Inova Releases Sustainable Foods Cookbook

Media Contact: Carolyn Billetdeaux, 703-776-8945

Inova’s Sustainable Foods, Healthy Lives cookbook features seasonal employee recipes;highlights connection between food, environment, health

Falls Church, VA (August 13, 2013) –  Inova is proud to announce the release of Sustainable Foods, Healthy Lives, a 130-page, first-of-its-kind cookbook produced by Inova’s Office of Sustainability.

Sustainable Foods, Healthy Lives takes a big-picture look at the complex connections between food, health and the environment – connections that Inova, as a healthcare system committed to sustainable foods, is uniquely poised to address.  Produced by Inova’s Office of Sustainability, Sustainable Foods, Healthy Lives has been developed for use as a tool to promote individual and public health by teaching readers how to:

• Prepare healthy, nutritious, sustainable meals.  All of the recipes in this cookbook were supplied by Inova employees and affiliates.  Many of them are intrinsically healthy, and for those that aren’t we have included tips from an Inova dietitian for making them healthier.  The recipes are divided by season to highlight the rich variety of local ingredients available in Virginia throughout the course of the year.  Readers can also search the index by ingredient, making it easier to use the fresh, healthy foods available from local farmers and producers.
• Understand how food choices impact environment and health.  A team of sustainable foods experts – including chefs, nutritionists, physicians, green team members, and sustainable foods enthusiasts – worked for over a year to develop a roster of articles and guides that cover everything from health impacts of the food system to composting to the future of farming.  These articles are designed to be digested easily and quickly by people with varying levels of experience with the content area.
• Reduce the impacts of food choices.  In addition to helping people understand how food choices impact the environment and health, the articles explores ways for people to make their food choices healthier for people and the environment.  They provide a variety of ideas and tools for understanding how to accomplish this mission.

All proceeds from the sale of the Sustainable Foods, Healthy Lives cookbook directly benefit Inova’s Double Dollars SNAP Enhancement program, which matches food stamp dollars spent at local farmers’ markets and increases community access to fresh, healthy foods.

About Inova

Inova is a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services.  Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. Inova recognizes that being a world-class healthcare provider involves caring for our environment, in addition to caring for our patients. We understand the health of our environment affects the health of our patients and community.  All of our green initiatives and sustainability programs balance triple-bottom-line tenets of ecology, economy and society, while furthering our mission of health.  For more information visit www.inova.org/sustainability.