A Culinary-Based Intensive Lifestyle Program for Patients with Obesity: The Teaching Kitchen Collaborative Curriculum...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Nutrition Science
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Assessing a novel teaching kitchen intervention integrating nutrition education, culinary skills, mindfulness, physical activity, and behavior change strategies.
• Evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a virtual, hands-on culinary program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual teaching kitchen intervention.
• To preliminarily assess the effectiveness of the intervention on health habits and biomarkers.

Main Methods:

• A non-randomized pilot study involving 16 weekly 2-hour virtual culinary sessions.
• Participants received groceries via curbside pickup to ensure food access.
• Evaluations included qualitative interviews, anthropometrics, laboratory tests, and health habit surveys.

Main Results:

• The program demonstrated high feasibility and acceptability, with 92% completion rate and high participant satisfaction.
• Significant improvements were observed in preparing meals from scratch, mindfulness, culinary skills confidence, and LDL cholesterol levels.
• While some health habits and metrics improved, anthropometrics (BMI, waist circumference) did not show significant changes.

Conclusions:

• The virtual teaching kitchen intervention is feasible, highly acceptable, and shows potential for improving health habits and select health metrics.
• The findings suggest the intervention's promise, but larger, randomized controlled trials are necessary to establish definitive efficacy.