the fruit and vegetable prescription program is an innovative way of treating diet related illnesses that empowers farmers, doctors and people to eat healthier and adopt a lifestyle change that treats the illness at its core.
getting healthy food like fruits and vegetables on the table is hard, but it’s especially difficult if you don’t have the money or access to it. gravitating towards cheap, processed fast foods becomes the easy and more convenient choice. this can result in a variety of chronic diet related illnesses – from diabetes to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
rather than treating this illness caused by diet with a pill, the innovative fruit and vegetable prescription program chooses to treat it at its root cause – the diet.
doctors prescribe their patients $1 per day per family member to spend on fruits and vegetables at farmers markets, or rather, farmacies. that’s over $100 per month for a family of four to spend on produce instead of pills.
patients participate in nutrition and exercise classes where they learn how to lead a healthy lifestyle, and are given the means to do so. a prescription for an apple a day keeps the sickness away.
story and video by annabel epstein and aishvarya kavi.
mandela washington fellow | notre dame university
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