Culinary Medicine

Patient Education for Therapeutic Lifestyle

Changes

Nanette LeBlanc-Morales, DNP, NP-C

KEYWORDS
 Culinary  Culinary medicine  Cardiovascular disease  Lifestyle medicine
 Nutrition

KEY POINTS
 Preventable chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, is a growing epidemic in
the United States largely related to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and potentially delays
wound healing, extends hospital stay, and increases hospital-related complications.
 Therapies targeting diet and nutrition can promote health, reduce risk factors for CVD, and
reverse cardiometabolic disorders that can compound comorbidities and subsequent
increased mortality in hospitalized patients.
 Culinary medicine is the application of evidence-based food science to treat and manage
disease that is tailored to patient health needs and goals.
 Patients equipped with nutritional knowledge and instructed on culinary techniques can
implement sustainable changes in diet behaviors that affect the course of their disease
pursuant to hospital discharge.

Culinary medicine (CM) is an emerging field of evidence-based medical practice with

an emphasis on healthy eating. In 2003, CM began as an elective course on cooking
and nutrition at the State University of New York-Upstate Medical University. A
decade later, the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane in New Orleans, Lou-
isiana, was developed as an interactive program with the mission to equip medical
providers and the community with skills on nutrition, meal planning, and meal prepa-
ration. The premise of CM is health promotion and illness management through calcu-
lated dietary regimens based on health needs, budget, and lifestyle. CM should not be
confused with alternative medicine, herbal medicine, or naturopathic therapies.
Rather, it is a taxonomy using particular dietary components of food in the context
of their biologic effects on body systems. Simply put, it is the “Science of medicine
blended with the art of cooking.”1

Disclosure Statement: The author has nothing to disclose.

Graduate Program, School of Nursing, LSU Health Sciences Center – New Orleans, 1900 Gravier,
New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
E-mail address: nmoral@lsuhsc.edu

Crit Care Nurs Clin N Am 31 (2019) 109–123

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnc.2018.11.009 ccnursing.theclinics.com
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