Chatting with Yvonne O'Halloran; Dietitian

Today I am chatting with Yvonne O’ Halloran. Yvonne is an accredited practising dietitian who has a passion for plant-based nutrition. She completed her studies in Griffith University on the Gold Coast, Australia where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public health in 2010, followed by a master’s in nutrition & dietetics in 2012. 

 

Having gained experience as a private practice dietitian for her first years as a new graduate dietitian, she then started up an online business in 2014. In 2016 she went vegan for both health and ethical reasons and has since spent her time learning about plant-based nutrition by researching the literature, attending plant-based conferences and completing the plant-based nutrition course through e-Cornell university.

 

Yvonne co-founded Living Vegan with her husband that launched early 2019, which is a news and education platform aimed to help people navigate a healthy vegan lifestyle. She is a content writer for various plant-based companies and writes columns on a monthly basis for Vegan Life UK magazine. She is currently working on her first book that will be a sort of vegan starter kit featuring nutrition and psychology-based information which she hopes to complete by early 2021.  

 

Yvonne is a mother to 3 healthy, thriving vegan children and currently lives on the Gold Coast, Australia, but she grew up in Ireland. Check out her website www.livingvegan.com

 

Key points addressed were  

• Essential principle of Yvonne’s work with clients regarding acquiring a vegan diet
• We also discussed the core basis of both of Yvonne’s books tentatively publishing in Early 2021 and 2022 the first of which is what I surmised to be something of a vegan Bible covering information on every imaginable aspect of the vegan diet and health and the latter of which will address pre-prenatal and pre natal health with a vegan diet

 

This series features conversations I conducted with individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to Vegan research, businesses, art, and society. This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media.

 

TRANSCRIPTION

*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors

 

[00:00:00] In this episode, I speak with dietician and upcoming author Yvonne O'Halloran. Key points addressed were essential principles of Ivana's work with clients regarding acquiring a vegan diet. We also discussed the core basis of both of Enns books tentative in publishing in early 2021 and 2022. The first of which I surmised to be something of a Vegan Bible covering information on every imaginable aspect of the Vegan diet and health, and the latter of which will address prenatal and pre prenatal health with a vegan diet. Stay tuned for my informative talk with Yvonne O'Halloran on a quick technical note. We suffered some audio disturbance, which presents as a subtle pounding noise in the background. But because the issue does abate through most of the interview, our team made the decision to go up with this version rather than delay and rerecord. We appreciate your understanding and know that the interview with Yvonne will be worth putting up with a little static.

 

[00:01:00] My name is Patricia Kathleen. And this series features interviews and conversations I conduct with experts from food and fashion to tech and agriculture, from medicine and science to health and humanitarian arenas. The dialog captured here is part of our ongoing effort to host transparent and honest rhetoric. For those of you who, like myself, find great value in hearing the expertize and opinions of individuals who have dedicated their work and lives to their ideals. If you're enjoying these podcasts, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as founders and entrepreneurs. Fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found on our Web site. Patricia Kathleen. Com where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation. Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I am your host, Patricia.

 

[00:01:59] And today I'm excited to be sitting down with Yvonne O'Halloran. She's a dietician and her website is w w w dot living Vegan dot com. Welcome, Yvonne. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. I'm excited to kind of think you guys are doing on living Vegan as well as some of your other endeavors.

 

[00:02:17] I know you contribute to weather Vegan outlets, and I'm excited to unpack that with our audience today. For those of you that are on offer, a roadmap for today's podcast. As to other line of inquiry in which way we'll be headed. And then I'll also read a quick bio on Yvonne so that everybody has a very good purview of a little bit of her background. So the roadmap for today's podcasts will look at a Von's academic and professional life that brought her to launching Living Vegan with her partner, live living Vegan dot com. And we'll also look at her Vegan story as it's intertwined. Within that, we'll get into some of the logistics as to when it was launched, how it's curated, if they have sponsorship or funding, any affiliations that they're kind of attached to. We'll look at goals for the site and audience ship and who they're hoping to reach. And just look at unpacking some of those Vegan dialogs in between there. And then I'll turn to also asking her about some of her endeavors with them writing in contribution to different Vegan, things like that. And as I promised before, I start asking even a bunch of questions. A quick bio. Yvonne O'Halloran is an accredited practicing dietician who has a passion for plant based nutrition. She's completed her studies in Griffith University on the Gold Coast, US in Australia, where she graduated with Bachelors Degree in Public Health in 2010, followed by a Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2012. Having gained experience as a private practice dietician for her first years as a new graduate dietician, she then started up an online business in 2014. In 2016, she went Vegan for both health and ethical reasons and has since spent her time learning about a plant based nutrition by researching the literature, attending plant based conferences and completing the plant based nutrition course through Cornell University. Yvonne co-founded Living Vegan with her husband that launched early 2019, which is a news and education platform aimed to help people navigate a healthy Vegan lifestyle. She's a content writer for various plant based companies and writes columns on a monthly basis for Vegan Life UK magazine. She is currently working on her first book. That will be a sort of Vegan starter kit featuring nutrition and psychology based information, which she hopes to complete by early twenty twenty one. Yvonne is a mother to three healthy, thriving Vegan children and currently lives in the Gold Coast of Australia. But she grew up in Ireland. You can check out more, as I said on her website, w w w dot living Vegan dot com. So, Yvonne, before we start unpacking the site and all of your work within that, I also wanted to tell you I have a bunch of rapid fire questions at the end of this that we've reached out to people who subscribe to our podcast and emails and always ask them questions that they would like. Ask our guests. And as a dietitian, as a Vegan dietitian, we've got a slew of those for you. We'll do those at the very end of the podcast. But before we get to all of that, I'm hoping you can kind of we I just unpacked a great deal of your academic and professional life, but I'm hoping that you can kind of give your own personal narrative as to how you incorporated your academia into what you're doing now with living Vegan dot com.

