2nd Annual VegFest held in Downtown Gainesville

Hey there! I went to the second annual Gainesville VegFest this past weekend, and it was great! 120 vendors spread across the lawn at Depot Park with more healthy and environment-friendly things than I could've ever imagined. Well, I ran into a really sweet nurse that talked to me about the importance of healthy eating, and I wanted to share that conversation with you! Here is my talk with Joti Chawla, a nurse from Jacksonville, Florida:

Q: What brought you out to VegFest today?

Nurse Joti Chawla at VegFest as I was setting up my camera
for his interview!

A: I'm a nurse, and I want to promote healthy eating because my mom died of heart disease. I became a nurse in her honor to help people eat right, be compassionate to themselves and to the animals and to the planet.

Q: So what is your main message here today?
A: Healthy eating! That means low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Studies have shown that eating whole food, plant-based food lowers your risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. And it's not only good for ourselves, it's also good for animals because we slaughter around 3,000 animals every second, and that's a lot of cruelty to the animals. Animal farming creates more greenhouse gases, too, more than all modes of transportation combined.

Q: When your patients come in, is unhealthy eating very common? Is that a source of a lot of the health issues you see?
A: Absolutely. What we eat is what we become. 75 percent of our makeup is what we eat and then 25 percent is exercise. Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food. Eating plant-based is in line with our medical mission of preventing disease, so be kind.

Q: So for everyone walking around today, what would you say are the five most important things to eat?
A: So, purple cabbage is the biggest antioxidant for your buck. But eating a rainbow diet is good. Be the rainbow, feel the rainbow, eat the rainbow! Fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds and mushrooms. Add a variety of these in your diet, and you will see dramatic improvements in your health.

Q: So how are you enjoying VegFest so far?
A: Oh, it's great and really well organized. I'm very grateful that all of these people came out and want to learn about healthy eating and being compassionate not only to themselves, but to animals and the planet.