Good Food Prescription

Many people spend visits to the doctor’s office reading or solving crossword puzzles, but patients at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland, California, may want to inventory their kitchen pantries before heading to their appointments. This year, Kaiser joined forces with Food Mill, a natural food store in Oakland run by brothers Kirk and Art Watkins, in hopes of creating a healthy place for patients and staff to shop. Tom McDonald, Kaiser’s physician-in-chief, approached the Watkins brothers about opening a Food Mill store near the medical complex. The 1,500-square-foot store, christened Food Farm’acy and independently owned by Food Mill, is located across the street from Kaiser’s hospital. It is designed for people with special dietary needs. Many patients with high blood pressure or diabetes receive dietary restrictions from their doctors along with their prescriptions, and McDonald hopes the store will make it easier for them to make healthy choices.

Food Farm’acy opened its doors in January 2005. The idea was to create a “safe” place to shop—a store where it is virtually impossible to buy foods that are bad for you. Food Farm’acy only carries foods that are compatible with the weight-control programs offered by Kaiser. McDonald approves the entire inventory himself, and most of the food is low fat, low carb, and low sodium, and free from trans fats and refined sugar. The store offers whole grain pastas and cereals, organic beans and rice cakes, tofu, frozen fruits and vegetables and fresh juices. It also has a bulk section for grains and a small selection of vitamins and supplements.

In the beginning, McDonald had hoped to provide everything a consumer could need to prepare a meal. Unfortunately, while shoppers snapped up the prepared salads and microwavable entrees, they passed on the fresh produce. Reluctantly, the store recently limited the produce section to fruit only. The Watkins brothers and McDonald continue to experiment with new items in an attempt to find a balance between what shoppers want and what is good for them.
—MK

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