 

[00:05:26] Yes. So as I said, I graduated in 2012 for the master's in Nutrition Dietetics. And Michael was always defined my name.

 

[00:05:35] I didn't know at the time that I was going to be plumpness nutrition. But I was waiting to see what what I would find. But in 2016, I started to look into the ethical side of what I was eating. And I didn't like what I saw. And it was quite confronting, actually. I think for anybody who looks is actually still fits. It's it's I call it like an awakening for me. It was shocking and that's horrifying. And obviously, when I when I look at the side of it, for me as a dietician, it was very important for me to look at the health side of it. Is this healthy? Is this is this good for me? Is this good for my clients? So I started going down a rabbit hole and I started to speak to campus doctors and research company sectors, other companies, dieticians all over the world. And yeah, I learned a lot. And because in university, you don't really talk much about the nutrition that we basically just touched on it in one class. I think they mentioned veganism and what it was that it was highly restrictive diets and that kind of thing. So I didn't think too much about it back at that time. But I always kind of questioned the dairy industry. I never read he was a huge fan of this and never seemed to sit right with me even when I had to recommend dairy to my clients. I didn't feel right about it, but it was what I was told is unique. So I thought, well, I mean, if this is what I was taught, this is what I'm supposed to do. So, yeah. So I started looking into the dairy industry and things like that, and it was shocking. And the evidence based research that's behind us about the dangers of dairy and how how it's so unhealthy for us. So it's highly inflammatory and it's got dioxins and hormones and estrogens and IGF one, which are all things that we shouldn't be having in their bodies. It's it's far you know, it's far different matter. Like, so. And I also noticed in in my work that a lot of people actually favored cow's milk over, sometimes over, even breastfeeding, which is amazing. So it's just I think it's been so indoctrinated into Intel us for so long that it's actually considered completely normal. Yeah. So I start to dip into it more. And I went off dairy initially for a long time, and I also went off meat meat with something I never really liked. Even as a kid I would break open Arden's. So it was a very meat heavy lifestyle as. As children, like we'd have bacon, encourager, meat and veggies and potatoes. I was everyday and I never I never was a fan of eating these. I didn't even understand back then it was an animal. It just wasn't for me. We as time went on and I started learning more about nutrition, I and I started to see where I was going to go. I am I start looking to Taipei's dieticians and what they were doing to. I realized that there was a big mischer and then something that I was really passionate romance, very excited about. You're doing more. More with that side of things.

 

[00:08:40] Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's it's I felt the trend coming more, at least for the United States on a lot of different level economically. A lot of different areas. Sustainability. The new generation Gen I, they're kind of being called right now with just almost this inherent knowledge of is it sustainable? Is it good for the earth? Yes, a bunch of different ways that people were coming at Vegan nutrition. But I definitely and then Kova just kind of at least in the States, it put the conversation and forefront. And then I'd like pinning up much to your line of work. People are really starting to ask themselves. I know so many adults that don't know that there's protein and vegetables, crazy amount of people and wonderful professors that don't know that there's protein and vegetables because it just hasn't been discussed and educated enough. You know, a lot of people on this podcast are doctors who are Vegan because MDA, United States, I'm one of the most hysterical things is that they don't take even one nutrition course or they're not required to to become. And I'm absolutely explained to me that, you know, doctors treat disease and ailments and internal workings. They were never meant to be these these people advising diet. It was not ascribed to their part of work. But for some reason, we all turned to them when we know when we need to prescribe things with diet. For me, I feel like you could not look at medicine without in unison of diet. You know, there's so many diseases that are abated or helped or cured or all of those things from allergies with changing diet that so many documentaries have come out about. So I really think that there's a great use to that. And I kind of wanted to start off by asking you.

 

[00:10:24] Have you ever worked in Congress with an M.D. or like a medical doctor and throughout any of this time period, have you ever had conversations with them and kind of unarrest how much they do or don't know about a healthy diet?

 

[00:10:42] Yeah, well, I have some friends who are doctors, and I've obviously worked in private practice, so I've been exposed to doctors for they really I mean, for the doctors I've spoken to, they really get Minimoog like education and nutrition.

 

[00:10:54] It's very, very, very broad, very minimal. I think it's like four hours in the whole seven years of study to get something like that. So, yeah, it did. Definitely don't understand, like maybe general nutrition a little bit, but it's nutrition for most doctors is completely crazy to them if they just didn't understand it or the.

 

[00:11:15] It's very restrictive and it's what they're just not educated in that area. And I think the doctors who are educating the area actually do really well. I mean, the likes of Dr. Michael Kofman, Dr. Grinton. You know, there's lots of doctors out there, especially in America. They do. They do really well because they've actually looked into the research and they know it's it's effective. You know, Doctor, as a student, he just did a lot of research on heart disease. And these are really well with his patients getting great results. I think the doctors who are more open minded to be with patients when they're looking to progress actressy.

 

[00:11:46] Yeah. And it had generally have been heart disease.

 

[00:11:50] I was going to say there's a kind of a gateway disease which has a horrible term that I just. But as a gateway disease to kind of open up the Vegan conversation. We've spoken with Dr. Joel Kahn over here who is, you know, one of America's premiere's ologists. And I'm a devout Vegan for 30 plus years. And he has such incredible I think that the success of reversing, you know, coronary issues, episodes and disease is one of the most powerful blood in the Vegan attributes, at least over here as well. So it's it's interesting to hear that there's a tandem over in Australia. I one out before we start unpacking living Vegan dot com, which is I love because it's the educational platform. I'm wondering if you can kind of describe I like it. You decide as you can kind of unpack for me. You've got Ireland and then you have Australia and the respective regions that you're from and that you've been to I personally great a longer history as well with Ireland. Dublin has some of the oldest Vegan restaurants of all of the European countries that I visit, which was shocking for me.

