This class is based on the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s successful 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program. Depending on one’s perspective, the Kickstart is about losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight, or simply embracing an overall healthful diet. Much of the basis of the Kickstart is about making a qualitative shift in the way we eat as opposed to a quantitative shift. For some people, it’s the first time the idea of not restricting amounts of foods but rather choosing the right foods has been the guiding principle for losing weight and staying healthy. The revelation is bolstered with clinical benefits such as lower cholesterol, better diabetes control, and lower blood pressure, as well as improvements in energy and mood.

During this class, you’ll watch a brief video, but the majority of the time we’ll do a cooking demonstration and eat some delicious plant based dishes! Typical run time for the class is is about 90 minutes.

Food for Life: Nutrition Essentials is based on the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s successful 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program and will assist you in building your support network to maintain a plant-based diet.  Depending on one’s perspective, Nutrition Essentials is about losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight, or simply embracing an overall healthful way of eating. Much of the basis of the Nutrition Essentials is about making a qualitative shift in the way we eat as opposed to a quantitative shift. For some people, it’s the first time the idea of not restricting amounts of foods but rather choosing the right foods has been the guiding principle for losing weight and staying healthy.

These classes are meant to be scheduled as a series, however “Weight Control and Diabetes Prevention” can be a stand alone. All classes are 60 to 90 minutes and majority of the time we’ll do a cooking demonstration, have a discussion and eat some delicious plant based dishes!

Kickstart Your Health: Weight Control and Diabetes Prevention: The first class in this series will focus on the science supporting the benefits of plant-based nutrition as well as getting ready to start a low-fat, plant-based eating pattern.

Let’s Go! (Begin Kickstart, Label Reading) After a week of preparation and today’s lesson, students will have all the tools they need to start a low-fat, plant-based diet for the next three weeks.

Getting in Gear: At the end of this session, participants will be able to: • Describe the calories in one gram of fat verses one gram of carbohydrate. • List plant-based foods that have a low percentage of fat. • List plant-based foods that are high in fat and to either consume in small amounts or eliminate completely. • Describe cooking methods without using oils. • List types of restaurants that are vegan friendly. • Describe how to plan ahead, ask questions, and be prepared to eat out and enjoy healthy, low-fat plant based options. • List resources to research healthy vegan restaurant options.

Weight Loss: will focus on the three ways a low-fat, plant based eating pattern helps with weight lost.

Eating habits and other lifestyle factors play a key role in determining the risk of heart disease. Learn how a low-fat, plant-based diet, combined with regular exercise and a healthful overall lifestyle, can prevent, delay, and even reverse heart disease and other cardiovascular events.

Each one-hour class in this series features some discussion, a cooking demonstration, and the opportunity to taste healthful, plant-based dishes. Recipes are designed to work for people on a budget who may also have minimal time or access to equipment. More importantly, each ingredient supports a low-fat, plant-based diet plan that has proven to prevent, manage, and in some cases reverse chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even some forms of cancer.

Classes can be run as a series or scheduled as individual stand-alone events!

The Power of Your Plate:The first class in this series will focus on general concepts behind healthful eating habits by providing the knowledge and resources for trying out a new way of eating. The Power Plate is a diagram that illustrates the essential food groups: vegetables, grains, legumes, and fruits. From these groups, you will be able to think about different foods and meals you can eat to best promote your health and the health of your family.

How Foods Fight Diabetes: The road to diabetes does not have to be a one-way street. There is reason for hope! People who eat plant-based meals are less likely to ever develop diabetes, and for those who have diabetes, plant-based meals can help to improve blood sugar levels and prevent complications.

Foods for a Healthy Weight: Eating plant-based is not a “diet” that leads to feeling hungry or deprived. Believe it or not, when you change the quality of your diet, you don’t need to think about counting calories or measuring portions. The focus is on quality not quantity!

How Foods Fight Heart Disease: Certain diet patterns seem to have a major effect in helping people avoid heart disease, or if they already have heart disease, in reversing it. It takes a powerful diet to actually remove the hard plaque forming in the arterial walls after years of eating high-fat diets. But research has shown it can be done! This class will show you how.

Supplemental Class: Grocery Store Tour This fifth class is optional and depends on the feasibility.

You may have seen the Game Changers that brought the many benefits of a plant based diet to mainstream America. But how do you make the transition? For centuries, athletes have been following plant-based diets to achieve a competitive advantage. You don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from a plant-based diet. A low-fat vegan diet comprising of whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables provides the ideal fuel for any physical activity. It also demonstrates qualities for enhanced recovery over high-fat and animal-based diets. This class aims to empower attendees with the knowledge and skills needed to prepare simple, nutritious meals that fuel optimal fitness and recovery.

This two-hour class features a video, a discussion, and the opportunity to taste plant-based dishes following a cooking demonstration. It is designed to be a stand-alone class and provides an excellent overview to plant-based foods for optimal fitness.

Plant-based foods are beneficial to the brain and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. A decline in brain health is not an inevitable part of aging. But how we eat and live can help us protect our memory and stay sharp into old age. Research shows saturated and trans fats found in dairy products, meats, pastries, and fried foods can increase the risk for cognitive decline. Instead, eat a plant-based diet, which helps protect brain health.

