By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

New York City Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the United States, serving more than one million people each year. Together with Mayor Eric Adams, they recently announced that they are expanding their lifestyle medicine program to six public health sites in New York City. These programs will be modeled after NYC Health + Hospitals‘ Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Program at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. Over the coming year, the program will expand to serve adults at Jacobi, Lincoln, Woodhull, Kings County, and Elmhurst hospitals, as well as Gotham Health, Vanderbilt.

According to NYC Health + Hospitals’ website, the plant-based lifestyle medicine program focuses on a healthy plant-based diet, exercise, stress reduction, healthy sleep, social connections and avoidance of risky substances such as tobacco.  The program is administered by plant-based doctors, registered dietitians, and health coaches. It includes individual consultations and group classes.

The program defines a plant-based diet as, “a diet centered around vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, lentils, peas, nuts, and seeds. It minimizes or avoids animal foods, sweets, and highly processed foods.” Individuals joining the program should be interested in moving toward a more plant-based diet. The program is open to adults with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and/or health concerns related to obesity.