Food For Life - Class Descriptions

African American Culinary Heritage

This six-week series is designed to honor and explore the history of African American culinary traditions. The curriculum is intended to inspire and empower healthful eating for the purpose of preventing and arresting chronic disease disproportionately affecting African Americans by connecting to culturally relevant recipes. The series recognizes the ancestral ties of West African foodways that were brought to the United States through the Middle Passage and the culinary traditions, such as soul food, developed by African Americans throughout their history in the United States. Classes will also help participants seeking to prevent or overcome high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other health conditions that disproportionately affect African Americans. Each class features a cooking demonstration of delicious, health-promoting dishes, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home.

Featured Class Topics

• The Power of Your Plate
• Foods for a Healthy Heart
• Introduction to How Foods Fight Diabetes
• Introduction to How Foods Fight Cancer
• Designing a Diet for Maximum Weight Control
• Making It Work for You

Cooking to Combat COVID-19

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, studies and data have shown individuals with underlying chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or obesity are at greater risk of developing severe infection. This series of four classes will illuminate how a diet rich in low-fat plant-based foods counters chronic conditions and supports a healthy immune system, and thereby reduces the likelihood of severe COVID-19 and hospitalization. Participants will leave with knowledge and skills to boost immunity long after the pandemic. Each class features a cooking demonstration, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home.

Featured Class Topics

• Cancer-Fighting Compounds and Immune-Boosting Foods 
• Foods for a Healthy Heart
• Introduction to How Foods Fight Diabetes 
• Foods and Mood

Kickstart Your Health

Based on the Physicians Committee’s successful 21-Day Vegan Kickstart book, this seven-class series guides participants on a journey toward healthy weight loss, healthy weight maintenance, and an overall healthful and sustainable diet. For some participants, this may be the first time that food choice is prioritized over restricting food amounts as a guiding principle to support long-term health. This is a lifesaving learning experience bolstered by delicious plant-based recipes that help to lower cholesterol, control diabetes, lower blood pressure, and even boost energy and mood. Each class features a cooking demonstration, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home.

Featured Class Topics

• Power of Your Plate 
• Let’s Go! 
• Getting in Gear 
• Breaking the Food Seduction 
• Keys for Natural Appetite Control 
• Digestive Health 
• Healthy Blood Pressure

Cancer Project

This seven-class series guides participants to make the critical connection between diet and the risk of developing various forms of cancer. With a focus on low-fat plant-based nutrition, participants develop an understanding of specific foods and nutrients that either promote or discourage cancer development. Each class features a cooking demonstration of delicious, health-promoting dishes, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home. The program includes optional bonus content addressing breast cancer and prostate cancer specifically.

The intended audience for this series includes cancer survivors and their family and friends as well as individuals looking to prevent cancer. Classes are not meant for individuals currently undergoing cancer treatment.

Featured Class Topics

• Introduction to How Foods Fight Cancer 
• Fueling Up on Low-Fat Foods
• Favoring Fiber 
• Discovering Dairy Alternatives 
• Replacing Meat 
• Cancer-Fighting Compounds and Immune-Boosting Foods 
• Maintaining a Healthy Weight

Supplemental Classes

• Foods and Breast Cancer Survival
• Foods and Prostate Cancer Survival

Diabetes Initiative

The eight-class Diabetes Initiative series provides the knowledge, tools, and lifestyle strategies to help individuals reduce the risk of developing diabetes, and to manage and even reverse the disease. Classes are intended for those with diabetes, prediabetes, or a family history or risk factors for developing diabetes, and their adult family members and loved ones. Each class in the program will feature nutrition education and cooking demonstrations, and participants will leave with a selection of affordable and easy recipes they can prepare at home.

