The New England Journal of Medicine has a fascinating study examining the effects of a low-income housing program impacted participants' health--the results of which suggest that, at least in many instances, improving the local neighborhoods where people live does far more to improve health than trying to tackle health problems on a case-by-case basis.

Trouble resisting a late night dessert or shutting out distractions to finish up a project at work? The blog New Value Streams points to an interesting new study suggesting a pretty simple solution to help with either problem: Go for a walk in a park or among some trees.

Rarely does one hear about tasty—let alone healthy—hospital food.  That's about to change at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, located adjacent to Palo Alto, California.  Yesterday, the Hospital announced the launch of a new inpatient menu that will feature organic, locally grown, sustainable ingredients. The initiative was developed with local chef/restaurateur Jesse Cool, who has been a leader in healthy eating and sustainable food practices for decades. (With apologies to chef Cool for a comparison she probably has heard too many times and may not appreciate, when I first moved to Palo Alto from Berkeley, my impression was that Jesse Cool was the Alice Waters of the area, and that her landmark restaurant, the Flea Street Cafe, was the Chez Panisse of the Peninsula.)

We've been looking into Green Health for a while now, so it's nice to see this Boston Globe item on an experimental design for the green hospital room. Designed to be both sustainable and cost-effective and pictured below.