300-Person Waitlist for Lifestyle Medicine 2024 Workshops!

Our team of culinary medicine experts returned to action at the 2024 American College of Lifestyle Medicine conference in Orlando, Florida, in October. Several team members collaborated with other professionals to lead interactive workshops and insightful presentations on various aspects and applications of culinary medicine, as described below. We were thrilled to learn that the pre-conference workshops were so popular that the waitlists collectively included more than 300 people—indicating the enormous demand to learn more about this growing field! 

3-Hour Hands-On Culinary Medicine Workshop

Our multidisciplinary team led a workshop titled “In-Person Workshop: Leveraging Culinary Medicine to Promote Health Equity” in the teaching kitchen at the adjacent hospitality school. Culinary medicine presents an engaging, evidence-based means to help advance health equity by reaching and empowering historically marginalized and underserved communities to improve their health through food and cooking as foundational aspects of their cultures. This workshop aimed to inspire and empower diverse healthcare providers to collaborate to improve healthcare delivery, patients’ health outcomes, and providers’ well-being through culinary medicine. Attendees practiced hands-on cooking and learned skills that will help them adapt recipes based on medical, cultural, and socioeconomic considerations. 

After Dr. Theresa Stone, Christina Badaracco, and Heidi Davis delivered a brief presentation about how culinary medicine aligns with national healthcare priorities and trends and the growing policy and payment opportunities to address patients’ food-related needs, teams competed to create a dish and intervention to meet the needs and patients of a defined patient population in collaboration with a trusted community partner. The instructors provided a full pantry of diverse ingredients and general guidelines, letting groups use their creativity to concoct a delicious, nutrient-dense, and culturally appropriate dish. Photos of the six dishes and the winning group are shown below. We are grateful to Penzeys Spices for donating enough spices for us to send everyone home with samples and to offer gift packages to the winners.  

Survey responses indicated that participants have great ideas for applications when they return home. Favorite aspects of the class included the connections made with others in the class, experiential learning, collaboration, and—of course—the food. We appreciate the 100% positive feedback, though we are always looking for ideas to better meet our audiences' needs.

3-Hour Didactic Panel

A dynamic group of culinary medicine experts led a sold-out pre-conference workshop titled "Harnessing the Power of Culinary Medicine Applications to Improve Health Equity and Education." This three-hour session provided invaluable insights into each speaker's journey in developing culinary medicine programs, from for-profit technology and medically tailored meals to healthcare and policy. 

• Olivia Thomas discussed her work at Rewire Health, building a digital culinary medicine platform, the teaching kitchen at Boston Medical Center, and the development of the medical education program at Boston University that equips medical students with knowledge to improve their personal health and future clinical practice.
• Dr. Linda Shiue shared practical details about leadership of her culinary medicine program at Kaiser Permanente and her recipe creation process, which are highlighted in her Spicebox Kitchen cookbook.
• Dr. Robert Graham drew on his decades of experience in both the private and public sectors, showcasing his latest work at Performance Kitchen to lead delivery of high-quality medically tailored meals and grow the food is medicine movement.
• Dr. Rani Polak underscored the importance of home cooking by reviewing pertinent research and offering insights from his Chef Coaching program at Harvard University, which aims to train healthcare providers in the art of culinary medicine and provides participants with a Certificate of Completion in Culinary Coaching form the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.
• Dr. Colin Zhu provided suggested strategies for audience members in self-promotion and marketing, using his business, TheChefDoc, as a case study. 

Together, these experts painted a vivid picture of the many ways culinary medicine can be applied. The final part of the workshop was dedicated to answering participants' personal questions about integrating culinary medicine into their practice. A collaborative discussion unfolded, focusing on the challenges of bringing these principles to underserved and marginalized communities. One participant raised an important point about the difficulties of introducing a program like this on a reservation in Oklahoma. Others in the room chimed in, sharing strategies they’ve successfully used in similar situations.

60-Minute Concurrent Lecture

Olivia Thomas took the stage alongside women's health expert Dr. Rashmi Kudesia to present "Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies: Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine for PCOS and Preconception Health." Dr. Kudesia reviewed the latest research on nutrition and lifestyle for women's health topics, including polycystic ovary syndrome, fertility, and postpartum care. Olivia then translated the science into practical culinary and lifestyle medicine strategies, drawing from her own experiences working in diverse communities. Examples included adding applesauce to overnight oats for convenience and roasting butternut squash in large chunks to save time on peeling and chopping. The session concluded with an open discussion, allowing clinicians to address personal barriers to integrating this work into their practice and explore more potential real-world applications.

We are excited to deliver more lectures and workshops focused on culinary medicine in the coming months, including at the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative Symposium 2024, Obesity Medicine Association 2025, American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians 2025, and the American College of Sports Medicine 2025. Let us know @christina@rewire-health.com if you wanted to attend these ACLM workshops and couldn’t get a spot or if you will attend these future conferences and would like to meet in person. And please contact us to discuss how we can help you bring training, resources, or other forms of education to your audience or clinical team. We hope to return to the ACLM conference in 2025 to offer an even larger and more comprehensive culinary medicine workshop. 

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