1) NOTE FROM THE VRG NUTRITION ADVISOR
I was recently invited to participate in a panel at a conference for health care providers. The conference, Food as Medicine, featured speakers, most of whom were MDs, describing the health benefits of plant-based diets that include a variety of whole foods ... The other members of the panel spoke of the joys and challenges associated with working with other health care professionals including other physicians, nurses, dietitians, physical therapists, and health coaches. They described how wonderful it was to have a group of providers all working together to promote healthy plant-based diets ... They also described the challenges of working with providers who were not aware of the health benefits of plant-based diets and who provided out-of-date information or questioned the physicians' recommendations ... We agreed that it was important to seek out like-minded colleagues and to work to educate our colleagues about plant-based/vegetarian/vegan nutrition. I thought about VRG's work, for at least the past 35 years, to provide reliable, evidence-based information about vegetarian/vegan nutrition to dietitians and to develop much-needed educational materials that can be used by dietitians and other health care professionals. See whole editorial. [ https://www.vrg.org/blog/2024/11/06/the-importance-of-collaboration-to-enhance-patient-health/ ]
NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
For all those doing end of the year cooking, here are some holiday recipes:
Due to generous donors, in 2025 The Vegetarian Resource Group will be giving out $50,000 in college scholarships to high school seniors who have promoted veganism. Please let others know. They can see details at [ https://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm ]
And of course you can support our outreach by joining The Vegetarian Resource Group or giving Vegan Journal gift subscriptions. [ https://www.vrg.org/party/index.php ]
We wish everyone a happy holiday season.
3) A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS
Thanks to the following volunteers for all your hard work with The Vegetarian Resource Group, including posting to social media, writing blog posts, research, presentations, restaurant research, clerical work, writing HTML, contributing to our vegan parents group, doing media interviews, editing, photography, performing nutrition analysis, helping with our newsletters, fundraising, reading scholarship essays, viewing video scholarship submissions, hosting interns, and more! To volunteer at VRG, please contact us at [email protected] To support The Vegetarian Resource Group's outreach, donate at [ https://www.vrg.org/donate ]
- Arnie Alper MD
- Nancy Berkoff EdD RD
- Jeff Bourdier
- Cathy Conway MS RD
- Keryl Cryer
- Saurabh Dalal
- Heather Francis JD
- Carole Hamlin
- Jessica L. Langenhan MD MBA
- Reed Mangels PhD RD
- Laura McGuiness MLIS
- Whitney McVerry
- Aashay Mody
- Julie Neild
- Odette Olivares MSN
- Akua Oppong
- Ren Patel
- Mae Y. Seon
- Elsa Spencer PhD
- Cheryl Van Beek
4) VRG OUTREACH
Our outreach at the annual FNCE meeting of The Academy of Nutition and Dietetics went great. Thank you to Cathy Conway, MS RD, Akua Oppong, and Reed Mangels PhD, RD for their help at our booth. VRG Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels was a speaker for the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group Spotlight session attended by several hundred dietitians. The session was based on two systematic reviews of topics in vegetarian nutrition, namely, Vegetarian Nutrition for Disease Management and Vegetarian Nutrition for Disease Prevention, that were conducted for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Evidence Analysis Library.
Heather Francis said our booth at Boston Veg Food Fest was quite the success! "People were interested in veganism generally, but also how to make dishes for their kids who have become vegan or vegetarian. I had great conversations about the VRG internship and scholarships, and nutrition generally. Talked to a nurse and some teachers who wanted materials from us."
Thank you to Arnie Alper MD, who staffed a booth for VRG at the Food Is Medicine Health Conference in Santa Cruz. Reed also spoke at this event.
To support VRG veg education and research, join at [ https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php ]
Donate at [ https://www.vrg.org/donate ]
If you work for a company that matches donations, please request the match form.
If you have to make Required Minimum Distributions from your IRA, you may want to consider making a donation to VRG through a Qualified Charitable Distribution.
5) VRG VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS
Elisabeth from Indiana said: The reason I will always be interested in vegetarianism is for the culture and ideals it has put into me.
Video link: [ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RTJrM59wcqresdvuvv9BrjepsyEiy58A/view ]
Alexandra from Pennsylvania said: After completing an animal welfare project for my English class, I was pained to learn of the horrible treatment animals endure in the animal product and meat industry. This information coupled with my lifelong passion for wildlife and environmentalism inspired my journey towards veganism. However, as a high level gymnast, I was presented with the common stereotypes that coincide with vegan athletes, and I feared my performance would suffer. Looking back on this experience and my newfound gymnastics success, I want to inspire other athletes to consider vegetarian and vegan diets, proving to them that you can eat differently and still achieve your athletic dreams.
Video Link: [ https://www.canva.com/design/DAGKSkfNRA4/xrtGK_EVqmSqEUsOM9MrQA/watch?utm_c ]
The next deadline for VRG's video contest is July 20, 2025. For entrance details, see: [ https://www.vrg.org/veg_videos.php ]
To support VRG video scholarships, college scholarships, and internships, donate at [ https://www.vrg.org/donate ]
You may also want to donate via qualified charitable distributions from your IRA if you are over 70 1/2, or from your donor advised fund.
8) ABOUT VRG/SUPPORT VEGAN EDUCATION
Our health professionals, activists, and educators work with businesses and individuals to bring about healthful changes in your school, workplace, and community. Registered dietitians and physicians aid in the development of nutrition-related publications and answer member and media questions about vegetarian diets. The Vegetarian Resource Group is a non-profit organization. Financial support comes primarily from memberships, donations, bequests, and book sales. The Vegan Journal (formerly Vegetarian Journal), a print magazine, is a benefit of membership in The VRG.
(For more information, please see the Vegan Journal online ( [
http://www.vrg.org/journal/ ]
)
If you would like to make a donation, become a member, volunteer, or find out more about The VRG, contact us at:
The Vegetarian Resource Group
P.O. Box 1463
Baltimore, MD 21203
Phone: (410) 366-8343
FAX: (410) 366-8804
E-mail: [email protected] to volunteer
Website: [ https://www.vrg.org/ ]
To donate: [ https://www.vrg.org/donate ]
Donate crypto: [ https://every.org/vrg/donate/crypto ]
Or text 'give' to 80660vegan (80660 83426)
VRG-NEWS is the e-mail newsletter of The Vegetarian Resource Group. This is an announcement list so subscriber messages are not accepted by the list. If you have a technical question about the list, please contact us at [email protected]. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or corrections to VRG-NEWS, please direct them to [email protected]. Thanks. If you are a new subscriber, you might enjoy reading past issues of VRG-NEWS online at
[ http://www.vrg.org/vrgnews/ ]
The VRG is an educational non-profit group providing information on vegetarianism and veganism. To subscribe to VRG-NEWS, go to
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Copyright The Vegetarian Resource Group 2024 The contents of this newsletter, and our other publications, including Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your own best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.
