"The Tulane University School of Medicine and Johnson & Wales University announced a groundbreaking, long-term collaboration that unites doctors and chefs in improving the nation’s health through the teaching of culinary medicine."
Part of me thinks food should just be enjoyed, but there's no question food is linked to health. Both my parents faced times when doctors prescribed them special diets with no help whatsoever in figuring out how to make the diet enjoyable. Predictable result: they ate the wrong stuff anyway. When Dad was put on coumadin a few years ago, none of his doctors told him about the effect different foods could have on his INR results (mostly because of the levels of vitamin K in the food). Dad changes what he eats without knowing, and the pharmacist goes nuts trying to balance his medication to keep his blood from being too thin.
I found out about coumadin/warfarin-safe foods online, from my friend Morgan's husband's website - I am amazed by what Dr Timothy Harlan (aka Dr Gourmet) has done to make peace between healthy eating and yummy deliciousness. This is what happens when a trained chef from a restaurant-owning family becomes an internist but never stops cooking. He's going to be the executive director of the Tulane program.
Anyway, I think it's way cool that doctors somewhere (no surprise it's New Orleans) are willing to consider at last the importance of having food taste good. If it isn't good, people won't eat it, no matter how healthy it's supposed to be.
