Our HEALing Kitchen is a “Train-the-Trainer” program that equips local organizations serving low-income or vulnerable individuals with skills to prepare healthy and affordable recipes. Using the Our HEALing Kitchen curriculum, developed by Parkview dietitians, this curriculum emphasizes locally grown food and the benefits of eating a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats, sugars, and processed foods.
HEAL, a partnership between St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and Parkview Regional Medical Center & Affiliates Community Health Improvement Fund, is now offering funding to enable local organizations and churches to offer cooking classes aimed at helping people learn new, fun, and affordable ways to integrate healthy foods into their daily diets. Evaluations show that Our HEALing Kitchen classes have successfully increased daily fruit and vegetable consumption by participants and increased confidence in cooking meals on a budget. For example,
- The percentage of individuals who ate at least 2 cups of vegetables in the past 24 hours increased from 15.4% pre to 31.1% post. Additionally, there was a decline of 5.2% of those who ate none from pre to post.
- The percentage of individuals who were either Confident or Very confident they can use basic cooking skills increased from 60.3% pre to 65.5% post.
- The percentage of individuals who were either Confident or Very Confident they can make balanced meals on a budget increased from 43.6% pre to 57.3% post.