 

[00:13:01] And they introduced me to better cheeses than we had in the States for just the United States did not get the memo that Vegan cheese amounts and it was the Greek. It's just, you know, she's out of it. But that aside, that tirades. But I'm wondering if you can kind of describe the latter day, the current day like us or vibe around Vegan.

 

[00:13:31] Dietary consumption in Ireland and Australia right now. Are people open to it? Has it spiked over the past five years? What is your personal take on that?

 

[00:13:42] Well, I have to say, I actually went Vegan while I was in Ireland, which is a bit crazy.

 

[00:13:47] And we move back there for eight months, back in later, Towsend 16, and that's when they actually turned 18. It's definitely more accepted back there now. There definitely are more options like I know for a few more years. And there was actually Vegan options, which I was surprised about. I mean, it's quite ten years ago.

 

[00:14:04] I don't know. I don't know what it had anything to eat back there. So it's definitely open Kofman more mainstream for sure in Australia. It's incredible. Like you could go to. There's so many Vegan restaurants where I am here, the locals, so many options, compas options.

 

[00:14:20] So I feel Australia is definitely ahead. And, you know, comparing to Ireland border to both countries are doing really well. They're getting more becoming more open minded because I feel like the demand is there now. So the restaurants want to meet the demand for the. So there's not really any restaurants I went to in Arden's that didn't offer something Vegan. Now I have to say some places were pretty poor. What was offered water in Australia? It's really incredible. The Vegan auctions are here. Here. Amazing. Very easy to be Vegan in Australia, that's for sure.

 

[00:14:55] Yeah. And eat out. I mean, they're all Vegan restaurants. We were talking off the air before eating, but I was explaining to you that I had just returned as the pandemic kind of set in. On the global scale from Sydney, Australia. And I was actually viewing Vegan restaurant owners there. And just it's an amazing scene. And there's so many people doesn't terrify people. You go to a non Vegan restaurant. I love Vietnamese food and fur and things of that nature. And and any of those communities, you go in and say, you know, it's I needed to be made Vegan or whatever. It's a very popular term. And I would as they always I mean, they're the first for a lot of health trends. And, you know, I learned about a great deal about Crossfade when that hit from the Aussies, even though it was in. And all those things they really embrace and get into it. And I love and then the YouTube about it.

 

[00:15:43] They're prolific YouTube hits, which I have yet to pack.

 

[00:15:48] I'm living Vegan with you now. I read that you launched it with your husband in 2000 and nineteen. So it's still in some it's in C to its target as it's and it's there for education. Can you kind of unpack what inspired you? What's the ethos of you and your husband to launch it and what the site endeavors to do?

 

[00:16:12] For sure. So I am actually had a Web site prior to DEC called Page, which is gone now. That was before I went Vegan.

 

[00:16:19] So I always knew I wanted to kind of work predominantly online because we travel quite a lot as well. So online, it seems to me. Then obviously once I would Feig and I wanted to change my Web site to be happy. So me, myself, my husband were very passionate about the Vegan movement. So we wanted to do something that would, you know, help help people to get there, to have a healthier lifestyle and to understand the education side of it, like basically a platform that had everything because there are platforms out there that are more use based kind of.

 

[00:16:50] But I wanted to see how the educational component as well. So and that's how we came up with the BBC and we thought it was a bit of a dairy name because I think a lot of people shy away from the word Vegan like we kind of considered doing something like more campus, but then we decided, no, you know what this is? This is about veganism. Let's just let's just face this and and let's have our, you know, a good name that people under it, as soon as they see the name, they know exactly what it is.

 

[00:17:16] So that's that's how we coined the term living big and that's how we came up with it. And so initially when it was launched into Taza 19, I had just had my first daughter. So I was pretty busy. So it was more news based initially because I was busy with my daughter and my sleepless nights. But as time went on, I got more involved. So now I'm and I'm very involved in and I'm trying to do more educational stuff to try and help people to learn. You know, it's not that hard to be Vegan. I find the first four months of being Vegan can be quite challenging for people because they're just generally even if they're highly motivated, they just do not know what to eat because we've been educated to eat, you know, certain food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for, you know, 20, 30 years. It's very hard to change. So it takes a lot of guidance and motivation and have I think once people get over to treat formants, don't they tend to be OK? You know, most people. So that's how we do it. We design the packages and them aiming towards that. Now, I'm actually going to update the packages this year. I'm going to offer more dietician focus packages, you know, like consultations and guidance over a longer period, six to twelve months and things like that. So the packages are going to be updated soon. But it was basically just to. I wanted to be there to help people, I find a lot of women who are pregnant.

 

[00:18:44] It is specifically the go to the doctor to tell them their Vegan and the doctor scares the life and says, you know, you need to eat eggs and usually have meat for your baby. This and all these people are like, I don't know what to do. My doctor says, I need to eat this.

 

[00:18:59] So I just felt like there was a huge pressure. People just need some help. They need some guidance in this lifestyle.

 

[00:19:06] That's why I am going to write a book about which we can talk about it or read a book about Vegan pregnancy.

 

[00:19:12] I'm excited to Vegan pregnancy. Yeah, it's in the book and all the information. We need a ton more Vegan dietitians out there because men are one thing that people are terrified of is their nutrition and they need an expert opinion assuring them you, Isaac, your steps. I mean, I fancy myself a wildly educated woman. And when I became I turned to the worst like junk food Vegan that there was this prenup frozen, preserved, but didn't even live like that before. But it was just this Hypercom, like, I've got something ready made in the fridge. And it's it's I think it was just that lack of having the expert advice. OK, I want to go back to asking you about that, the packages a little bit more because it feels like so for me, as I was saying about my own education and things of that nature and needing dietitians, it's a tenuous line.

