Everyone Can Learn to Be Healthy in Our Diabetes Teaching Kitchen
Consider your kitchen. It’s not just a place to prepare food. It’s also a cooking school, a test laboratory, and a sanctuary after a stressful day. SFCHC recognizes its importance so well that we have one of our own: the Diabetes Teaching Kitchen at our clinic location.
A Kitchen for All Cooks
As the name suggests, the Diabetes Teaching Kitchen opened in late 2010 to host nutrition and cooking classes. It has all the appliances and supplies you’d expect, but SFCHC made a significant exclusion. The Teaching Kitchen only uses what the average person has at home. No expensive or hard-to-find gadgets, says Rita Jauregui, SFCHC’s Health Education Manager. “The way we’re going to teach [patients] and they’re going to learn is using that equipment they normally use at home.”
Removing barriers to healthy habits is one of the main goals of the Teaching Kitchen. “These are not expensive recipes,” Jauregui explains. “It’s whatever people are going to have access to and can share with their families, and they’re still eating healthy food and healthy meals.” The instructors even help students find affordable measuring cups to use at home. (Accurate measuring is especially important to healthy portion size.) Speaking of affordable, all the classes are free. And while SFCHC patients get first priority, the Diabetes Teaching Kitchen is open to all.
Rooted in Diabetes Education
Several classes in the Teaching Kitchen address diabetes from many angles:
Diabetes Prevention Classes use a curriculum from the CDC called PreventT2. The course includes ways to stay healthy even when you’re not at home, when your schedule fills up, and when you’re short on cash.
Latino culture is built around traditional recipes and cuisine. Project ALTO teaches how to manage your diabetes while still preserving them.
The Kitchen is also home to SFCHC’s FEAST (Food Education, Access, and Support, Together). There’s plenty of room for the open, safe sharing sessions that are a feature of this program.
In summertime, there’s a cooking class for kids and their parents. It’s an early introduction to healthy recipes and health education. The recipes use only safe equipment and all the ingredients are provided.
All patients get the benefit of learning from registered dietitians or community health workers.
It’s Not Just About Your Tummy
With many conditions, good nutrition isn’t just helpful, it’s crucial. So the Diabetes Teaching Kitchen hosts courses on other subjects, including:
Alzheimer’s education
mammogram information and breast cancer awareness
instruction and assistance with using a blood pressure monitor
other chronic conditions
Nutrition is a factor in dental, behavioral, and all other areas of health. Addressing this is part of how SFCHC provides whole-person care. Our methodology includes both treatment and prevention.
Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is: what’s the most popular recipe taught in the Teaching Kitchen? “Chicken and mango tostadas [link to recipe video],” Jauregui says without hesitation. “It’s easy, it’s fresh, and all the patients love it.” Sound delicious? Call SFCHC to register for a class today!