Featured Class Topics

•     Introduction to How Foods Fight Diabetes 
•     The Power of Your Plate and Grocery Cart 
•     Understanding Type 2 Diabetes 
•     Designing a Diet for Maximum Weight Control 
•     The Glycemic Index
•     Keeping a Healthy Heart 
•     Diabetes Care From Head to Toe 
•     Making It Work for You

Nutrition Essentials

Based on the Physicians Committee’s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart book, this four-class series promotes a low-fat plant-based diet for preventing some of the most common chronic diseases. Grounded in evidence-based science, this series will empower participants by revealing the whys and hows—the knowledge and skills—for effective and long-term weight loss and maintenance in support of overall health. Participants receive helpful, easy-to-follow handouts and guides to cement learning and ease them into implementation of new dietary changes, including healthy menu ideas, weekly menu planning guides, suggested plant-based recipe substitutions, an easy-to-follow fiber-tracker, and more.

Featured Class Topics

• Kickstart Your Health: Weight Control and Diabetes Prevention 
• Let’s Go
• Getting in Gear 
• Weight Loss

Healthly Basics

This four-class series presents health-promoting dietary strategies that are both budget-friendly and accessible. Nutrition education components help individuals to connect diet and disease outcomes while they are simultaneously learning about easy-to-prepare plant-based recipes. Not only are ingredients and recipes budget-friendly and accessible, but minimal kitchen tools are required for food preparation. Participants will take away knowledge and strategies that will help them to realize savings in the short- and long-term, both in terms of their dollars saved and enhanced quality of life. Each class features a cooking demonstration with samples of delicious and health-promoting dishes, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home.

Featured Class Topics

• The Power Plate 
• How Foods Fight Diabetes 
• Foods for a Healthy Weight 
• How Foods Fight Heart Disease 

Supplemental Class

• Grocery Store Tour

Kids Health

This four-class series is designed to be a fun and engaging learning experience for kids between the ages of 9 and 12 and in grades 4-6. The program accentuates the positives of healthy foods (whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables) found on the Power Plate. As the children are exposed to the benefits of consuming a healthful diet, they are also tasting delicious foods prepared during a live cooking demonstration. Kids will participate in games and activities to cement their learning, and they will be provided with handouts of the recipes so they can share and prepare them at home. The goal of this series is to provide foundational knowledge and skills to children early in life to set them up for success well into adulthood.

Featured Class Topics and Objectives

• Breakfast
• Snacks
• Lunch
• Dinner

Employee Wellness Program

The Employee Wellness Program is a nine-week workplace class series intended to guide staff members as they work to unlock the role of food choices for better health. Through the introduction of plant-based nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, and supportive group discussion, employees will take away the learning and tools they apply practically for improving overall health and reducing chronic disease risk. Additional and significant benefits to employees include lowered health care costs, fewer sick days, and improved energy and moods. Notable benefits to employers include reduced absenteeism, reduction of health care costs, and improved staff productivity.

Featured Class Topics

• Power on Your Plate 
• Let’s Go!
• Getting in Gear 
• Breaking the Food Seduction  
• Keys for Natural Appetite Control 
• Digestive Health  
• Introduction to How Food Fight Cancer 
• Introduction to How Foods Fight Diabetes 
• Healthy Blood Pressure

Your Body In Balance

This nine-class series draws from the popular book Your Body in Balance: The New Science of Food, Hormones, and Health by Neal Barnard, MD, FACC. Focusing on a variety of hormone-related conditions that impact women and men of all ages and life stages, class content in this series examines how specific dietary changes work to bring hormone levels into balance. From infertility and thyroid function to toxic chemicals in the environment, participants will learn strategies they can apply in their daily lives to prevent, manage, or even reverse hormone-related conditions. Each class features a cooking demonstration, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home.

Featured Class Topics

• Foods for Fertility
• Curing Cramps and Premenstrual Syndrome
• Tackling Hormone-Related Cancers
• Reversing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
• Tackling Menopause
• Curing  Erectile Dysfunction and Saving Your Life
• A Healthy Thyroid
• Foods and Mood
• Avoiding Environmental Chemicals

Let's Beat Breast Cancer

The classes in this series will bring into focus the undeniable connection between diet and cancer risk. Based on the Physicians Committee’s groundbreaking Cancer Project curriculum, the first four classes will focus on the role of different foods and nutrients in either promoting or discouraging growth of different cancers, including breast cancer. The last class will focus more specifically on foods that have been shown to directly reduce breast cancer risk and support survival. Each class features a cooking demonstration of delicious, health-promoting dishes, along with handouts of easy and affordable recipes participants can prepare at home.

