Food As Medicine in Alameda County

Healthy food is like preventive medicine: take it daily, and it will prevent nutrition-related disease. Healthy food can also be used to treat and reverse some chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

When ALL IN Eats delivers healthy, sustainably-produced food to people within the community, we’re not only supporting sustainable farming jobs and local food businesses, we’re supporting the health of members of our community. We are committed to ensuring that all of the food distributed within this system meets requirements for nutrition and sustainable farming standards. That’s where our Recipe4Health (formerly known as Food as Medicine) program comes in.

The Recipe4Health program is urgently needed given higher rates of food insecurity, chronic disease, and health equity. Food insecurity, or the lack of access to nutritious food to support a healthy life, has been linked to various adverse health outcomes like obesity, diabetes, and depression. Individuals with chronic diseases often see their conditions exacerbated by crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a particular challenge for Americans dealing with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, and severe obesity are between 3-6 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19. In addition, food insecurity is far more prevalent in communities of color, including being almost twice as prevalent in African American and Native American communities.

We are partnering with community-based health clinics. Clinic staff will screen patients across all specialties for food insecurity, social isolation, and diet-related conditions or risk. Providers are trained on food as medicine best practices and provide prescriptions (vouchers) for fresh produce to eligible patients. They also recruit eligible patients to enroll in a 4-month “Behavioral Pharmacy” group medical visit program in conjunction with the Food Farmacy.

Connect with a Recipe4Health Clinic Near You

Recipe4Health is currently working with Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, Native American Health Center, and LifeLong Medical Care. For general information about the Recipe4Health program, please contact Karen Ben-Moshe. For general information about the Recipe4Health program, please visit the ALL IN website.

“Today, more than 130 million Americans are affected by chronic diseases that are often preventable and reversible. And COVID has magnified the other health crises we were facing prior to the pandemic—food insecurity, social isolation, and racism,” said Dr. Steven Chen, Chief Medical Officer of ALL IN. “COVID is requiring all of us to do things differently.”

The Recipe4Health initiative is an innovative way Alameda County is working to address these challenging issues.