 

[00:20:15] You would have to dance because I feel like people are capable of getting P.H. and things, but not upfront, you know, and having this onslaught of information on diamonds and minerals, even if you have a great deal of that information, keeping it all straight in your index, when you're switching diets over, how do you navigate tenuous line between educating just enough for your clients to feel empowered but not too daunted with just too much information?

 

[00:20:42] Know, I definitely think less is more. I think if you go too deep. People just get scared off, like because nutrition is so complex for most people.

 

[00:20:54] Mostly people just want the basics. They just want to understand. You know, for example, how do I get my B twelve or, you know, what is vitamin D or you know, they just want basic stuff. They don't want you to dove too deep because for most people that's too much. So what I have to try to do is keep it very simple. I find, you know, as a dietician, you have to learn all the complex, deep stockman and then you have to really get back really simply to your comments. So that's basically what I do. So, you know, I do a lot of email consultations as well, which is actually very popular. People prefer people love to do e-mail concerns because they don't actually I don't know what is, but they don't actually speak to me. Exactly. They just email me to all the details and then they ask me all questions and I look to their meal plan or I look to what they eat and everything. And then I suggest what they should eat. And I send them a meal plan and then I give money, information I need. And a lot of it is just basic questions. Like the most common questions are where do I get my protein, which is a crazy person. You know, what is beach one? You know, am I going to get nutritional deficiencies or if I'm pregnant, you know, as my baby go to grow. Things like this, it's really, really basic stuff, you know, as a dietitian. But it's stuff of people need reassurance.

 

[00:22:07] Absolutely. And it's empowering someone and, you know, give them those informations and be in the United States. I'll say that culturally, I'm speaking just for my own country. And particularly among women or women identified individuals that I encounter, there's a great deal of defense even around somebody who feels very confident about their way of life. You know, when you start to top it, there's it's deeply interwoven. It's very, very personal and food obvious and do so much more than, say, it's attached to our heritage, to our ideas of love and reward and all sorts of crazy things psychologically for you. I mean, these are things that you must have to consider. You know, when you're kind of encountering your clients and best how to serve them and things like that, it makes sense.

 

[00:22:54] The email part of it, I'm like, oh, that sounds more not it sounds less judgmental, you know, to be able to write it out of you write it. I think there's a great deal of emotion that goes into food that you kind of have to unpack as well. When I got on your site and this is part is this actually plays into that concept as well. As you know, great big picture with Vegan dietitians and things like that. Like you have education, you know the aspect of that. Then you have implementations to your site, has recipes, news. And I'm wondering I love how I love the curation of the news that you have selected that you did for that site. How do you do that?

 

[00:23:34] What's your curation process for how you kind of select which news you want to represent? I'm living.

 

[00:23:40] It's hard because there's obviously so many stories every day could write 100 stories a day. So you really have to be specific, be specific and pick what you think is going to attract the audience and bring them in.

 

[00:23:52] I suppose I find ethical stuff really brings in the audience stuff about animal welfare or, you know, stuff about somebody who went Vegan on the health results they got from that. Things like that. I find that people really are drawn to. So I think what I do is I see I go on the Vegan news alerts, you know, to Goob and I research all of the Web sites to do news stories. And, you know, I constantly looking to the Internet, trying to find, you know, the most recent story of what's happened or, you know, I go to attract my audience is going to be a good read for them, is going to educate them vertical to learn anything from this.

 

[00:24:30] So things about, you know, like I said about animals, Udalls, something ethical, something that's, you know, you know, it's something that happens to animals and plants and animals, slaughterhouse or abuse or in the Persian farm, things like that. People are like, oh, you know, it really brings them in. And I find the visual stuff as well as very effective. You know, so if you post a picture with text underneath about animal welfare or something, people really it really hits them. And I find that I am getting a lot of people e-mailing me saying, you know, the picture you put up really struck me and I did more research and now I want to go Vegan, which I do. So it's it's obviously working know it's it's affecting people in a positive way, Brooke. Probably I mean, it hurts to see it, but we need to look because what do we look or we don't it's still happening. So what I want to do is bring awareness to this because it's happening every single second of every single day. And we're the ones that are giving it the power to consumers. So if we change what we buy, then the shops are going to have to change what they provide.

 

[00:25:31] You know, so it's the knowledge is power, I to say so, yeah. So it's working. Kind of.

 

[00:25:40] I went with the you mentioned a little bit about, you know, during the curation process and looking at impact and things like that. And I just interviewed the founder and president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and I was and do you affiliate with organizations such as PETA or PETA itself or other things based out of Australia, or do you kind of keep living? Vegan dot com, like a little bit more separate.

 

[00:26:09] Yeah, I keep it, I pretty much keep it separate, I'm not really affiliated. I've been approached by many companies to post, you know, ads on my side.

 

[00:26:18] So that's enough for now. I'm not doing that because I feel like if the site is full of all these affiliations and all these ads kind of takes from the information. So for now, I'm just keeping a nice team and doing it myself and, you know, people like that. But you don't who knows in the future what would happen. But for now, it's just living Vegan on. So do many.

 

[00:26:40] I love it, too. I mean, it's very simple. You know, you have resources, recipes in your packages. It's it's very, very clean. Even the recipes, the pictures, they're very easy to digest.

