The Food Institute at Butler Memorial Hospital offers two main programs to increase the general health of county residents.

The food insecurity program sees clients with various illnesses or diagnoses, like diabetes or heart disease, referred by their doctors to be educated and trained on healthy eating.

The doctor sends a referral to the Food Institute, and a staff member contacts the patient within 24 hours to schedule a visit to the institute, which is in the former cafe just inside the Brady Street entrance to Butler Memorial Hospital.

The patient, who is seen at the Food Institute every six months, receives general nutrition education and ingredients and recipes for 10 healthy meals per month.

Patients also are connected to other community resources to reach food security.

The other program at the Food Institute is lifestyle coaching, which anyone can access and does not require a referral from a doctor.

Cooking demonstrations and classes like Weight Management, Plant-Forward Eating, Diabetes Lifestyle Coaching Support, American Heart Association Life’s Essential 8 and Mediterranean Lifestyle are available.

Coming soon to the lifestyle coaching classes are heart healthy seminars on video and a Masters cooking class.

Most classes are free. More information on Independence Health System’s lifestyle coaching is available at butlerhealthsystem.org/services/lifestyle-coaching.