Treating obesity with culinary medicine: Could it be a solution?

Programs related to culinary medicine are rising in developed countries to counter health diseases like obesity and cardiovascular disease. It is based on nutrition research and is done to improve education regarding nutrition. The programs basically teach kitchens to provide health professionals with the practical skills to aid patients in making evidence-based dietary changes. It is not a boring dietary lifestyle but instead focuses on food that is accessible, delicious, and affordable. Culinary medicine is being taught in schools with standardized curricula and assessment strategies. The science is based on the fact that inadequate and suboptimal diets are risk factors for increased morbidity in obesity, cardiovascular disease, and Type 2 diabetes. As food is a risk factor for the deterioration of conditions, it is vital to update knowledge about food and use it to transform lives. The driving forces for the chronic decline of diseases are the abundance of inexpensive, highly palatable convenience foods; more frequent eating out; more significant meal portions; and the ubiquity of processed foods.

A recent comparative analysis revealed that dietary risk factors contributed to nearly 50% of deaths in 2012. Excess sodium intake was associated with the highest proportion of deaths; the other elements were low intake of nuts and seeds, high intake of processed meats, low intake of seafood omega-3 fats, low intake of vegetables, low intake of fruits, high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, low intake of whole grains, and increased intake of unprocessed red meats. Maladaptive changes perpetuated by nutrient-poor, energy-dense food consumption can ultimately lead to imbalanced energy, abnormal weight gain, and chronic disease. Food-based interventions are now being explored to initiate gut reset for the treatment of obesity and chronic illness. One detail is to reduce or eliminate pro-inflammatory foods such as corn syrup; these foods inflame the key metabolic receptors. Diets that work specifically to lower the risk of preventing the prognosis of diseases include a Mediterranean-style eating plan and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). The power of food and the interplay among food quality, eating behavior, and the physiologic basis of long-term metabolism must not be underestimated.

The primary benefit of culinary medicine is to highlight the pleasure of healthy foods rather than pressuring the avoidance of unhealthy food. Predisposition to unhealthy foods, especially by activating pleasure centers, is a malleable aspect of the brain. Scientists claim that this can be shifted towards attraction to healthy food instead. Culinary therapy recommendations usually revolve around the overall patterns of food selection that meet a person's nutritional needs rather than focusing on intakes of specific nutrients. The aim is to guide the patients to make medically sound food choices supporting pleasurable eating.

The barriers that can arise to the incorporation of medical and culinary knowledge can be literacy, budget constraints, religious concerns, readiness to change, decision-making of the person who is cooking, and the physical and mental ability to plan meals. It is essential not to make any assumptions regarding the will of individuals to change their diet.