Feeding a Healthy Community A first-of-its-kind teaching kitchen opens in Traverse City.
by LYNDA WHEATLEY photos by DAVE WEIDNER
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ocal farms grow healthy food, which grows healthy locals. And locals who buy healthy local foods make for healthier local farms. This all makes for a healthier local economy. For nearly 30 years, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, formerly known as Michigan Land Use Institute, has been putting the healthy local food + people + farms equation into action, expanding the region’s food economy far beyond farmers markets and into Northwest Lower Michigan’s schools, food pantries, restaurants and grocery stores. But until recently, there was one field where Groundwork hadn’t fully sowed its local food love: the region’s healthcare system. As it turns out, it was fertile ground, and physicians—and their patients—were hungry for help. See, despite the massive role proper nutrition plays in preventing disease and promoting longer, healthier lives, most physicians can’t do more than recommend their patients eat “better.” With the average patient-provider visit clocking in at 20 minutes, few providers have the time or bandwidth to explain what “better” means, let alone create meal plans or show patients how to
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select and prepare the variety of fresh foods a healthy diet should include. Providers are busy enough managing the conditions and chronic diseases poor diets cause—high blood pressure, diabetes, certain forms of cancers and cardiovascular disease, the latter of which caused more American deaths (800,000) in 2020 than even Covid-19. “It’s unfortunate the way our healthcare system is set up. [Doctors] get reimbursed for what they do; they don’t get reimbursed for prevention,” says Groundwork Community Nutrition Specialist Paula Martin.
health & wellness 2023
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3/13/23 8:47 PM
