Written by Erin Yeh
May 15, 2026 | Food as medicine is gaining increasing momentum as a preventative treatment for diseases and health care. However, there are still people in the United States who cannot afford or access food. in The pinnacle of food as medicine In Chicago last week, Amanda Goldman, MS, RD, LD, FAND, vice president of food and nutrition services system at CommonSpirit Health, and Tonya Johnson, market manager for food and nutrition services at CommonSpirit Health, gave a presentation on how their large healthcare system helps deliver food to people in need across the country and how collaborating with chefs, dietitians, local businesses and government has allowed them to ensure access to healthy, nutritious meals.
“Never doubt that a small group of committed, thoughtful people can change the world,” Johnson said.
Cooperation between different industries
“In a lot of health care systems, there is still a small gap between the food services field and the clinical nutrition field,” Goldman said. CommonSpirit bridges these two areas. Currently, CommonSpirit is the largest nonprofit faith-based health care system in the country, with 2,200 sites of care, 138 hospitals in 24 states, 45,000 nurses, and nearly 3,000 food and nutrition services team members, many of whom are chefs. The organization ensures they meet CMS’s updated dietary guidelines.
CommonSpirit Food and Nutrition Services has a simple but powerful mission: to provide delicious, healthy, nutritious meals that help build healthier communities by delivering culinary excellence with evidence-based clinical nutrition care. By linking the culinary arts and clinical nutrition, chefs and dietitians will be able to collaborate innovatively to deliver nutritious meals to communities that need them. “We need to walk in each other’s shoes and leverage each other’s strengths.”
There is an emphasis on developing recipes to enhance and elevate patient and retail menus, as well as offering a variety of cuisines from several different countries to provide chefs with opportunities to create inspiring dishes that are healthy and delicious. The organization also serves regional preferences in its various markets across the country.
They also work closely with community health, with 80% of their sites receiving grant funding to help advance food as medicine initiatives. What’s more, they provide food pharmacy boxes and edible food take-back programs — which collect surplus, safe-to-eat food from grocery stores, restaurants and schools — and distribute it to people in need, instead of sending it to landfills. In certain areas. CommonSpirit has worked with various national business partners to recover edible foods, as well as hospitals on the West Coast. They partner with human resources and employee wellness programs for Harvest of the Month, a program (often state-led) that encourages the eating of seasonal, locally grown produce in schools and communities. During Harvest of the Month events, FAO nutritionists provide facts about seasonal crops and chefs provide recipes, preparation ideas, storage methods and tips on how to identify quality produce in stores.
Addressing food insecurity and accessibility
Johnson, an Arkansas native, discussed her home state’s status as the most food insecure state in the country, as well as one of the most unhealthy states. Johnson gave some reasons for this. The first is the quality of food sold to low-income people. “All we hear about is ‘more value for your money,’” she explained. She mentioned stores and gas stations that sell cheap but highly processed, low-nutrition food. This leads to eating large amounts of low-quality food, which leads to malnutrition and obesity. One of CommonSpirit’s goals is to change marketing and behavior at the local level.
Johnson emphasized lifestyle changes rather than diet. Dietary changes tend to focus on restrictions, which can eliminate essential nutrients and increase the chances of weight regain, leading to patient frustration. While lifestyle changes focus on long-term sustainability that can support the immune system, keep weight off, and be more manageable.
Johnson also mentioned how food industrialization led to increased illness in people and decreased individual skills in purchasing their own food. Johnson grew up on a farm, learning how to grow, find and preserve food. She recounted that she tended the garden with her grandmother, who taught her how to pickle, can, freeze and boil food for storage. “These are some missing skills that people today may not necessarily have because we don’t teach them.”
To address these missing skills, Johnson partnered with Arkansas Cooperative Extension programs. The food pantries at CommonSpirit’s three campuses in Arkansas have brochures and handouts explaining how to use simple food preservation techniques.
“While food as medicine effectively equips individuals with skills, it works in concert with larger efforts to address the systemic causes of food insecurity,” Johnson explained. Many health systems now screen patients for food insecurity and connect them to food assistance services.
At CommonSpirit, they take it a step further by providing food assistance to their employees. The organization found that more than 28% of its employees suffer from food insecurity. Employees are provided with bagged, heat-sealed leftovers. They also joined the local food bank, through which the Arkansas Campus Food Pantry was created. Using the startup money and other assistance they received, they purchased refrigerators and freezers and were able to obtain fresh produce for the food bank.
For the homeless, who likely don’t have access to microwaves and other kitchen appliances to heat or cook food, CommonSpirit offers prescriptions for up to three months. Since their food pantry is a customer choice model, it allows participants to choose their own food items. According to Johnson, this model gives participants the opportunity to try new items because it reduces the burden of having to choose between new foods and other living expenses, such as utility bills.
On-site demonstrations to teach healthy cooking
CommonSpirit focuses on fruits and vegetables and works with local farms to pick up excess produce for pantry members. However, some of these products are not commonly eaten in the South, such as coconut. These demonstrations have reduced employee turnover and increased employee satisfaction and engagement. “We are trying to change (the way people eat) by doing cooking demonstrations to show people clean and healthy cooking methods.”
