RIBGH hosts Food as Medicine Event

The Rhode Island Business Group on Health (RIBGH) hosted a "Food As Medicine" event at Plant City Providence this month, featuring nationally-renowned experts in the field of plant-based nutrition to prevent and reverse chronic disease. Neal Barnard MD FACC, President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Sandra Musial MD, FAAP, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Plant Docs, and Mariah Stump, MD, MPH, FACP, Attending Physician at Women's Primary Care at Lifespan, presented the health benefits of plant-based eating to address weight loss and chronic disease. Joel Erickson, Food for Life Instructor at  Rooted Green Wellness, shared his life-changing experience with plant-based eating following a cardiac event and how he launched plant-based eating at his former workplace, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota. Attendees were fed a healthy and delicious plant-based breakfast compliments of Plant City. Videos of the presentations and more information about the "Food As Medicine" event can be found on the RIBGH website at https://www.ribgh.org/. The event was well attended by employers and community organization representatives. The employers in attendance expressed an interest in addressing obesity and introducing plant-based eating to their workforce.

The RIBGH has formed a new Employee Health Innovation Committee which plans to form a collaboration with the medical community, employers, and RIDOH to host future educational events, develop tools, and seek grants to launch a statewide campaign to introduce plant-based eating to the RI workforce. The Committee welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with CTC-RI. For more information, please contact the committee co-chairs, Joanne Bilotta at jzbilotta@gmail.com or Sandra Musial, MD at sandy@plantdocs.com.