As part of World Vegan Month, ProVeg South Africa gathered a team of experts at the University of Cape Town’s Health Sciences Campus to share their knowledge and bust some myths surrounding vegan nutrition. 

 

We all know that eating plant-based meals has tons of health benefits for us, but how much do we really know about how to ensure that we’re taking in enough of the good stuff and ensuring that we get a healthy balance of nutrients from our food? On Tuesday 27 November 2018, the ProVeg South Africa team gathered a team of experts to share their knowledge and bust some myths surrounding vegan nutrition.

Attendees were welcomed to the Wolfson building on UCT’s Health Sciences Campus by a variety of vendors stocking some of the best plant-based products that Cape Town has to offer. This included PhytoPro stocking vegan protein powders, C-Fruit Differently who provided a variety of delicious fresh and frozen berries, Aether, a company offering a selection of natural herbal remedies and supplements, Cosmic Bazaar, stocking a range of natural, plastic-free and plant-based products, and Vegan Protein offering a wide range of vegan protein-packed products, as well as the ProVeg team who prepared a selection of delicious vegan snacks for the evening.

The talks kicked off with Dr. Paul Palmer, a registered chiropractor and expert on plant-based nutrition. Dr. Palmer’s first talk focused on why animal products do not promote health – this was a slightly harrowing view on the effects of animal products on our bodies. Clinical psychologist, Bridget O’Neil Wolmarans then walked us through the reasons why people find it hard to stick to a plant-based diet, and the link between eating compassionately and mental health. Dr. Palmer took the stage, once again, giving us some insight into the things we should be eating and the reasons why. Our final speaker for the evening was Roxie Becker who spoke about various life-threatening diseases and the way our diets can affect them.

Roxie Becker also touched on the very simple reason why our doctors don’t teach us about plant-based diets and the benefits that they hold – during her six years of studying medicine, the entire focus on nutrition was taught in less than a week. This simply means that our GP’s are not trained well enough on the topic of plant-based nutrition and are therefore not well equipped to promote this in their everyday consultations. Roxie recommends taking your GP on the journey with you by asking them to look into the benefits of plant-based lifestyles and the positive effects that this may have on your health status.

The evening ended off with a Q & A session in which our experts answered any questions that our attendees had, providing both general information that can be applied across the board, as well as answers to more specific personal questions.

If you’d like us to host more informative evenings such as the Introduction to Plant-Based Nutrition evening, please tweet us at @provegza and let us know what topics you would like covered at the next event.

 

Article written by Risha Naidoo for ProVeg South Africa