The intended audience of the Food for Life: Let’s Beat Breast Cancer classes are cancer survivors and their family and friends, as well as those looking to prevent the disease. These classes are not intended for individuals currently undergoing breast cancer treatment.

Featured Class Topics

• Introduction to How Foods Fight Cancer
• Fueling Up On Low-Fat, High-Fiber Foods
• Discovering Dairy and Meat Alternatives
• Cancer-Fighting Compounds and Healthy Weight Control
• Food for Breast Cancer Prevention and Survival
• Inflammation: Plant-based diets help reduce inflammation, which can lead to heart disease.

Initiativa diabetes (Spanish Diabetes Initiative)

Esta serie de ocho clases empodera a los hispanohablantes a restaurar su salud por medio de información y herramientas que les ayudará a prevenir, controlar o incluso revertir la diabetes. Respaldándose en la evidencia científica, los participantes aprenderán que centrarse en una dieta rica en cereales integrales, legumbres, verduras y frutas es un enfoque eficaz a largo plazo. Además de estar diseñado para las personas con diabetes, este programa está dirigido para personas con prediabetes, antecedentes familiares o factores de riesgo para desarrollar diabetes, y para sus familiares adultos y seres queridos. Cada clase cuenta con una demostración culinaria para promover la salud a través de la preparación de platos deliciosos, además de folletos de recetas fáciles y de bajo costo que los participantes podrán preparar en casa.

Temas destacados de la clase

• Introducción: Cómo los alimentos combaten la diabetes
• El poder de tu plato y el carrito de compras
• La diabetes tipo 2
• Cómo diseñar una dieta para lograr el máximo control peso
• El índice glucémico
• Cómo mantener un corazón sano
• Atención de la diabetes desde la cabeza hasta los pies
• Cómo lograr que funcione para ti

Activa tu salud (Spanish Kickstart Your Health)

Basada en el exitoso libro 21-Day Vegan Kickstart del Comité de Médicos, esta serie de siete clases embarca a los participantes en un recorrido de pérdida y mantenimiento de peso por medio de una alimentación saludable y sostenible. Algunos participantes descubrirán que el enfoque en la elección de alimentos tiene más importancia que la restricción de estos para promover la salud a largo plazo. Esta es una experiencia de vital importancia para ayudar a reducir el colesterol, controlar la diabetes, reducir la presión arterial e incluso aumentar los niveles de energía y el estado de ánimo, por medio de deliciosas recetas a base de plantas.

Cada clase cuenta con una demostración culinaria, además de folletos de recetas fáciles y de bajo costo que los participantes podrán preparar en casa.

Temas destacados de la clase

• El poder de tu plato
• ¡Comencemos!
• Como prepararnos para comer fuera de la casa
• Como romper la seducción de la comida
• Como controlar tu apetito de manera natural
• Salud digestiva
• Presión arterial saludable

Programa de bienestar para empleados (Spanish Employee Wellness Program)

Este programa es una serie de clases de nueve semanas que se pueden llevar a cabo en el lugar de trabajo y están destinadas a guiar a los empleados a descubrir la importancia de sus elecciones alimentarias para mejorar su salud. A través de la introducción de la educación nutricional basada en plantas, demostraciones culinarias y alentadoras discusiones de grupo, los empleados obtendrán el aprendizaje y las herramientas para mejorar la salud en general y reducir el riesgo de enfermedades crónicas. Los beneficios adicionales y significativos para los empleados incluyen, reducción de costos de atención médica, reducción de ausencias laborales a causa de enfermedades, elevados niveles de energía y mejor estado de ánimo. Los beneficios adicionales y notables para los empleadores u organizaciones incluyen, la reducción de ausencias laborales y de costos de atención médica de empleados, al igual que una mejora de productividad del personal.

