BY RYA JETHA | CalMatters
Every other Friday, the Stockton Emergency Food Bank hosts two live cooking classes — one in English and one in Spanish. Last week, Brenda Munoz made a classic tuna melt with an orange, romaine and dandelion salad.
“Dandelion is completely edible,” said Munoz, holding the small leaves from the flower. “They’re really high in vitamin A and folate.”
But this isn’t your typical cooking lesson on Zoom and Facebook. It’s part of a “food prescription” experiment — prescriptions for healthy food instead of pills. Diabetics get a free box full of fruits, vegetables, chicken breast, quinoa and other nutritious food delivered to their homes every two weeks — and then can learn some recipes.
Advocates who want to expand the program across California say it could very well be a way to improve chronic conditions, lower health care costs and reduce hunger, all at the same time.
It’s aimed at people like Shane Bailey, a 72-year-old who served in the Coast Guard who has three heart conditions, diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure and cholesterol. A participant in the Stockton food bank’s Healthy Food RX Program, she says her lifestyle has dramatically improved since she began receiving produce prescriptions last year.
“My primary doctor is impressed with my cholesterol because they say it’s better than theirs!” said Bailey, who has started meal prepping using cookbooks from second-hand stores, reading food labels closely, and experimenting with different kinds of squash and greens.
“My dream is to live to 95,” she said. “If we start younger, then maybe people won’t get sick until they’re in their 80s and 90s.”
Food prescriptions are…
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