Food as Medicine in Grocery and Beyond: How Leaders Are Integrating Nutrition & Healthcare

In this special montage episode, we showcase the power of food as medicine by bringing together inspiring professionals working at the forefront of integrating nutrition and healthcare from:

🍎 Kroger [2:10] – revolutionizing the way we shop for healthy foods
🛒 Stop & Shop [4:45] – improving public health through accessible & nutritious food programs in retail
🍲 Performance Kitchen [7:05] – medically tailored meals giving people the experience of what it’s like to feel healthy
🌿 American College of Lifestyle Medicine [10:10] – teaching healthcare professionals what lifestyle changes and food as medicine really mean
🏥 Suvida Healthcare [12:00] – bringing food as medicine to the value-based care space
🥦American Diabetes Association [14:35] – connecting nutrition evidence and food access in diabetes care and prevention

Referenced in episode:

• https://www.kroger.com/ 
• https://stopandshop.com/    
• https://performancekitchen.com/     
• https://lifestylemedicine.org/  
• https://www.suvidahealthcare.com/ 
• https://diabetes.org/

Credits:
Host - Dr. Sabrina Falquier, MD, CCMS, DipABLM
Sound and Editing - Will Crann
Executive Producer - Esther Garfin

©2024 Alternative Food Network Inc.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Culinary Medicine Recipepodcast. If you've ever been told to
eat healthier and want healthy food tobe delicious, this podcast delivers the dice
and delectable details. I'm your host, Doctor Sabrina Falkier. I truly enjoy
delicious food and am passionate about thefield of medicine. In this series,
I'll be spending time in the spacewhere the two intersect you might have heard

(00:23):
about food is medicine, medically tailoredmeals, produce prescriptions, and teaching kitchens.
In this series, I interview topchefs, doctors, healthcare visionaries,
and food service professionals who are makingleaps forward in the field of culinary medicine.
In addition to hosted interviews, Iam also sharing practical tips in short,
bite sized episodes to give you immediate, actionable steps to optimize your health.

(00:49):
These bites are available in both Englishand my first language, which is
Spanish. Join me as we explorethe amazing new world of culinary medicine,
where I will empower you to makechanges to your health and wellness right away.
If you listened to last month's episodewith doctor Robert Graham, you may
recall that I attended the Food IsMedicine Summer in Chicago. When I was
there, I asked a handful ofpeople working in the Food is Medicine space

(01:11):
to explain what they do in thisarena. This episode is a compilation of
answers from people working in a varietyof areas, from groceries to medically tailored
meals to the American Diabetes Association.This episode starts with the practical application of
food is Medicine on a consumer level, where people buy their food with representatives
from both Kroger and Stop and Shop. From there, we transition to shining

(01:34):
a light on one medically tailored mealcompany performance kitchen. Yet, these food
is medicine and clinary medicine initiatives won'twork if the healthcare professionals don't know about
them, So the episode delves intothe need for healthcare teams to be educated
on food is medicine with perspectives fromthe American College of Lifestyle Medicine, followed
by the example of Savita Healthcare toshow what this can actually look like in

(01:57):
medical practices. The episode then wrapsup with a perspective from the American Diabetes
Association. I hope you enjoy.My name is Lara Brown. I am
the director of Nutrition at Kroger Health. So I'm a registered dietitian by trade,
and i work on the healthcare armof the Kroger company, the grocery
store. So the healthcare arm iswhere you'll see our pharmacists, our little

(02:21):
clinic, and our dietitians. Ioversee all of the work we're doing in
the food is medicine space. We'rereally focused on three pillars right now.
Kind of our main focus the shoppingexperience for Groger customers, food access and
personalized nutrition. And talk a littlebit about the shopping experience. So,
Kroger has a nutrition scoring system calledopt up, which is a scoring system

(02:46):
that we have created to train analgorithm to think very synergistically like a registered
dietitian. So the goal of thisprogram, of this product is to help
custom sstomers to shop for healthier productsand to simplify the shopping experience. So
it gives all food products on Krogerdot com, all food products that are

