If you get sick, a doctor will prescribe you medicine. But what if you just have unhealthy eating habits? What can a doctor do for you then?
Well, if you live in Massachusetts, he can prescribe you vegetables.
In an effort to fight obesity, doctors at three Massachusetts health centers have begun to hand out $1 dollar vouches for fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets around the city for each member of a family of four. Not only do they hope to help low-income children find healthier ways to eat, they also hope to help the farmers at the markets do as much business as possible.
After all, local, sustainable eating is one of the best ways to keep not just ourselves, but our planet healthy.
"Although the vegetable prescription pilot project is small," explains an article in The New York Times, "its supporters see it as a model for encouraging obese children and their families to increase the volume and variety of fresh produce they eat."
Including a few more greens into a child's diet isn't necessarily going to make an obese kid into a healthy kid, but the doctors behind the program hope it will begin to instill healthy habits children can keep with them as they age.
Infusing local produce into our diets is one of the best ways to live healthily, but we need to cut the processed crap first. Like the NYT article says, even if people go out and buy vegetables, they're more likely to overeat the processed stuff and undereat the good – which, of course, is totally counterproductive.
Maybe we can all take a cue from the Massachusetts doctors and put a few more green things into our grocery basket this week. And hey, if you're afraid of broccoli, just cover it in fresh, organic cheese.
That always works for me.
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