What If the Solution to America’s Number One Killer Isn’t in the Pharmacy—but in the Kitchen?
For decades, the U.S. healthcare system has relied on medications and procedures to manage cardiovascular disease. Yet despite increasingly aggressive treatments, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the country. This raises a critical question: what if the most powerful intervention has been hiding in plain sight—on our plates?
What if the most powerful intervention in modern healthcare isn’t found in a lab, a pharmacy, or a device—but on your plate?
From “Food as Advice” to Food as Therapeutic Infrastructure
At a recent Health Impact Live Digital Health Talks forum, preventive cardiologist Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Step One Foods, challenged one of healthcare’s most entrenched assumptions: that chronic disease is best managed primarily with pharmaceuticals. Her vision reframes Food as Medicine not as a lifestyle suggestion, but as a clinically validated, scalable therapeutic model—one she calls Nutrition as First-Line Care.
This isn’t a wellness trend or a futuristic hypothesis. It’s already happening.
Powering Change Through Unlikely Alliances
Progress didn’t come from traditional healthcare pathways alone.
Step One Foods built cross-sector partnerships that included:
Academic institutions for clinical validation
Government agricultural programs in Canada to support research-grade ingredients
Wellness programs serving first responders—one of the highest-risk populations for early cardiovascular disease
These collaborations weren’t symbolic. They were operational, enabling rigorous trials, sustainable sourcing, and real-world deployment where the need was most urgent.
Why It Matters
Cost Savings: Reducing reliance on long-term medication lowers lifetime healthcare spend
Clinical Outcomes: Statin-level LDL reductions achieved through food
User Experience: Simple, familiar foods replace complex diet overhauls
System Wellbeing: Shifts care from reactive treatment to prevention-first models
“We are not statin-deficient. We are nutrition-deficient—and food is the missing infrastructure of modern medicine.”
— Dr. Elizabeth Klodas
Looking Ahead: Beyond Cholesterol
The vision doesn’t stop with heart disease.
Step One Foods is expanding into metabolic health, with initiatives targeting insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes—conditions also driven largely by diet. As GLP-1 medications reshape weight management, food-based interventions are emerging as the critical bridge for long-term sustainability, behavior change, and system affordability.
The broader implication is clear: healthcare is entering an era where nutrition, technology, and clinical evidence converge.
A Call to Rethink the First Step
For healthcare leaders, innovators, and clinicians, the question is no longer whether food belongs in medicine—but why it was ever treated as secondary.
The next transformation in healthcare won’t be driven solely by new drugs or devices. It will be led by those willing to redesign the system around prevention, simplicity, and evidence-based nutrition.
Because sometimes, the most disruptive innovation is remembering what actually heals.
Dr. Elizabeth Klodas’ message at HealthIMPACT Forum NYC wasn’t just inspiring — it was a practical roadmap for the future of health.
A future that is food-first, evidence-based, and deeply personal — where prevention doesn’t begin in the pharmacy, but in the kitchen.
This isn’t a trend or a wellness slogan. It’s already changing lives, showing how targeted nutrition can help address America’s leading causes of chronic disease through everyday food choices.
If you want a closer look at what’s ahead — and to hear from the innovators turning nutrition into medicine — don’t miss the upcoming HealthIMPACT Forum NYC this June.
Claim your seat and join the conversation that’s redefining how we think about prevention, care, and long-term health.
Let’s move healthcare — from prescriptions to plates.
Watch the Talk
Experts
Elizabeth Klodas, MD
Experience at the Intersection of Medicine, Evidence, and Prevention
Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, MD, brings a rare and deeply credible perspective to modern healthcare—one shaped by decades inside the system she now seeks to improve. Trained at Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins, she spent more than 20 years as a preventive cardiologist working on the front lines of cardiovascular care. Her clinical expertise spans thousands of patients, countless prescriptions, and a firsthand understanding of how the traditional model excels at managing disease—but often falls short of restoring health.
What distinguishes Dr. Klodas is not only her medical pedigree, but her willingness to question her own training. Over time, she recognized a critical gap in care: despite advanced diagnostics and effective medications, patients were not truly getting better. The root causes—nutrition, lifestyle, and long-term behavior—were rarely addressed with the same rigor as pharmaceuticals. That realization marked a turning point in her career.
Drawing on her scientific background and commitment to evidence-based medicine, Dr. Klodas transitioned from solely prescribing treatments to building solutions. As Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Step One Foods, she translated clinical insight into a scalable, research-backed model that uses real food as a therapeutic intervention. Under her leadership, the company conducted randomized controlled trials in partnership with leading academic institutions, demonstrating that targeted nutrition can deliver statin-level cholesterol reductions—validated by data, not anecdotes.
