Teaching Kitchen Multisite Trial

This TK‐MT is an interactive year‐long program that teaches culinary skills, nutritioneducation, mindfulness, and stress reduction, promotes movement, and optimizes behaviorchange through health coaching strategies. The purpose of this study is to test whether areferral‐based teaching kitchen intervention offered for 12 months in adjunct to primarycare obesity management is feasible, acceptable, and effective on improving healthbehaviors and obesity prevention. Specifically, the primary goal of the study is toprovide evidence of improved behavior change (ex: increases in cooking at home, fruit andvegetable intake, exercise, sleep, mindful activities), improved lab values (ex: fastingblood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.), and resulting change in body weight andwaist circumference measures. The hypothesis is that by participating in this novel TK‐MTintervention ‐ learning to cook healthy, delicious, inexpensive meals at home;understanding principles of good nutrition (based on the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate);incorporating exercise more effectively into daily living; reducing stress and increasingmindfulness and sleep; and, having access to principles of health coaching ‐ in order toleverage personal motivations ‐ can provide a platform to transform individuals andconsequently their health, not only for the duration of this study (16 weeks intensive, 8months boosters for a total of 12 months) but for their entire lives.