Food and health go hand in hand. Ever heard the old adage, “You are what you eat?” Eating real food with whole ingredients is a great start to a healthy lifestyle. Adding chemicals and pesticides to your diet does not benefit the body. When looking at health as a whole, doctors are starting to incorporate diet into their patients’ regimes. Medical students are beginning to receive more training when it comes to diet in order to improve the care they are able to provide.

Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans has implemented a radically different curriculum, teaching their medical students not only about nutrition in general, but also the practical aspects of cooking with real ingredients.

Because a lot of people do not know how to cook for themselves, medical students are being taught the necessary skills to teach their patients how to cook real foods at home. Schools are working in conjunction with Johnson and Wales to be able to have a reasonable curriculum for medical students to learn on top of their medical classes.

People do not know how to cook for themselves due to the wide variety of options of processed and pre-packaged foods. Heating something up in the microwave or grabbing a combo meal at a fast food restaurant is both convenient and inexpensive, so most people choose that route, even though it is detrimental to overall health.

It has been found that patients actually enjoy their meals more when they cook them from scratch. With their own decisions when it comes to ingredients and spices, people are able to create a perfect dish for their own liking. If you do not like to cook on a stove, the option to build your own salads or sandwiches is an easier and quicker route. This can be done at home, or out while at a restaurant or at work. This is a more healthy option to be able to control the ingredients that go into your meals.

Growing foods at home is a great way to get all of the nutrients straight from the ground. Eating a microbiological diet means eating foods that are grown within 15 miles of your home. This ensures that the nutrition is withheld in the ingredients and it is not lost in transit. Growing your own vegetables is a fun hobby that has limitless health benefits. Farmer’s markets are also a great place to find local produce.

It is also important to cook foods properly to ensure their safety. When meats are cooked at high temperatures for too long, they create carcinogenic compounds. Some of the highest risk cooking methods that promote certain cancers are pan frying, grilling, and charring. Other cooking methods that may be toxic involve the type of oil used. Certain oils such as soybean and corn oil degrade when heated and can turn toxic, while others such as grape seed oil, have a high temperature tolerance.

Having a good cookbook is a great resource for patients looking to improve their health. Doctors are working with patients more on their diets to create a life of whole health, rather than just adding medicine, but not giving the body the proper fuel to run on.

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