JESSICA KOTLOWITZ
Jessica Kotlowitz is a Registered Clinical Dietitian (Msc. who is passionate about helping others to achieve optimal health with the use of plant-based diets. in Dietetics from Stellenbosch University in 2012 after which she completed her Community Service year at Baragwaneth hospital in Johannesburg where she focused on all aspects of clinical nutrition, including Paediatric and neonatal nutrition, renal nutrition, surgical nutrition and oncology nutrition. After leaving Baragwaneth and moving back to Cape Town, Jessica came across the scientific evidence on the health benefits of a plant-based diet and decided to give it a try as a means to solving some of her own health problems. Her health problems almost immediately improved and she fell in love with the abundance and creativity of plant-based eating. She soon also became interested in the ethical and environmental aspects of living a vegan lifestyle and has been vegan ever since. She began sharing her passion for a plant-based lifestyle using social media in 2014 and began receiving requests from vegans and vegetarians for private consults which led her to opening her private practice. She realised that vegans and vegetarians had very little access to information and support from qualified healthcare professionals and were often subject to dangerous nutrition misinformation and shaming from their medical team. She made it her mission to provide professional nutrition support to fellow plant-based eaters and to guide them in meeting their nutrient needs so as to thrive on a plant-based diet in the long term. Along with a busy practice, Jessica has made her name as a media Dietitian with many appearances on radio, TV, social media, magazines, news articles, and more in order to promote responsible plant-based nutrition information and demystify misinformation. Jessica completed her Masters degree in nutrition through Stellenbosch University in 2017 where she focused on critical care nutrition, sports nutrition and paediatric nutrition. Her Masters research focused on pre- and post-operative nutrition practices in colorectal surgery patients at Tygerberg hospital and has since been presented at international conferences. She also has experience working as a locum at public hospitals in Cape Town, working as a research assistan and co-authoring research papers, lecturing nutrition and working as a health consultant for Discovery. Jessica recently became a mom and enjoyed a healthy vegan pregnancy and is loving creating beautiful plant-based meals for her vegan baby. Becoming a mom has reignited her passion for paediatric nutrition and she loves to help other plant-based eaters to meet their nutrient needs during pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, toddlerhood and beyond. NADIA MULDER
Nadia Mulder qualified as a Registered Dietitian (Bsc. Diet) from the University of Stellenbosch in 2020. Nadia is passionate about all things plant-based nutrition, intuitive eating and sports nutrition. Nadia graduated Cum Laude from Stellenbosch University in 2020 and then went on to do her community service at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria in 2021 where she gained experience in a wide range of clinical nutrition fields: from neonatal, paediatric, obstetric, orthopaedic, oncology, ICU, trauma, Covid, internal medicine, surgery to cardio thoracic. During this year, she also developed the first ever fully vegan clinical menu at a public hospital in South Africa along with a training guide on vegan nutrition for fellow dietitians at the hospital. Nadia grew up in a health-conscious family and had always had an interest in nutrition which led to her pursuing a Dietetics degree. Before she began her Dietetics studies, she undertook a gap year in the U.S. where she studied a nutrition and counselling course part-time. During this year she was confronted with a range of fad diets and nutrition misinformation and started to really wonder what the “true science” says about nutrition. She first came across the idea of a vegan diet during this year (at the age of 19) and it made sense to her from a scientific, ethical and environmental standpoint so decided to give it a try. Her energy, training and sleep improved dramatically, and she fell in love with the abundance and variety that came with a plant-based diet. She has been vegan ever since and is excited to help fellow plant-based eaters to really thrive on a vegan diet using her practical, intuitive eating-based approach to nutrition. She completed the Ellyn Satter ‘Treating The Diet Casualty’ course in 2022 which equipped her to use the eating competence model in areas of clinical care. She takes on a handful of clients at a time to help them heal their relationship with food and their bodies. Nadia also found a love for trail running and road cycling after going vegan in 2016 and has recently taken up rock climbing since moving back to Cape Town. Nadia has a special interest in sports nutrition and specifically in helping plant-based athletes to optimize performance on a plant-based diet.