 

[00:26:52] What I'm looking at, it is like I really appreciate that. I think a lot of people do in their clutter, you know, to do just kind of like I think down to axiomatic, like core principles is right. So I kind of wanna talk about your work. And before we dove into the book that you are currently writing, I want to talk about the work that you submit to. I wouldn't be surprised if there's like some Segway is there from Healthy for a Vegan Life U.K. magazine as well. Some places in tribute writing to keep your roles there. And like what genera and veganism do you speak to? Obviously, the dietician is going to come into play, but do you have a roadmap that you follow for those different magazines?

 

[00:27:36] And Sobecki about was about a year ago, I approached I approached from a five magazines and offered to write some content for him. And big, in my view, you were interested.

 

[00:27:47] So ever since I've been writing Monkey Country contributing monthly to them and sometimes to give meaning to topic, and sometimes I decide on topics. So it could be anything from, you know, pregnancy, breastfeeding. What is V12? How to boost your libido, you know, Vegan diets and skin health, things like that. You know, so it's it's very varied, but it's very interesting. And I really like to write. So I noticed and yeah, I get like a full two pages in their magazine every month, so it's great.

 

[00:28:18] I think everyone should require their dietician to be like a writer as well, because. Because it's keeping you up eight and soaps, halloumi, all of you Certina, any time someone's contributing to any monthly platform or anything like that with content, writing, YouTube and whatever, I'm I'm much more prone to think that their current, you know, and that's the idea. Yeah. Because I'm with their past principles and things like that, nothing's current. Medical books aren't updated too frequently.

 

[00:28:46] You know, no nutrition is ever changing. We learned so much to learn all the time. So when you have to write content, you obviously have to do a lot of research. So you're like you said, you're current, you're up to date, you're learning. I'm always learning as a dietician. You never stop learning. You're learning every day.

 

[00:29:03] So, yeah, it's important. I think that's exciting.

 

[00:29:08] Okay, so I want to kind of get into the book. I love, like previews and I love being on the front end of that. So what can you tell us about it? It's it's about Vegan pregnancy, prenatal about. So yeah.

 

[00:29:21] So I've got two books and two books. So one I'm hoping to launch early next year. That is see the reason it's like a resource type Vegan and starter tool kit book.

 

[00:29:31] So it's going to be very illustrative, very graphic, lot like not graphic, lots of bad pictures, very easy to read, colorful, bright. You know, it's not just going to be text. It's going to be very easy to read book. So this is basically going to be talkable, all the nutrients in detail. We talk about different diseases like chronic diseases, autoimmune diseases, talk fatuity, you have breastfeeding, pregnancy, all these topics to be covered. And then there's also going to be a psychology side of this as a psychologist based. So I had a psychologist help me out. Would it have been a content as well? So there's a lot to promote speciesism and things like that about animal welfare and all of that. So it's very comprehensive, very, very interesting. And it's really for people who are thinking about going vegan, there's a lot of stuff about getting started as a vegan, like a weekly meal plan, shopping, what you should buy at the shops, you know, documentaries, you should watch all that stuff.

 

[00:30:26] But it's also for people who are Vegan long term big and they just want to know more about the benefits of it. And, you know, why is it good for my health? And, you know, I go into a talk with a lot of dairy in the book. You don't need to know what's in it, like bad animal protein or some protein, all that kind of stuff. So it's really, really exciting. It's a really interesting book and I'm very excited to get it put together.

 

[00:30:49] So that's how we treat the Vegan best. So Vegan I love it. I've covered everything I normally say, but where is the action item? Where's the implementation? You know, a lot of people who author Vegan books either go one side or the other. It's all recipes and No. A scientific study and no implementation. And I'm like, there's like a a good mixture.

 

[00:31:15] Yeah. What do I do with this? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Obviously the second book is will probably not be ready to about twenty two, but that's the problem. Vegan pregnancy.

 

[00:31:25] So that's I have started it but I'm in the very early stages. So the first movie, the Vegan starter to Bible and the second one would be the bigger pregnancy the following year probably. So you're working on two books.

 

[00:31:38] That sounds flagship. I have not heard of it and I haven't done a search, so maybe there's a few out there, but it's taboo. And, you know, you kind of mentioned that earlier, but I have four children and know vegetarianism alone. But Vegan to certain obis, it was actually the way I vetted getting an OPG Y and, you know, it was pregnant, a new one. I mean, I was at a bit while I was forming my family and it's it's a rocky road. Have some. Oh yeah. Thousands of babies in their lifetime. Look at you and say you're going to damage yourself and your child. You know. I think they're all crucial to get information out there, and I haven't heard of any books and I certainly are certain that we weren't any on when I was doing my gestation. It's really. Can you tell us a little bit about, like some of the elements you're going to include in that?

 

[00:32:30] Yeah, so like I said, it's in the very early stages. Look, I basically just want I want women to know a lot of women. It's basically to be for women who are considering getting pregnant, who are Vegan, because obviously nutrition partners in nutrition begins before conception.

 

[00:32:44] So this book isn't just for why you're pregnant prior to as well or just people who are interested in you, what you eat while you're pregnant to begin to how to be healthy. So it's just I want to walk through all the nutrients, you know, what's important and how much you should be having and also obviously the sources of these foods. So people will have to be trying to figure it out for themselves and then maybe comparing, you know, Vegan pregnancies to not be the pregnancies and things about, you know, certain like fish. Fish is highly toxic and they can pass all that, all lots of Kompass to the baby through your placenta. A lot of women don't understand or realize that. So, you know, dove to all of that as well. Like the difference between animal protein and this protein in pregnancy.

 

[00:33:31] Yeah. So it's like I said, it's very early on in money in my chapter one. So it's what it's going to be an exciting book and it's going to be everything in there.

 

[00:33:41] It's going to be important for a woman who is having a baby and wants to have a healthy pregnancy and ensure she's got no nutritional deficiencies. Obviously talk with supplementation as well, because when you're pregnant, you do need to supplement to ensure that you're getting everything that you need.