(03:07):
within the Kroger grocery store a scoreon a scale from one to one hundred.
The higher the score, the morenourishing the food product. We also
have personalized nutrition, so we havea core team of registered dietitians to provide
virtual one on one nutrition care whereKroger customers can meet one on one with

(03:28):
a dietitian to personalize nutrition recommendations forthem, whether it's via medical nutrition therapy
or just through healthy product recommendations tomake healthier choices easier for them. Our
dietitians can reach patients in forty fourstates nationwide, so it really helps to
provide that food access piece, Soour dietitians are a big component of our

(03:51):
food access. But then we alsohave our Flexible Benefit Card work that we're
doing, so we are working todevelop a really comprehensive flex benefit card that
not only will help to stretch thegrocery budget but also close gaps and care.
So help to incentivize those purchases byprompting you to buy those healthier products

(04:12):
as well as prompt you to goto the pharmacy and fill your prescription,
to go to the little clinic andsee a provider and just stay healthier overall
so that you can live a healthierlife. Patients can access Kroger's virtual dieticians
by just going to Kroger dot com, backslash health to or backslash tele nutrition
to make an appointment. So weaccept insurance, we accept out of pocket

(04:36):
pay, and we also work withsome business organizations to provide a business to
business agreement and customers can just makean appointment. Hi. I'm Alison Delaney
and I'm the director of Healthy Livingat Stop and Shop grocery stores. In
my job, I oversee the retaildietician team as well as all health strategy

(04:56):
for the brand. Our retailer isbased out in the East Coast and we
operate four hundred stores in five differentstates. So in everything in the in
the health ecosystem at retail at Stopand Shop, we have four strategic pillars.
One of them is healthy merchandising,one of them is nutrition education,
one is community engagement, and theother one is food care as we call

(05:17):
it, which is everything food ismedicine. So when you think about retailers
and grocery stores in general, we'rereally that hub of food in the communities.
Right We're, you know, theplace where people go to buy their
foods and we meet customers where theyare in the aisles, making you know,
hundreds of decisions every week on whatthey're going to put in their carts.

(05:39):
So I think first and foremost registereddietitians are food is medicine experts.
So we have a team of registereddietitians again who are meeting those customers in
the aisles, as I say,practicing food is medicine every day, trying
to get folks to fill their cartswith healthy foods that will, you know,
help prevent nutrition related disease and oror treat nutrition related disease. So

(06:01):
in the simplest form, I'd say, our team of registered dietitians are practicing
food is medicine. And then Ithink we can get a little bit more
into the weeds here. We arelarge, right, so our scale is
very large, and if anyone knows, retail technology tends to be a little
bit lagging or slower, just becausewe know we're a retailer. We do

(06:23):
food, we don't do technology first. So one thing we're really trying to
lean in on here is how dowe be a fulfillment arm in the space
of food is medicine. So howdo we get you up to speed with
the latest technology updates that enable usto expand our reach with food is medicine
access programs, So whether that beit updates or integrations that allow for more

(06:46):
more health benefit cards or produce prescriptioncards to be used in our stores as
an example, but again just reallyleaning into that technology to expand our reach.
So those are just two examples,but I think important ones of how
how grocery stores are leading into thefood is medicine space. Mark Walker,
I am the chairman and CEO ofPerformance Kitchen, which is a food is

(07:10):
Medicine company. Do you hear thisa lot that there's just not enough education
on the application of food is medicinein medicine with doctors. It's a little
complicated because we do what's called medicallytailored meals, which one of the premises
of medically tailored meals is the reasonthey work so well is that there's not
a pre education required before them working. So the beauty of medically tailored meals

(07:30):
is they just work. They're justlike pain medication, right, you don't
have to know the sixteen ingredients inadvil to make it work. You just
need to know it works, justtake it. The challenge with medically tailored
meals is and I'm a big believerthis. In the industry. We have
an amazing gift in the benefits thatwe provide to payers. To provide these
meals that just work. They're justmedicine, but they do not teach,

