In the Classroom
Walking into the Renker Wellness Center, one will see many of the same elements of a standard workout facility - lockers, top-of-the-line exercise equipment and a private, mirrored room for exercise classes. There’s one room tucked into the corner of the facility, however, that isn’t like most: a classroom with instructional seats facing a flat screen strategically overlooking a beautiful kitchen island. Fully-equipped with a full-size refrigerator, sinks and a plethora of cooking utensils, the cooking school is as integral to the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation course as its exercise equipment counterparts.
When Renker Wellness Center patients diagnosed with heart or lung disease begin the course, they participate in three pillars of the program to return to productive, active lifestyles: exercise, nutrition and a healthy mindset. Participants usually have 36 visits over 12 weeks, and the course is offered year-round.
“Nutrition is such an important piece to cardiovascular health. You need to change the way you are eating as well as your lifestyle in order to reduce cardiovascular disease and improve it long-term,” says Sonia Rios, BSN, RN, Manager, Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, Renker Wellness Center.
Before the move into the current Renker Wellness Center space in February 2023, program participants learned about nutrition through workshops and counseling with staff dietitians. The addition of a cooking school emerged with the ability to host live demonstrations.
“Live cooking demonstrations take place once a week, which includes a dietitian and a recipe from the Pritikin patient guidebook provided to the patient at the start the program,” explains Rios. “In this weekly cooking school, patients review the Pritikin Eating Plan™ to help them better understand how to implement lifestyle changes with their diet at home.”
“The genius part about it is that patients can ask the dietitian questions about the ingredients being used and how to make adjustments in their own diet that would be beneficial to their health. Patients can ask a dietitian who can give them informative advice about what’s still healthy, but applies to their own comorbidities or food allergies.”
Taking the lead at many of the cooking school classes is Talia Fraser, MPH, RDN, Renker Wellness Center, Tamkin Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center and Glickman Cardiac Care Clinic.
“The Pritikin program can truly help reverse heart disease, and regulate and manage other chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension,” says Fraser.
“It’s such a great program because we’re bringing patients into the kitchen versus just going over labels and verbal recommendations. More hands-on experience in the kitchen allows time to answer questions many patients have when working on changing their diet, which translates into putting what they learn into practice at home. With a taste test, we’re showing them foods that they can try out and they could tweak if they didn’t like it. You didn’t want tofu? You could do chicken or salmon. If you don’t like fish, you can try nuts.”
A cardiac event is traumatic and with a wide range of participants - from those in their 40s to the senior population - Eisenhower chose Pritikin as an evidence-based program that emphasizes more plant-based, whole, minimally processed and nutrient-rich foods as key to reducing medications.
“This program helps to build up your health and recover and get stronger,” she says.
Fraser will offer alternatives that can be found locally and at different price points. She shops around, knowing program participants may be limited by a fixed budget or transportation. Recipes are seasonal (alternatives to holiday staples in the winter) and vary from a snack (smoothies on a hot summer day) to a dessert. They’re not always a winner, but that’s a stepping stone to discussion: pumpkin pie mousse at Thanksgiving, for example.
Patients’ partners are welcome to join counseling sessions - often the patient is not the primary cook - creating opportunity for the entire household to adopt the changes in ingredients or cooking methods.
Alison Daigle, 66, isn’t a stranger to the Renker Wellness Center. The Indio resident was a patient about three years ago.
Daigle originally visited her primary care physician to discuss knee surgery, but instead of ending the discussion regarding her knee and pending surgery, she spoke about feeling faint when tilting her head back or lying down. That discussion led to testing and placement of a defibrillator. Seven episodes with the defibrillator later, she had a heart attack in January 2024, with multiple resuscitations at an area hospital. Transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she was on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine for four days until she received a heart transplant in February 2024.
Daigle translates what she learns into the meals for her and her high school-sweetheart husband. She will flip through the Pritikin book and other healthy eating cookbooks to prepare her meals.
“It’s always been very interesting,” says Daigle.
Not a fan of the aforementioned pumpkin mousse, she did love an apple crisp they sampled.
“I like to cook and I like to be inventive when it comes to cooking.”
James Fuller, 70, splits his time between Rancho Mirage and Carlsbad. Fuller experienced a seizure, followed by the placement of two stents in October 2024. About a month into the program, Fuller said his wife, who is the primary chef in the kitchen, has pivoted into focusing on a heart-healthy diet.
“Processed foods and meats have been 90 percent eliminated from our diet,” he says. “She’s much more conscious of what we are eating.”
After tasting the pumpkin mousse, Fuller shared the recipe with his wife and at the time of the interview, she was in the kitchen making the Pritikin version of a chocolate pudding.
“I enjoy what they’re teaching me,” says Fuller, “reading the labels and understanding the sodium intake and how to quickly see a label and calculate a ratio for something whether that’s good or bad.”
The proof is, literally, in the pudding.
“Patients don’t always see dietary changes in weight,” says Rios. “Dietary changes can be reflected by losing inches, lowering cholesterol and lowering blood pressure.”
“Ultimately, when a patient is discharged from cardiopulmonary rehab, we’re trying to set them up for success,” says Rios.
Participation in the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation course requires a physician prescription. For more information about the Renker Wellness Center, call 760.773.2030.