 

[00:33:56] So that's also going to be good. I'm excited because I've had so sorry. I've had so many women emailed me in the last bubbles months.

 

[00:34:07] I've had a lot of women email me about the third week of pregnancy and, you know, just concerns and stuff. So I feel like this book is is is a must. It's very important for sure.

 

[00:34:17] Absolutely. I think that it's going to be a game changer for me. I'm going to push it out to everybody I know, because I women's health is so under and over. You know, it's not just the states. Like every country I've gone to, all of the health studies have been done largely on men, you know, and we don't have the same as we're all discovering. But I think it's it's so imperative. Little research until the fertility crisis hit, we really didn't understand a whole lot about pregnancy, which is amazing because it's responsible for the propagation of our species. You think you'd be the most funding out there? Well, we have more patients about erectile dysfunction than we have. So I know that's true that I'm wondering if you can kind of enumerate for me. You have these two books that are on the horizon, but where do you see some of the trends within the Vegan like diet alter heading? I'm kind of speaking to, I guess, products in particular. There was that huge push on net milks and things like that in the USA economy and things. When soy people were getting there, there was arguments about soy being bad and so everyone trying to net. But then there's no allergies. It's all about oatmeal. You know, Starbucks is getting oatmeal and everyone's oatmeal fanatics and things like that. But I'm wondering if you can kind of point towards because it's your it's your science and your trade and your education. Do you feel like there will be a return to, like a whole food Vegan diet? Or do you think there's going to be more of these, like foam meats and things like that as as this next five years kinds of unfolds?

 

[00:36:02] Yeah, I think a lot of these big companies can see, you know, where it's going. And where the money might be. And so I think there's going to be a lot of food meets and a lot of process to Vegan food. I mean, as a Vegan, I say, look, you know, in moderation, small amounts of processed foods and treat fruits are fine.

 

[00:36:19] But I feel like like you said when you started your Vegan journey to get a lot of that process still, as I think most vegans do. So I think the trick is to teach food. And that's okay in the short term when you're learning for, you know, a new one. But over time, you need to push more towards the whole food trampas approach because that's the healthy diet. That's I don't I call it a diet. That's the healthy lifestyle. Let's have the Vegan. I says eat wholesome campus. So, yeah, I think to be the junk food thing is going to shoot through the roof because I think these big companies who have a lot of money are just see where it's going and they know that that's where they're going to. They want to do well. So they've got to be another option, which is good for us both. We need to just ensure that we don't go crazy on the stuff. You know, focus more on Whole Foods than this.

 

[00:37:05] Yeah. I mean, for all of a lot of American economy, you know, there's billions of dollars being funded into this like impossible burger and faux me. And I don't think they all have it bad. In fact, I think with a boom in the industry, they'll they'll actually be these ones that are a little bit less perfect for you. I do want there to be a return to conversation about, you know, something being good for you. You know, being. Real food and not a bunch of preserved goals that are animal based, but still are really bad for the human body. All right. I want to turn towards we've covered your goals with these books and things like that. And now, I mean, to have you indulge me, if you would, with about 10 questions from our audience that we're very curious to find out.

 

[00:37:52] I've boiled down about 50. So for everyone listening questions, but I could I coagulated them, if you will. I correlated them together. So the number one is a lot of people ask about how do you personally start educating someone and about Vegan nutrition.

 

[00:38:10] Do you have like a top five? A lot of people were like, what are her top five? You know, like most important key concepts to understand about nutrition and the Vegan.

 

[00:38:18] Do you have any.

 

[00:38:22] Yeah, well, OK. So basically, when people are I have ever heard of. Melanie Joy to psychologist when Joy.

 

[00:38:31] She kind of turned Peronism and she talks about the trillions of justifications so people feel that what they're eating is normal, natural or necessary.

 

[00:38:40] So it kind of.

 

[00:38:42] And when someone comes to me and a new Vegan or they want to be in a kind of you have to kind of touch on that stuff.

 

[00:38:47] So you actually start with the psychology side of it. You know that it's it's just it's been so ingrained in this for so long that we believe in it so much in this story. But in fact, it's none of those. So I usually kind of talk a bit about speciesism.

 

[00:39:06] And all of that stuff. But at nutritionally, I take the top five, I would probably focus on what protein is a big one, even though for me it's one of the easiest ones, because basically, if you're if you're eating enough calories is a big beacon, you're getting enough protein.

 

[00:39:20] It's that simple. Unless you have, like an eating disorder or something, then you've got to protein pretty much. I mean, also necessary. And Chris Taito is every day. Chris, every day. Sorry. That's Irish. Irish for Chris. We are hearing a pretty well balanced diet. Proteins on issues, subprojects formidable because you just need to about two weeks. People always ask the second one would be big twelve because people are concerned. How we get eaten up as a big red. Generally, I recommend everybody supplemented beachwear finisher. Really. They can really focus on eating fortified foods every day at the same amount. You know, it's just so much easier to take a spray of V12 every day. So would you recommend that vitamin D would probably another one.

 

[00:40:04] Because as a beacon, you don't you don't get any very deep through your diet. So you need to obtain it either to supplement or from the sun. So we talk about that a bit.

 

[00:40:16] So protein vitamin D. and it'll make a series of mega cheese would be the next one of thing to dissolve. Is this the fourth? I'll make it through so healthy fats. So basically, people are worried about, you know, if I don't eat fish, what's going to happen? Malcolm, you're going to have the fat spill. What you don't realize is that fish contains a lot of dioxins and these are mad. And all this stuff that you read, you don't want your body and omega 3s fish to get. I make a cheese from reentry into water. So if you take a rain, I'd be happy supplement. You're gonna get the same omega 3s of the fish conserving what I'm consuming the fish, take out the middleman as such. So Marina B or you can just take, you know, almost two seeds, hemp seeds and stuff. So I'm Vegan three years out of the womb. And then I would probably go with iron.