This two-hour class features a video, a discussion, and the opportunity to taste plant-based dishes following a cooking demonstration. It is designed to be a stand-alone class and provides an excellent overview of plant-based foods for brain health.

Based on the book Your Body in Balance: The New Science of Food, Hormones, and Health by Neal Barnard, MD, FACC. This set of classes addresses hormone-related problems including infertility, hot flashes, diabetes, and depression. The information provided in these classes explains the latest research and offers a new approach to treating, prevention, and even curing many of the most common and persistent health problems.

This is a set of 9 classes and each is presented as a stand-alone, two-hour class that features a video, discussion, and the opportunity to taste plant-based dishes following a cooking demonstration.

1. Foods for Fertility

2. Curing Cramps and Premenstrual Syndrome

3. Tackling Hormone-Related Cancers

4. Reversing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

5. Tackling Menopause

6. Curing Erectile Dysfunction and Saving Your Life

7. A Healthy Thyroid

8. Foods and Mood

9. Avoiding Environmental Chemicals

The goal of Food for Life: Kids Health program is to focus on highlighting the positives of good foods (whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables) rather than the negatives of less favorable foods (meat, dairy products, and other animal products). This is done to avoid potentially negative reaction/ controversy from parents/venues who may be hearing this information for the first time and will not have had the benefit of hearing the full in-depth, research-based explanation that is available in the adult Food for Life classes. Children are exposed to the great taste and health benefits of eating a plant-based diet through kid-friendly recipes approved by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s staff of dietitians. The curriculum aims to empower children with the knowledge and skills they need to establish healthful habits to carry them well into adulthood with a fun and tasty experience.

The program curriculum is designed for a target audience of children 9 to 12 years old, in grades 4 through 6 and geared for a class size of 20-25 children. Each class runs 1 hour and consists of sampling of plant-based meals and interactive-fun games.

Class 1: Breakfast

Class 2: Snacks

Class 3:  Lunch

Class 4: Dinner

More than four decades ago, the United States declared a “war on cancer,” yet current statistics predict that during our lifetime, one in two men and one in three women will develop cancer. This amounts to 1.5 million people being diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year, and cancer causing nearly one-quarter of every death in America. Research has shown that more than one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States are due to poor diet, yet most are unaware of the connection. Faced with these startling statistics, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine developed the Food for Life: Cancer Project curriculum to offer a new direction in battling this disease.

The Food for Life: Cancer Project classes include information about how certain foods and nutrients work to promote or discourage cancer growth, along with demonstrations of simple recipes that can be easily recreated at home. The intended audience of the Food for Life: Cancer Project classes are cancer survivors and their family and friends as well as those looking to prevent the disease. These classes are not intended for individuals currently going through cancer treatment.

Each two-hour class features a video, discussion, and the opportunity to taste plant-based dishes, usually following a cooking demonstration.  The first class can be a standalone program and provides an excellent overview and introduction for a site that wants only a single class. Other classes are best suited to be a part of a series.

1.Introduction to How Foods Fight Cancer

2.Fueling Up On Low-Fat

3.Favoring Fiber Foods

4.Discovering Dairy and Meat Alternatives

5.Cancer-Fighting Compounds and Immune Boosting Foods

6.Healthy Weight Control

7.Foods and Breast Cancer Survival

8.Foods and Prostate Cancer Survival

The Food for Life: Diabetes Initiative is the plant-based nutrition and cooking program for type 2 diabetes prevention and treatment developed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The intended audience for this program is people with diabetes, prediabetes (defined below), a family history or risk factors for developing diabetes, and their adult family members. It is also designed to introduce health care professionals to the basics of plant-based nutrition for preventing and treating diabetes. Diabetes is a major public health problem of epidemic proportions. More than 12 percent of the U.S. adult population has diabetes, and more than one-quarter of the population over 65 has the disease. One out of four people with diabetes is unaware they have it, which means they are not being treated with a healthy diet or medications. Uncontrolled, diabetes can lead to complications from head to toe, including stroke, loss of vision, heart disease, kidney failure, and various problems due to nerve damage and circulatory problems, such as erectile dysfunction or lower-extremity amputation. An even greater number of people have prediabetes (impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, or both), which mean they are at high risk for developing diabetes. With prediabetes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. There are 86 million people in the United States who have prediabetes and they are generally without symptoms. Recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during prediabetes. A blood test is used to diagnose prediabetes. Fifteen to thirty percent of people with prediabetes will develop diabetes within five years. Weight loss can prevent or delay this onset. An astonishing one in three children born in the year 2000 is at risk of developing type 2 diabetes (and one in two African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans) in his or her lifetime, unless there are significant changes in diet and activity levels. Fortunately, type 2 diabetes is largely a disease of over-nutrition and sedentary lifestyle. The disease can be prevented, and complications can often be avoided or treated with a significant change in lifestyle.

Each two-hour class features a video, discussion, and the opportunity to taste plant-based dishes, usually following a cooking demonstration. Eight classes have been developed. The first class can be a stand-alone program, and provides an excellent overview and introduction for a site that wants only a single class, such as a hospital diabetes education support group that meets monthly.

Class 1: How Foods Fight Diabetes

Class 2: The Power of Your Plate and Grocery Cart

Class 3: Understanding Type 2 Diabetes

Class 4: Designing a Diet for Maximum Weight Control