The magic of Wellness workshops
Early summer of 2023, I offered to lead a plant-based information session at the Jewish Community Center in St. Paul, MN. Member response was overwhelmingly positive with nearly 70 people in attendance between the two sessions.
In response to requests for additional resources, a four-week workshop was created with eight participants separated into two small groups. This unique opportunity provided the experience of clinical lifestyle education with culinary application; a rare opportunity, indeed! Each week centered on a specific topic with emphasis on plant-based nutrition and exercise.
The aim of each workshop was to build real world skills in food selection while supporting personal health goals focused on self-care. Discussions included the positive effects that plant-based nutrition and exercise have on mindset, longevity, and overall physical health. Resources included food lists, recipes, and guides for building balanced, plant-predominant meals.
The night after the final workshop, we gathered together for a cooking demonstration. Nearly all ingredients were locally sourced from the Minneapolis Farmers Market and cooked with love by Maggie Kilpatrick of KilKenney Kitchen.
The recipes were fresh, 100% whole-foods plant-based, and mouth wateringly delicious! Best of all, each recipe reflected what was discussed in the workshops.
THE PLANT METHOD
Healing through nourishment is a pillar of lifestyle education that focuses on a holistic approach to all systems of the body. The foundation of plant-based nutrition includes fiber-rich foods that are only grown from the earth. Animal products do not contain any amount of fiber and this is an important point to understand in a food system that pushes protein. Particularly, the business of influencing consumers to eat more protein in the form of supplements and fast food for profit.
And unlike animal products, fiber-rich whole foods do not contain saturated fats that adversely affect human health in quantities typically consumed in a western diet. Saturated fat is a major contributor to insulin resistance that causes elevated blood glucose levels. Check out this video to learn how dietary fat contributes to type 2 diabetes and the risk of heart disease.
Decades of research support a total systems approach to preventive health through plant-predominant nutrition. Bonding together as a community to understand how we can make healthier choices and support each other in moving past old food paradigms, is key for preventive health.
OUTCOMES
Nutrition education with resources and community support is imperative for framing a healthy relationship with food for the future. The participants discovered that ideologies about nutrition are based on learned behaviors since childhood, diet history, and the influence of food marketing over time.
Clinically speaking, healthcare professionals are not all on the same page, nor do they share the same level of expertise about nutrition. However, the majority of workshop participants had received diet advice in the past from a doctor.
Nutrition education is never just a simple conversation about calories and macronutrients. We all have different stories about how we developed our eating habits; the habits we want to change and the habits we work hard to maintain. These wellness workshops provided a safe space to talk about the way food choices impact health and how to make positive progress.
Better choices flourish when we acknowledge that we want to find a path forward to better health and at the same time, take an honest assessment of what may be preventing us from reaching goals. Developing a strategy built on confidence and realistic actions enables health-seekers to be versatile and stay the course, with the foresight to forgive themselves and release perfectionism.
Through the basics of plant-based nutrition, food mindset, and movement, we can act as a community to see amazing progress in the pursuit of a happy and healthy future.
Ready to join the next workshop!? Contact here