 

[00:41:02] I think I'm a few people as well.

 

[00:41:04] So, you know, some people are more exposed to no iron levels when they're Vegan. But I think once you focus on eating foods containing ARED, then you do want to do OK. You know, like cooking your spinach. And having that every day or having lots of leafy greens, beetroot, blackstrap molasses, things like that, dried apricots, all that kind of thing. Ungood, stuff like that book. Some people will need to supplement bananas. Well, it depends on your art levels. But I always recommend to begins to get a low test maybe every six to 12 months, especially as a new Vegan just to ensure that everything is going as it should do.

 

[00:41:45] So they will probably I think that's fine. Make 3D printing doesn't fit.

 

[00:41:53] I'm wondering. And so we had another question along that same line and people were asking if you personally subscribe to a specific brand or kind of Vegan multi vitamin. There's millions out there.

 

[00:42:04] And I think sifting through the right ones and there's a lot of people that worry about certain areas that one is obtaining their vitamins like organic Vegan vitamins and things like that. What are your thoughts on that? Or do you have one that you recommend to your clients?

 

[00:42:19] When I recommend art wise? I take flooding sort if you have an eye over America, Florida, it's Nordics and Sparta. One is something that I recommend because Fashloom is just like a liquid art.

 

[00:42:31] It has no side effects. It doesn't cause constipation or anything like that. And it's very easy to take even for kids. So that's a really good aren't supplements. And then there's a product over here called by a sushi. Those if you happen over there, maybe not. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's the range I try Mike for me. One of the things I quite like my sentiments now. I don't think they're actually organic. What did you can get organic even better. Something always organic is better.

 

[00:42:57] You have Salu grow your own. We're very big up gardens right now in the States. I mean, there. Has a lot of different things that it's launched. But one of my favorite that I proudly contributed to is a vertical garden. Oh, wow. Yeah. Fornia. And space is on the ocean and prized possessions. So you don't donate your lawns to gardens. It's good they go up.

 

[00:43:23] Very good. Now, I take I'm sorry there's a delay. I think self-sufficiency is definitely the future. I have been growing your own products. Your own crops is definitely the way to go, even for people like me.

 

[00:43:36] And I always try to express my audience is sick of hearing me say it, but I feel like the only thing I can help thriver children like plants die on me. I'm not the greatest at that. I don't understand why I buy the fertilizer. I do the research, but I can actually. So if I can do it, everyone can. It's out there.

 

[00:43:56] Yeah. Yeah.

 

[00:43:57] Can two people ask if what the most important books are resources for you. Where do you glean a lot of your knowledge from? How do you stay up to date. Do you posture like your protheses and then go Fedder out the information, or do you have like these news feed rolls that you get it from?

 

[00:44:17] Well, I do. I spend a lot of time on progress. Twitch's has on the latest journal articles. So as a dietician, I have access to that.

 

[00:44:24] I mean, I'm sure I know people probably four, too, but I think you do have to pay up. See, I remembered Dieticians Association of Australia, so I'm on that every day. You know, that is Atkins for this year and stuff.

 

[00:44:37] But, um, also, like I said, I read for four people. I suggest they read books by campus doctors, you know, Dr. Gregor and Dr. Kofman or Colin Campbell. And there's some great books out there to China study. I highly recommend to your audience How Not to Die. All those books are really good. Read, read, educational, fantastic book. Basically for me it's more of the journal articles so I can read information from and if I hear something about new new research that's come out, then I go in and investigate myself, medical journals, different issues. And so sometimes I might hear it from somewhere else or someone else post about it, or a different dietician or different doctor. And then I go in and learn about research and sense. Yeah. So it's it's a constant study, constant, constant study. As a dietician, you you're always working on studying all this, trying to keep up to do. It's ever changing.

 

[00:45:30] Yeah. Ours. I wonder there are put in and asked about how you personally and your private practice, what is the most common reason that people are looking for your assistance is you people come to you for weight loss, disease, sitting them until what is like. Is there a larger category than others as to why people consult you and are turning Vegan?

 

[00:45:56] Well, I would say the main thing is health wise would be chronic disease, so tied to it. I just got diagnosed with Type two diabetes.

 

[00:46:03] My doctor said, if you're going to get a heart attack, I don't change my diet or put a huge amount of people as well for weight loss. So a lot of people like, are you go Vegan, but I want to lose 20 kilos or 40 pounds.

 

[00:46:17] Yes. So I think chronic disease maybe would be the reason. And then I cassadaga a lot of women asking questions about being in pregnancy. So they're probably the main main ones. Women with young children who have been told by their doctor that a child needs strong cow's milk to be healthy and stuff like that. So I try to educate them, teach them, and obviously, like so generally Cosulich recommended for one one year old. Well, basically, I recommend Stop the Child Once to finish breastfeeding and see breast all as best as long as possible. Once the child's finished breastfeeding, we recommend to unsweetened soy milk. Organic soy milk is as close to an cowslip without all the bad stuff. And or I can repeat with Campina, which is also good, but that's only after the child's turn. One would recommend that APC's comes with a tiny constipating two babies and children. So it's not recommended.

 

[00:47:13] Absolutely. I we had a bunch of people learning that you were a Vegan parent right in. And they were wondering about how you personally, because you have so much information. How do you educate your children and kind of arm them with the proper amount of information, given their respective young ages, you know, to your can handle very little. Eleven year old can handle a lot. But how many them and things like that. How do you kind of provide them with information for when they socialize.