Temas destacados de la clase

• El poder de tu plato
• ¡Comencemos!
• Cómo prepararnos para comer fuera de casa
• Cómo romper la seducción de la comida
• Cómo controlar tu apetito de manera natural
• Salud digestiva
• Introducción a cómo los alimentos combaten el cáncer
• Introducción a cómo los alimentos combaten la diabetes
• Presión arterial saludable

Salud esencial (Spanish Healthy Basics)

Esta serie de cuatro clases ofrece estrategias accesibles y económicas para mejorar la salud a través de la alimentación. A lo largo del curso, aprenderás cómo la dieta influye en la prevención y manejo de enfermedades, mientras descubres recetas basadas en plantas fáciles de preparar.

Los ingredientes y recetas seleccionados son accesibles y requieren aparatos o herramientas de cocina mínimas, lo que facilita su preparación en cualquier hogar. Además, obtendrás conocimientos prácticos que te permitirán ahorrar dinero e invertir en tu bienestar y calidad de vida a corto y largo plazo.

Cada sesión incluye una demostración culinaria con muestras de platillos saludables y deliciosos, así como folletos con recetas económicas y sencillas para replicar en casa.

Temas destacados:

• El poder de tu plato: Cómo diseñar comidas equilibradas y nutritivas.
• Cómo los alimentos combaten la diabetes: Estrategias alimenticias para la prevención y manejo de la diabetes.
• Alimentos para lograr un peso saludable: Opciones nutricionales que favorecen el bienestar y el control del peso.
• Cómo los alimentos combaten las enfermedades cardíacas: La alimentación como herramienta para la salud cardiovascular.
• Recorrido por el supermercado (clase opcional): Aprende a comprar de manera inteligente para mantener una alimentación saludable y económica.

Infancia saludable (Spanish Kids Health class)

Esta serie de cuatro clases ha sido cuidadosamente diseñada para ofrecer a los niños de entre 9 y 12 años una experiencia de aprendizaje divertida, práctica y significativa. A través del programa, se destacan los aspectos positivos de una alimentación saludable basada en el Plato Poderoso, que incluye cereales integrales, legumbres, frutas y vegetales.

Durante cada sesión, los niños no solo aprenderán sobre los beneficios de una buena nutrición, sino que también tienen la oportunidad de probar platillos deliciosos preparados en demostraciones de cocina en vivo. Para reforzar lo aprendido, participarán en juegos y actividades dinámicas, y recibirán folletos con recetas fáciles para preparar en casa con la familia.

El objetivo de esta serie es proporcionarles a los niños herramientas y conocimientos esenciales desde una etapa temprana, ayudándolos a desarrollar hábitos saludables que los acompañen y beneficien durante toda su vida.

Temas destacados de la clase

• Desayunos
• Refrigerios
• Almuerzos
• Cenas

Food for Life: French Kickstart Your Health Manger Pour Vivre: Relancez votre santé

Basé sur le livre à succès 21-Day Vegan Kickstart du comité des médecins, cette série de sept cours guide les participants dans un parcours vers une perte de poids saine, le maintien d’un poids de forme et un régime alimentaire globalement équilibré et durable. Pour certains participants, ce sera peut-être la première fois que le choix des aliments est priorisé par rapport à la restriction de la quantité, comme un principe directeur pour soutenir une santé à long terme.

Cette expérience d’apprentissage, qui peut littéralement sauver des vies, est enrichie par des recettes végétales savoureuses qui aident à réduire le cholestérol, contrôler le diabète, abaisser la pression artérielle et même booster l’énergie et l’humeur. Chaque cours comprend une démonstration culinaire, ainsi que des fiches de recettes simples et abordables que les participants peuvent préparer chez eux.

Thèmes Principaux du Cours

• Le pouvoir de votre assiette
• C’est parti!
• Passer à la vitesse supérieure
• Briser la séduction alimentaire
• Les clés pour un contrôle naturel de l’appétit
• La santé digestive
• Une tension artérielle saine