(07:53):
they don't educate, and they reallydon't empower a patient to learn on their
own. We have the amazing giftof being able to give people the gift
of health, but we also wantto give them agency and be able to
last longer term than just the mealsthat they get. So there's grocery programs
available, there's our d services,there's a lot that's involved with that.
But one of the benefits of medicallytailored meals, which are let's back up

(08:16):
a little bit, medically tailored meals, you're just coloring and meals designed by
our rds and physicians and chefs thatcater to a specific medical diagnosis and cultural
preference of the user. It's anamazing gift to be able to give people
that because again, you don't haveto have a pre education before you get
healthy. So we get to justget people healthy. The challenge is at

(08:39):
the end of a benefit program,which our benefits are very robust benefits.
Most of ours benefits that we supplytoday are two meals a day, every
day for twelve weeks. So justimagine most of us have done those food
delivery programs. You're getting fourteen mealsa week, every single week, delivered
to your house. It's a lotof food, right, and it's very
very effective at replacing your existing dietif you like the meals. So but

(09:01):
at the end of that program,you're kind of going cold turkey, and
now you need to know why it'sworking. But the real beauty of medically
tailored meals is that because we havethe ability to give people the gift of
health, we also give people theirwhy of why this is important. The
big challenge with the registered dietitian orany behavioral change consultant is they've got to

(09:22):
convince you to change your life.But before you have an experience of what
all that works going to relate to, you don't know what it feels like
to be healthy. You may havenever been healthy in your entire life.
Right, we have the ability togive people the experience what it feels like
to be healthy and then also givethem their why in the process of This
is why it makes sense to learnand self educate and find out what works

(09:43):
with your body and how to shop, how to eat, how to cook,
you know, because those are complicatedquestions and processes. I've actually just
spoken to another conference where I askeda room of three hundred dieticians how many
of you know that you can actuallyprescribe meals today? And it was five
people out a three hundred, Like, there's just no awareness, and there

(10:03):
are millions of people nationwide that qualifyfor free meals delivered to their housework right
now, paid for by their insuranets. My name is Martin Tull. I'm
the senior Deputy Director for the AmericanCollege of Lifestyle Medicine. We're doing quite
a bit of work in the foodis Medicine space. I think that sometimes
food is medicine is perceived as limitedto medically tailored meals and produce prescriptions.

(10:26):
So the piece of the work thatwe're focused on is on clinician education.
How do we make sure that healthcareprofessionals understand what food is medicine really means.
We've seen that there's a critical rolefor clinician education in food is Medicine
and TODATE. We've been able tohave over fifty thousand healthcare professionals take our
basic training in lifestyle medicine and foodis medicine to give them a foundational knowledge

(10:50):
that they can relate to their patients. We feel that we need to have
educated and equipped clinicians as part ofthe equations. Haven't received sufficient nutrition,
stress, lifestyle medicine education in medicalschool, and so there's a vital role
for educating clinicians to be able tobring that knowledge back into their practice.

(11:13):
And so we feel that we needboth education and tools, and then we
need to design new clinical models thatallow patients to be able to have access
to that type of insight. Yousometimes we think that food is medicine is
just about the food. We choosewhat we eat based on how stressed we
are, how much sleep that we'vehad, how physically active are we.

(11:35):
And so we're trying to make surethat individuals, healthcare professions, and patients
know that there are tools for themto make better food choices. And sometimes
that's about the food, and othertimes it's about reducing their stress, improving
their sleep, optimizing their health inother ways. And so we feel that
healthcare professionals and patients alike need toget that deeper understanding of what food is

(11:58):
Medicine really means. My name isJohn Wesley mccorter. I'm the vice President
of Lifestyle Medicine at Suvita Healthcare.I am a chef and a dietitian,
a behavioral scientist. Prior to beingat Suvia Healthcare as a researcher in the
food is medicine field focusing on foodprescriptions, culinary medicine, et cetera.
When I joined Suvita Healthcare, theconcept was to bring you food is medicine

