Ileana Vargas, MD Gets Creative in the Kitchen to Educate Patients with Diabetes
On Monday, May 8, 2023 at the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia held the ninth annual Columbia Children’s Gala, which supported and celebrated the work of our faculty to reduce and eliminate health care disparities for children and their families, and elevate care for all.
In this video created for the event, Dr. Ileana Vargas, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center discusses her involvement with a pilot Food is Medicine program called “Next Gen Chefs”, at Columbia which teaches kids with diabetes to become chefs and think about what they put into their bodies. “We are teaching kids to make simple recipes that are delicious and healthy for them, with the goal of decreasing long term complications of diabetes,” says Dr. Vargas. “Most importantly they are really enjoying participating in the kitchen.”
The young chefs meet approximately once per month especially on days off from school at the Berrie Center and the HORT. They have made everything from hummus to energy bites to black bean brownies. Dr. Vargas loves to see the shock in their faces when they discover how delicious fruits and vegetables can be.
“In our current food environment, many kids are exposed to excess sugar and highly processed food,” Vargas says. “What the Berrie Center is trying to do with this effort is to improve blood sugars by teaching kids with diabetes how to improve their diet quality and expand their taste buds.”
Dr. Vargas is very open and honest with all her patients about the importance of healthy eating and portion control of unhealthy foods. “I tell my patients, ‘The food industry has hijacked your taste buds, they add a lot of sugar, salt, and fat to make things so delicious. Parents need to keep their homes a sanctuary, and not have so much extra food and snacks.’”
In the future Dr. Vargas hopes to expand the program to allow more children to benefit from hands-on education in the kitchen. NextGen Chefs is made possible through the support of the French American Aid Society and a Nuclear Innovation Grant from Columbia.