 

[00:47:45] Yeah. So basically one of my obviously my youngest is fifteen and so she has no idea yet. I have a tree and a half year old and almost five year old.

 

[00:47:53] So they're they ask a lot of questions when we bought a lot of books about veganism and you know, to teach children in a very easy way, why were Vegan and stuff like that? Do you understand that? It's amazing. They're so accepting of it. And you know that dad told people we don't eat animals because we love them. We want to be happy. It's very cute. But I didn't tell them about you know, I explained to them that we need to look after our bodies and healthy foods from the flesh of animals that is good for our bodies. And it's not so nice for the animals because they have suffered and they understand the green, leafy green vegetables and colorful fruits and vegetables are very good for their bodies. And they're very aware. And you know that to be not your move to understand. It's it's a really good, good way to start them in their life, to understand the importance of healthy plants and, you know, not. It's enough to see, you know, some people say, oh, you know what? You're restricting your child and you shouldn't. It's not fair. We like people who are raising their child or niece or are not teaching or childhood. If it's coming from one teacher teaching, why should it? Since coming from so, I believe that you can only guide them a certain amount. And once the research reach a certain age, it's going to be up to them. So I'm hoping that what I've taught them would be enough for them to continue on campus. So I agree. Yeah, they're pretty knowledgeable for their age, so I'm pretty happy like it.

 

[00:49:14] I always tell people it was. It was. Sounds terrifying. Is actually an open door opens a door for me to link other principles and core core values that my family employs, you know, compassion and ability. Global citizenship. You know, these ideas about know what we can't see. It doesn't mean it's not still happening. Yeah. So it allowed me I used it as, you know, as an opportunity and continued to, you know, and also to reexamine my own dialog. We're doing, as any parent will tell you, is that's the main thing with having children. It allows you to just completely reexamine your relationship with some once thought, you know, first year. Yeah. I go I to find it as a source of education. And, you know, I think that having a child and they really in childhood, they are forming a relationship and bringing that to the forefront, that you are building a relationship with food, whether or not knowledge it, every adult world has a billion relationships with food. Absolutely. And unhealthy and sudden realize that as you're doing it, bring it to cognition is. Aw, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. OK. So the final obvious question and that we had a ton of people ask about and so I'm going to ask the kind of broad and let you just go where you want with it. But it was naturally about Cobbett, the teen pandemic. And there's so many different facets and I don't ascribe lineage or blame to any country. There's a ton of talk about what markets, particularly with begins, and that's fine. And, you know, I have my own private foundation there with what I believe. But you as a dietitian. Again, because you have a lot of people coming in with health that there will be eventually, you know, people coming in wanting to prevent Koven and things like that, moving forward as a reason why they're consulting with you. But do you a sound bite that you offer people who do have clients currently, they ask you about it. You have anything that you can kind of state about diet and things like pandemic's, you know, or the current state of Cauvin that you advise people with regularly.

 

[00:51:24] So are you waiting in order to boost immune system, prevent coded or post covered worlds? You have that like all of it. You know, good advice you have.

 

[00:51:36] Yes, well, obviously, as a stronger your immune system, the less likely you are to catch anything. So if you're healthy and you eat an antiinflammatory diet and you get plenty of rest and you know, you exercise and you eat lots of fiber and colorful organic whole foods, you're going to be much more likely to fight off poverty if you patches or maybe prevent yourself from getting because the stronger immune system that's like you to catch things. Bacteria, viruses, salt.

 

[00:52:05] And in terms of the post-Cold War, the world still I mean, you know, like you said, people put blame on things like I really believe that the factory farming and all that stuff is is obviously always taught or is wrong. But after the cold. But it just shows that, you know, it's risky. What we're doing, what we're doing is risky. I mean, animals carry diseases. You've got animals, not even wet markets. We're just inside and these chicken houses and all cooped up together. They got diseases and they're sick and, you know, there's a risk of passing on stuff to humans. You know, so I just think that that kind of food is not we wanted to put it in your body. So I think. Stay away from it. Stay away from animals products even more so ethical that I need a morsel. I definitely wouldn't be wanting to eat animal products after after Kofman 19.

 

[00:52:59] But, yeah, just generally, there's not really anything specific. But just keep your immune system healthy. Just easy eating a healthy, wholesome thomkins diet, exercising every day, getting enough sleep. Not too much stress because people find this very stressful.

 

[00:53:14] This whole thing is very stressful. When you're stressed, you're more likely to catch things. So you need to do what you need to do. Yoga, meditation. Take a hop wrestle for. Do whatever works readable. We live in a very stressful world and I read a post code. I find paper even more niche, more anxiety. More people are just scared. And also it's very important to look out for mental health and physical health.

 

[00:53:39] Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Well, Yvonne, we are out of time, but I want to say thank you so much for taking the time today and giving us all of your information. I am Perman woman and I will circle back around once your book goes up and you are on your tour to be part of that circuit so that our audience can have this follow up with the first the the first Vegan Bible, as I've turned it.

 

[00:54:03] Maybe that would be the new thing. Do you have a title for it? No, my guess. OK. What do I do now?

 

[00:54:12] The app. Don't call it that. I would do that. Should they name people can look it up first and then the subsequence, you know, pregnancy and begin and pre pregnancy and Vegan fertility and Vegan, you know, all of those areas that book I will keep pestering you for as well. But thank you so much for giving us your time today. No problem. Thanks for having me on. It's good for everyone listening. We've been speaking with Yvonne O'Halloran and she's a dietician. You can find out more about all of her work. I assume her future books will be posted there as well. It's w w dot living Vegan dot com.

 

[00:54:48] And thank you for sharing your time with us today and with myself personally. Please stay safe, eat responsibly and clean and always bet on yourself. Slainte.