Food as Medicine Summit – Bringing Everyone to the Table
Topic: Food as Medicine
Panels: Winning over Disease with Diet; How Food Can Impact Cancer – – From Prevention to Healing; Can Food Stop or Reverse Diabetes? If Not, What is Food’s Impact?; Cooking with Ingredients that Heal and Are Healthy
Location: Hunter College Silberman Building – 2180 Third Ave, Main Auditorium (on 2ndfloor), New York, NY 10035
Date of Meeting: Thursday, November 30th2017
Sponsor: Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center
Panel 1: Winning over Disease with Diet
Names and Credentials of Speakers:
Moderator — Samantha Heller, MS, RDN, CDN, Exercise Physiologist and Senior Clinical Nutritionist, NYU Langone Medical Center, writer, radio host, adjunct professor
Panelists:
- Robert Ostfeld, M.D., MSc., FACC, Director of Preventive Cardiology at Montefiore
- Amie Valpone, HHC, AADP, best-selling author and founder of The Healthy Apple
- Stefanie Sacks, MS, CNS, CDN, Culinary Nutritionist
- Martha McKittrick, RD, CDN, CDE, CHWC, Registered Dietitian, Private Practice in NYC
- Kayleen St. John, MS, RD, Executive Director of Nutrition and Strategic Development, Euphebe
Panel 2: How Food Can Impact Cancer – From Prevention to Healing
Names and Credentials of Speakers:
Moderator — Robert Graham, M.D., MPH, ABOIM, FACP, Chef in training. Board Certified in Internal & Integrative Medicine, Co-Founder FRESH Med NYC
Panelists:
- Jonathan Forgash, Chef, Director of Services, Seek Servana
- Francesca Gany, M.D., MS, Chief of The Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Karen Pearl, MA, President and CEO, God’s Love We Deliver
- Loraine Stupakoff, cancer survivor
Panel 3: Can Food Stop or Reverse Diabetes? If Not, What is Food’s Impact?
Names and Credentials of Speakers:
Moderator — Robert Graham, M.D., MPH, ABOIM, FACP, Chef in training. Board Certified in Internal & Integrative Medicine, Co-Founder FRESH Med NYC
Panelists:
- Ashita Gupta, M.D., MPH, ECNU, Endocrinologist, Mt. Sinai
- Rachel Stahl, MS, RD, CDN, Senior Clinical Dietitian, NY-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell
- Michelle Miller, MSACN, Clinical Nutritionist, PhysioLogic NYC
- Steven Trasino, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Nutrition, Hunter College
Panel 4: Cooking with Ingredients that Heal and Are Healthy
Names and Credentials of Speakers:
Moderator — Henry Rinehart, owner, HENRY’s
Panelists:
- Jonathan Cetnarski, CEO, Natural Gourmet Institute
- Galen Foulois, Founder, Restore Food
- Richard Lamarita, Chef Instructor, Natural Gourmet Institute
- Paul Lightfoot, JD, Chief Executive Officer, BrightFarms
- Joy Pierson, nutritionist and co-founder/co-owner, Candle Cafe
The goal of the conference is in the title – Food as Medicine; they were looking to explore how we can use food to help prevent and treat chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. As stated on the pamphlet, “We often hear that in the fight to combat chronic diseases, food is the problem; therefore food must also be the solution. For change to occur in our food and health systems, everyone must be engaged. Farmers, chefs, doctors, nutritionists, policy, community, media and patients.” The Food as Medicine Summit explored these topics via panel sessions and I believe they did a good job of achieving this stated goal because panelists were not just limited to doctors and dietitians; actual diabetes and cancer patients were part of the panel and an important part of the discussions.
The panel that I found to be the most interesting was the second one, “How can food impact cancer – from prevention to healing”. My interest in nutrition began in high school after my mom was diagnosed with cancer, so I was excited to hear outside perspectives on using food as medicine, and I was particularly excited to hear from a cancer survivor. During this particular panel, however, I felt that they focused too much on the cancer survivors experience. This particular woman was told that even with treatment the odds of her beating the cancer were extremely slim. She decided to do research and did a complete diet overhaul in response. While what she did is ideal it is not easy or feasible for everyone to do and I think saying “my diet cured my cancer” is a dangerous message to put out because less educated individuals might see that and stop treatment when they really need it. I did really enjoy hearing about Jonathan Forgash’s business, Seek Servana. They prepare and deliver personalized meals to the homes of cancer patients. He interviews the patients to find out what they like and how the treatments have affected how they eat so that he can prepare nutritionally balanced meals that they will enjoy even during their treatments.
The third panel was the most evidence-based, in my opinion. This was probably because, aside from the person with type 2 diabetes, every panelist was a health professional. I think if I were to run a summit such as this one I would have more individuals with the chronic disease on the panel, and when asking them questions I would focus, not only on their experiences, but also on the questions they may have about what they should be doing in terms of nutrition. I think as a health professional it is easy to think that we are answering every question a person may have, and they may ask something we wouldn’t even have thought of in the first place.
Lunch was catered by Dig Inn Seasonal Market and was provided in between the second and third panel, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. The lunch served was appropriate and consistent with the themes and messages of the events. They provided a chicken, salmon, and vegetarian option. They all came with quinoa and roasted vegetables. They ran out of the vegetarian and salmon options very quickly because they provided lunch to everyone instead of giving it to only those who had signed up for lunch. There were also several stands offering different health foods and beverages. One of the stands offered samples of various greens from AeroFarms, and this stand was actually run by a fellow dietetic intern! Other samples included kombacha, some pickled stuff, vegetarian chili, and more.Everything served was healthy and in-line with what was being talked about in the conference.
CRDN 1.4: Evaluate emerging research for application in nutrition and dietetics practice, CRDN 1.6: Incorporate critical-thinking skills in overall practice, CRDN 2.2: Demonstrate professional writing skills in preparing professional communications, CRDN 2.9: Participate in professional and community organizations
