“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” ~Thomas Edison
During my recent Diet and Fitness rotation, I learned about an interesting research study. The study enrolled 97 overweight women and divided them into two groups. One group was told to eat less fat and smaller portions. This group was then followed for 1 year and was found to have an average weight loss of 15 pounds. The other group was told simply to eat more fruits and vegetables. One year later, women in this group were found to have lost an average of 20 pounds.
This resonated with me for a number of reasons. First off, simply following the very ambiguous instructions to eat more fruits and vegetables has the potential to aid in significant and sustained weight loss. But what really got me excited was the message this sends against our most prevalent thoughts about “dieting:” you don’t have to deprive yourself in order to eat better. And you may even lose weight and improve your health in the process.
This is why I love the Veggie Van. This isn’t about telling people what they are doing wrong or what they shouldn’t be eating. It’s about helping them add healthier choices and to get them excited about doing so. For those who are unfamiliar with the program, it provides deliveries of fresh, local produce to designated community sites each week, and Duke Family Medicine is one of their newest locations. The goal is to increase access to fruits and vegetables for people who otherwise might find cost and geography to be too limiting. Reduced prices are available to those in need, and you can chose each week whether to pay the reduced, regular, or supporting price for your produce.
We have more medicines available now than ever before to offer our patients in both the treatment and prevention of disease. Many of us have felt at times that a prescription is much quicker than delving into a person’s dietary habits and telling them everything that needs to change. But maybe we need a different approach. Maybe our approach should be simply “eat more fruits and vegetables.” And now we have an excellent venue for doing just that.
Tiffany Cagle is a resident with the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program.
Editor’s note: Duke Family Medicine residents guest blog every month. Blogs represent the opinion of the author, not the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program, the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, or Duke University.