Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives: Caring for Our Patients and Ourselves

An Annual Gathering of Physicians, Dietitians, Nurses and other Healthcare Professionals; Hospital, Insurance, and Other Healthcare Executives; and Healthcare Foodservice Directors and Executive Chefs

Physicians, nutritionists, economists and politicians, with unprecedented unity, are warning that the recent increases in obesity and diabetes are creating extraordinary public health challenges nationally and globally. According to a recent Institute of Medicine report: "The great advances of genetics and biomedical discoveries could be more than offset by the burden of illness, disability and death caused by too many people eating too much and moving too little over their lifetime."1

How many doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are truly knowledgeable about the latest scientific evidence to distinguish "healthy" verses less healthy or unhealthy foods? How many know how best to successfully engage their patients to improve their nutritional choices and lifestyles? How many can serve as role models, coaches and teachers to shift the way adults think about purchasing, preparing, and enjoying healthy and delicious foods? In this conference, faculty members from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health will present the state of the science of diet and nutrition.

Who Should Attend?
The conference is intended for:

• Physicians from all specialties
• Physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners
• Nutritionists, dieticians, occupational and physical therapists,
• Exercise physiologists and other allied health professionals
• Insurance and hospital executive directors
• Food service executives, executive chefs, and those responsible for food services within hospitals, K-12 programs, college and university campuses, retirement and assisted-living communities, nursing homes and military facilities
• Mental health providers

Learning Objectives

• To summarize what we know about opportunities to optimize our diets based on the current state of the science, as well as the current and likely future public health costs of inaction.
• To provide sufficient information to intelligently distinguish various popular diets and to advise patients based on the science associated with these diets.
• To provide state of the science updates pertaining to dietary fats, carbohydrates, proteins and the foods that support these findings.
• To provide pragmatic information enabling conference attendees to thoughtfully advise patients/consumers about healthy menu strategies.
• To engage executives from insurance companies, hospitals, educational communities, retirement facilities and the military to discuss successful strategies whereby health-promoting, nutritional options can be made increasingly available to the general public.
• To understand American culinary trends, and how to leverage an increasing interest in new flavors and world cuisines on behalf of healthier menu and food choice strategies.
• To explore cost issues for healthy food shopping, cooking and eating—and approaches to healthy diets that can be affordable for low income individuals and budget-challenged families.
• To learn, through hands-on training, about the preparation of a variety of healthy nutritional options including healthy salads, whole grains, healthy protein entrees, and vegetarian dishes.
• To discover strategies for healthy cooking and eating that are easy, fast and efficient.
• To review the latest research demonstrating the critical importance of proper exercise and mindfulness with regard to dietary food choices and weight management.
• To gain an overview of resources for reference material, newsletters and websites in nutrition, weight-management and healthy cuisine.