(12:22):
to this value based care space,the full risk model. Savita Healthcare is
a value based care company, meaningwe're fully capitated, which is which is
much different than the typical fee forservice model. It is designed where we
need to keep our patients healthy.And what we see in the research and
the food is Medicine space, honestlyin the literature systematically, is that the

(12:45):
things that create chronic conditions are verystrongly related to chronic conditions are in fact
related to the lifestyle factors like whatwe eat or don't eat, how much
we move our bodies or don't moveour bodies. So the plan for us
is every one of our patients walksthrough our doors needs to be consuming a
quality diet right and how can wehelp our patients do that. One of

(13:05):
them is one of the one waysof doing that is having you know,
dietitians on our team. We havecommunity rooms where we do not just you
know, nutrition counseling, but wetalk about you know, here's the food,
and then we actually do culinary medicineclasses. But we don't stop there
because we realize that it's not justabout you know, I said lifestyle factors,
but there's a lot of things thatare outside of people's control. And
when when it's outside of your control, the social terms of health other factors

(13:28):
prevent you from being able to actuallyaccess those foods. So food prescription we
work with our food banks, withour you know, other other nonprofits,
gardening, et cetera, to reallyhelp our patients have access and not just
have access, but also feel comfortablewith preparing and creating these dishes for their
family. And fundamentally, the mostimportant thing that we do is we do
not remove culture. And that's someof my earliest research was about what is

(13:52):
that message you hear about food aboutnutrition, you know, messaging and a
lot of what our patients A lotof what of the folks in this research
that he said is they feel liketheir culture made them sick, and we
know that that's just fundamentally not true. So the reality for us is making
sure that we include our patient's cultureand their food decisions, so the flavors,

(14:15):
the things that we love, whichis who we are as humans,
right and that's very, very fundamentallyimportant to us. So within this we
help our patients navigate that. Wealso talk a lot about how failure happens
and it's okay, and we tryagain, and that is you know,
it's a long term success. It'snot just about the diet. Stacy Krasik,

(14:35):
I'm the director of Nutrition and Wellnessfor the American Diabetes Association. It's
interesting because when we think about peoplewith diabetes, food really is medicine.
You know, it is a partof their personal management, their nutrition management
of their disease state. And sothis gives us an opportunity to not only
think from the bigger picture with peoplewith diabetes, but from a food and

(14:58):
security place. We know that peoplewith diabetes have a higher risk of food
insecurity and that it is vital thatwe have their voice in these conversations.
And so that's why we're here becausewe know that one out of every two
people have either diabetes or pre diabetes, and we want to make sure that

(15:20):
as programs and policies and people whoare looking to speak for these populations,
we need to make sure that theirperspective is taken into consideration. It's all
about how they look through their ownpersonal food journey and being able to make

(15:41):
successful choices that are accessible, thatare achievable, and that really meet them
where they're at. And that's whatwe try to do at the American Diabetes
Association is we look to take whatis the evidence and elevate that evidence,
but then connect it what consumers arereally looking for and people with diabetes and

(16:02):
their caregivers and the healthcare professionals thatare treating them. You know, how
do we engage in a conversation witheveryone and at the table so that people
are successful and feel empowered to beable to make their choices that make them
feel better. I want to thankthe Food is Medicine Summit for making this

(16:22):
episode possible. If this work wasinteresting to you, the next Food is
Medicine Policy Summit will be taking placein Washington, d C. On November
twentieth and twenty first, twenty twentyfour. I hope you feel motivated by
this episode. Please leave us arating and a review, and mention our
show to others who you think coulduse this information. That could be your
doctor, It could be somebody whoworks in the food service industry who's interested

(16:47):
in the health components. It couldbe a friend that is working on their
health journey. If you want tohear more, please remember to follow Culinary
Medicine Recipe on your favorite podcast listeningplatform. Until next time, Salut and
bona petite. All content provided oropinions expressed in this episode are for informational
purposes only and are not a substitutefor professional medical advice. Please take advice

(17:12):
from your doctor or other qualified healthcareprofessional.