Kaiser Permanente Physician Celebrated for Contributions to Locally Grown Food Movement

Kaiser Permanente Physician Celebrated for Contributions to Locally Grown Food
Movement

EatingWell in Season cookbook will help readers find healthier ways to shop,
cook and live

OAKLAND, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente physician Preston
Maring has been recognized by EatingWell, publisher of the award-winning
EatingWell Magazine and EatingWell books, for his work to make locally grown
food more accessible. Dr. Maring, a long-time primary care physician, authored
the introduction for a new cookbook, EatingWell in Season: The Farmers' Market
Cookbook, (Countryman Press, 2009) which is released today. In the book, Dr.
Maring lays out seven reasons why everyone should use farmers markets as a
resource for healthy living.

Dr. Maring began to shop at farmers markets more than 30 years ago and
included even more locally grown food in a healthy diet when his son was born
in 1980. He brought his personal passion into his profession in 2003, when he
founded one of the country's first-ever hospital-based farmers markets at the
Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. The hospital and surrounding
community embraced the farmers market; today, Kaiser Permanente has 30 farmers
markets and farm stands in four states. Thanks to Dr. Maring's efforts,
locally grown produce also is part of patient meals at 23 of Kaiser
Permanente's regional hospitals.

"At Kaiser Permanente we believe that ensuring good health extends beyond the
doctor's office. Dr. Maring's work to bring farmers markets to our hospitals
has been a great program that allows us to offer healthy choices to our
members, doctors, staff and communities," said Raymond J. Baxter, Ph.D.,
senior vice president of Community Benefit, Research and Health Policy at
Kaiser Permanente. "Creating healthy communities and a healthy environment are
critical to individual health and wellness and have always been a part of our
mission."

Kaiser Permanente's commitment to sponsoring farmers markets at its facilities
has helped people eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. A survey conducted in
2005 reported that 71 percent of the attendees at Kaiser Permanente farmers
markets were eating more fruits and vegetables as a result of shopping there.

"As a physician, I know that a diet built around fresh, seasonal fruits and
vegetables is the cornerstone of preventive medicine and a key to people's
overall health," said Dr. Maring. "I was thrilled to contribute the
introduction to EatingWell in Season to show readers that eating food that is
good for us, good for our children, good for the farmers who grow it, and that
is good for the planet, is the right thing to do."

EatingWell in Season is packed with 150 easy, delicious and healthy recipes
focused on seasonal fresh foods. The cookbook celebrates farm-fresh
ingredients and provides tips and tricks for shopping at farmers markets.

"We were delighted to work with Dr. Maring for the EatingWell in Season
cookbook," said Lisa Gosselin, editorial director at EatingWell Media Group,
which partnered with Kaiser Permanente to create the cookbook. "Dr. Maring's
introduction gives readers valuable insight and motivation about why cooking
with and eating more locally grown, seasonal produce is a simple step that not
only can improve their health, but help the environment as well."

Farmers' market recipes from Dr. Maring and featured recipes from EatingWell
in Season can be found online at Dr. Maring's blog:
www.kp.org/farmersmarketrecipes.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is shaping the future of health care. We are America's
leading health care provider and not-for-profit health plan. Founded in 1945,
our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services to
improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently
serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care
for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their
personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and
caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading
technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention,
state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management.
Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health
education and the support of community health. For more information, go to
www.kp.org/newscenter.

About EatingWell
The EatingWell Media Group's mission is to deliver the information and
inspiration people need to make healthy eating a way of life. EatingWell is a
leading publisher of the award-winning EatingWell Magazine, whose motto is
"Where Good Taste Meets Good Health," as well as a Web site, eatingwell.com,
and a series of cookbooks. "The EatingWell Diet" won the James Beard
Foundation Award for best Healthy Focus cookbook of 2007. Learn more about
EatingWell at www.eatingwell.com.

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

Susannah Patton of Kaiser Permanente, +1-510-271-5826,
susannah.f.patton@kp.org