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Culinary medicine is a rapidly growing field that aims to combine the art of delicious food and cooking skills with the science of nutrition and medicine.
More than just providing nutritional advice, the goal of this evidence-based approach is to empower people to have a thriving relationship with the food they eat – in some cases, focusing on treating existing conditions and, in others, preventing disease from happening in the first place.
The Culinary Medicine Program at UT Southwestern provides culinary medicine education and instruction to our community. We’ve developed a three-part clinical service line – a novel approach that ensures patients can get guidance to make nourishing, affordable food part of their lifestyle.
A poor diet is the top risk factor for early death in the U.S., and many patients don’t receive the support or the tools they need to improve their diets.
Culinary medicine combines the expertise of physicians, registered dietitians, and chefs to help patients improve their personal relationships with food and reduce health risks, all while eating delicious food that fits their cultural, budgetary, and lifestyle preferences.
UT Southwestern was the first medical center to license the Health meets Food educational curriculum from the American College of Culinary Medicine, which now includes a network of more than 60 medical centers and training programs that are leading the change in how health care professionals are trained to think about wellness and healthy eating.
Our educational program training health professionals began in 2015 and quickly spread throughout UT Southwestern to include research and innovative patient care.
Following the “food is medicine” philosophy, we’re continuing to expand our efforts to achieve our vision of:
Supporting patients in meaningful lifestyle change is a long-term process that includes providing specific, achievable goals that fit the lifestyle and personal health needs of each patient. We offer several ways to help patients.
In 2022, the Culinary Medicine team developed a novel approach to address the need for one-on-one discussion about dietary strategies for each patient’s personal health conditions, medications, barriers, and goals.
We take a unique, interprofessional approach. Patients first meet with a culinary medicine physician who reviews their medical, surgical, social, and medication history, contextualizing these health challenges and current therapeutic approaches. Patients explore their relationship with food along with their strengths and barriers, and they develop an understanding of how dietary strategies can pair with medical interventions to improve health.
Next, patients meet with a culinary medicine dietitian to develop specific, achievable goals for dietary change and explore new recipes and culinary strategies to support their success in a way that fits their preferences and lifestyle.
Some patients hope to transform their entire health journey with dietary and lifestyle changes, and our team can support this longer-term effort. Other patients might wish to reduce their medication burden while improving disease control with small, manageable tweaks to their dietary patterns. The one-on-one personalized approach dedicated to discussion about the impact of dietary pattern allows for detailed planning, education, and strategy-building.
The most successful patients are dedicated to their goals between visits, continually refining strategies that work for their lifestyles and preferences. These patients typically follow up with the team every two to three months until they feel confident about continuing to set new goals and habit changes independently for ongoing, long-term sustainability.
Patients can request a referral from their physician or advanced practice provider, and self-referrals are also accepted by calling 214-214-5840.
UT Southwestern Culinary Medicine Director Jaclyn Albin and Lead Dietetic Instructor Milette Siler expanded the reach of their unique program, which teaches nutrition and cooking techniques to patients to help improve their health. At Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, an enthusiastic group is using their newfound kitchen skills and knowledge to make positive changes in their lives.
We offer basic guidance and support to UTSW patients through our culinary medicine e-consult service.
E-consults are a good match for patients who need disease-specific food recommendations, information about how to pair food with medical treatment for a particular health concern, or resources for recipes, nourishing food access, or nutrition education.
E-consults are offered to all UTSW patients at the request of their primary care or specialist physicians or advanced practice providers.
Once we receive the request from a patient’s referring clinician, our physician/registered dietitian team develops a single-page summary of the patient’s health background and goals, personalized dietary recommendations, recipe suggestions, and tips for local resources to promote nourishing food access. Patients receive the recommendations from their referring clinician through MyChart.
Our e-consult service provides brief, targeted, food-based answers to patients’ questions and concerns, supporting management of their health in an innovative way.
Evidence-based dietary approaches for prevention or disease mitigation
Using food as a nutrient source instead of/in combination with supplements
How to accommodate food allergy and sensitivity/intolerance in cooking, meal prep
Resources
The most common conditions culinary medicine strategies may support include:
In addition, culinary medicine can help people with:
Instead of taking place in a medical clinic, culinary medicine shared medical appointments bring a group of patients together in a community kitchen to learn hands-on culinary skills and nutritional information. Classes are typically two hours, including a cooking and eating section.
These sessions, led by a physician and registered dietitian, provide dietary guidance tailored to each patient as well as strategies for healthy eating that will benefit all patients.
Most insurance plans cover shared medical appointments and coaching consults, and many plans also cover e-consults. Check with your insurance provider directly to find out if your plan covers them.
While both provide evidence-based guidance on dietary strategies for health, culinary medicine offers hands-on training in culinary skills, including time-saving cooking strategies, experimentation with new ingredients, and a community environment in which to learn new ideas for healthy eating.
Your referring physician will work with the UTSW Culinary Medicine team to decide the most appropriate approach for you. To be eligible for shared medical appointments (group cooking classes), patients must be established (with the Culinary Medicine Program or UTSW primary care physicians and APPs) due to insurance regulations. Many patients benefit from a combination of culinary medicine appointment types.
Get cooking tips from Milette Siler, the Lead Dietetic Instructor at UT Southwestern and co-founder of the Culinary Medicine clinical service line.
Jaclyn Albin, M.D., CCMS
Dr. Albin launched UT Southwestern’s Culinary Medicine Program and serves as its Director, working to teach nutrition through hands-on cooking classes to students, health care professionals, and the community. She is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Public Health and practices primary care. She also serves as the founding Associate Program Director for the combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program.
Dr. Albin is trained in lifestyle medicine and is a certified culinary medicine specialist (CCMS). She serves on the national advisory board for the CCMS program at the American College of Culinary Medicine and studies the impact of culinary medicine classes in medical education, patient care, and community settings.
She is passionate about nutrition, lifestyle, and environmental influences on health, and she seeks to drive positive change at a population health level that ensures everyone has access to nourishing, delicious food. Making changes for a healthier life can be very challenging, and Dr. Albin strives to equip her patients with the knowledge, skills, and support to optimize their success.
Milette Siler, RD, LD, CCMS
Ms. Siler has been involved with culinary medicine since 2014, when a collaboration between UT Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Institute and Texas Christian University first brought the program to North Texas. In addition to her training as a registered dietitian, she has obtained culinary training from the Goldring School of Culinary Medicine and has obtained an advanced certification (CCMS) from the American College of Culinary Medicine and served on its national advisory board.
Her career is focused on advancing culinary medicine in both professional student and community settings. In the professional student arena, Ms. Siler serves as Lead Dietetic Instructor at UT Southwestern Medical School, bringing enhanced nutrition education to medical students, residents, and other health professionals.
In the community setting, she teaches hands-on cooking classes for cancer survivor patients at Moncrief. Additionally, she networks with local food pantries and other organizations to bring culinary medicine to underserved populations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Dr. Albin and Ms. Siler are members of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, an international network of thought-leading organizations that use teaching kitchen facilities as catalysts of enhanced personal and public health across medical, community, school, and corporate settings.
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