Vegetarians of Washington works to support and encourage businesses which provide goods and services to vegetarians. We offer medical doctors evidence-based information and clinical advice on how a plant-based diet can help in the prevention and treatment disease We also offer teachers classes and resource materials suitable for health and environmental classes. In particular, we provide the following free programs:
For Food Manufacturers & Retailers
Producing our annual vegetarian food festival, Seattle Vegfest, has afforded us the opportunity to get to know hundreds of food manufacturers, large and small, along with many brokers and retailers. We have worked with both new and established businesses. As a result, we are able to offer the following:
- Information on the size, needs and preferences of the vegan, vegetarian, and semi-vegetarian market.
- Consultation on preferred ingredients.
- Broker referrals.
- Opportunities at Vegfest to sample, give away, or provide coupons for your products or services to a focused vegetarian market.
- Store tours for people learning about shopping for vegetarian foods, based on our new book, In Pursuit of Great Food: A Plant-Based Shopping Guide.
For Physicians and Medical Schools
Providing education to members and the general public through our free classes has given us quite a bit of experience with those who are eager to learn about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. We have gained an understanding of what they expect from their physicians, and what clinical strategies are most likely to be efficacious in real world medical settings. Working with many physicians as speakers, and conducting health screenings at our annual vegetarian festival, Seattle Vegfest, for the past 18 years, has given us considerable exposure to the needs and challenges of the practicing physician in prescribing plant-based diets. Our latest campaign has deepened this knowledge even further.
We have launched the Prescribe Vegetarian Campaign, with the goal of expanding medical training and practice to include the use of a plant-based diet, in addition to standard modalities, for the prevention and treatment of disease. In particular, we offer the following:
- A Medical Seminar at Vegfest every year, to introduce physicians and medical students to the role of plant-based diets in the prevention and treatment of disease.
- Evidence-based, fully documented presentations on the therapeutic use of plant-based diets to your hospital, clinic or medical school class.
- Focused presentations on:
- Coronary Artery Disease, Essential Hypertension, Ischemic Stroke
- Type II Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity
- Oncology
- More topics to be added soon
- A reliable, ready research resource – Plant-Based Diets in Medicine covering a wide range of medical specialties.
- Referral Resource – a list of other doctors in the region who are supportive of this campaign, and open to the use of a plant-based diet for the prevention and treatment of disease.
- Patient Resources:
- Introductory brochures available for self-printing
- Recommended books, including our new Plant-Based Shopping Guide
- Vegfest, to learn about available products, cooking, and health from our physician speakers.
- Shopping through guided store tours
- Classes – with accurate, up-to-date health information, general or focused on a specific disease, and with practical shopping and cooking advice.
- Social support with monthly dinners.
For High School and College Health and Environmental Science Classes
Over the past 18 years, Vegetarians of Washington have taught both high school and college-aged students about the healthfulness of well-constructed vegetarian diets, and their advantages for environmental sustainability. Our approach is to present basic scientific principles, and then show students how to apply them in real world settings. This is done through PowerPoint presentations and auxiliary materials to ensure proper background including careful definitions of scientific terms.
We provide carefully constructed classes on:
- The healthfulness of vegetarian diets
- The science behind the environmental impact of farm animal agriculture, aquaculture and ocean fishing.
To learn more about any of these programs, please contact us.