A message from Dr. Peter Yellowlees, Chief Wellness Officer
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Food As Medicine
This week Good Stuff is devoted to food - and who better to discuss the importance of food as medicine than Sarah Louie MD and Katren Tyler MD.
Sarah Louie MD
Clinical Medical Director-UC Davis Health-Elk Grove
 
With the weather warming up, it is the perfect time to embrace all the opportunities to be outdoors, connect with local growers and enjoy healthy and delicious foods. When working with patients I often remind them that focusing on what they can ADD to their diet and not just take out can have a huge impact. Food really is medicine and here are a few ways to increase your physical and mental health while enjoying the warmer weather.
Eat local and in season
Shopping at farmers markets and purchasing fruits that are in season at the grocery store give you the best of the bounty to enjoy and may even lead you to trying some foods you have never had before.
Make a rainbow on your plate
Adding more color to your meals in the form of fruits and vegetables is sometimes easier than figuring out how to take things out of your favorite dishes.
Grow your own
Planting your own garden, even in a small container on your porch or windowsill is a great way to connect with nature and grow some of your favorites. Nothing tastes better than a tomato you grew yourself.
Beans and greens for the win!
With so many varieties and so many ways to add them to all sorts of dishes, increasing your intake of beans, legumes and dark leafy greens is easier than ever.
What you put in your body and even where it comes from can have a tremendous impact on your physical and mental health. There is no time like the Spring to eat more whole plant foods and try something new.
Katren Tyler MD
Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine
Medical Director of Physician Wellness
Getting kids to eat veggies
One of my greatest successes as a parent when my kids were younger was a tray of bright fresh vegetables as a pre-dinner snack. They were starving and would eat whatever was put in front of them, and I did not mind if they were eating in front of a screen. It ended up being very healthy for all of us and always looked beautiful.
Beans and Rice
There is a reason that beans and rice are an important part of many cuisines. Other legumes like lentils count too. The combination provides almost every essential amino acid, and with only a little practice are easy to cook and freeze well once cooked. They are also super cheap, especially if you start with dried beans and uncooked rice. Add some frozen vegetables of your choice and you have a great healthy meal. Add a fried egg on top if you like. So delicious.
Frozen fruits and vegetables
Ironically, some of the freshest vegetables are the frozen kind. Many fruits and vegetables are freshly picked and snap frozen and these are a fantastic way to bring variety into your eating life. One of my favorite dips is: 1 bag partially defrosted peas. 2 tablespoons olive oil. Salt to taste and a few leaves of fresh mint. Pour the whole thing into a food processor, blender, or pulse with an immersion blender. Totally delicious. Frozen vegetables are also a great way to offer everyone what they want in a make-your-own-bowl kind of way: start with cooked pasta, rice, or other grains, and set out a variety of bite sized vegetables, sliced hard boiled eggs, shredded cheese and add salad dressing, hot sauce, pesto, hummus, whatever you like. Everyone gets to choose what they want. This is also a great way to use leftover grilled vegetables.
Herbs in pots
Lots of people do not have the time or space for a vegetable garden. But almost everyone has a sunny spot that you can grow a pot of herbs in. Basil is beautiful and fragrant in the summer. Mint is delicious and almost completely indestructible. Cut it back in the winter and it will pop back up in the spring. Warning - do NOT plant mint in an open space or it will take over. With a little more space, the beautiful rosemary shrubs are easy to look after – so easy that rosemary is often used in commercial landscaping. The magic of rosemary salted potatoes – true alchemy.
Eat in the hospital cafeteria
Hospital cafeterias are usually appropriately derided as having terrible, mass produced, over salted food that is about as unhealthy as you can get. Not at UC Davis Health. Those of us on the main campus are fortunate to have Chef Santana Diaz at the helm, who delivers ‘food as medicine’ to all of our staff and patients. We are fortunate to be able to get healthy, delicious, local, freshly grown and cooked foods from our very own hospital cafeteria. So wonderful.
Also check out this incredible bag of fresh vegetables available from the cafeteria over the last few weeks.
Thank you, Chef Diaz.
 
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April 21, 2021 & April 28, 2021 - Support U Peer Responder Program Workshop Series
Clinicians are invited to learn how to provide peer-to-peer support for caregivers experiencing trauma or stress from an adverse care experience in this two-part virtual Physician Peer Responder workshop series. For more information, please contact: HS-Support@ucdavis.edu .
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Dr. David Unold, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
"He works tirelessly with us in the lab as associate medical director of transfusion services to ensure excellence in our operations and contributes significantly to evidence based care of patients needing therapeutic apheresis. We all appreciate his dedication to high standards!" ~ Dr. Sarah Barnhard, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Dr. Grace Monis, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
"As the medical director of apheresis, she goes the extra mile to act as a bridge between our department and other clinical service lines. We all recognize the extra time investment for this role, and we are appreciative of her thoughtful leadership and her contributions to patient care!" ~ Dr. Sarah Barnhard, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
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