwestern Medicine, Adam Murphy, M.D., is a FamilyFarmed board member.
Dr. Murphy will participate in The Doc Is In: Food, Health and Quality of Life on March 24 at the UIC Forum as part of the Good Food is Good Medicine track at FamilyFarmed’s annual Good Food EXPO.
The discussion will focus on the science and daily practice of Good Food as prevention and as medicine, with Q&A. Participants include Dr. Edwin McDonald, a trained chef and assistant professor in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago and Dr. Melinda Ring, executive director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern Medicine.
Murphy will moderate an afternoon panel, Making Good Food the Medicine in Your Life, with Trista Li, cofounder and CEO of KitcheNet, and Judson Todd Allen, CEO and executive chef of Healthy Infused Cuisine.
Admission is free with registration. Location: 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago. For more information, visit GoodFoodEXPO.org.
