Dr Hassina Kajee is a specialist physician. She worked for eight years in Groote Schuur’s Hospital and was in charge of the emergency unit for three years. Next year, she will open a private practice clinic in Cape Town.
Dr Kajee is a member of the esteemed board of directors of The Noakes Foundation. She has been a close friend of the Foundation since its inception and has consistently been a valuable advisor on many of the Foundation’s endeavours, bringing with her extensive knowledge about the LCHF eating science. She is a proud advocate of the LCHF diet and is instrumental in overseeing and facilitating the Foundation’s Eat Better South Africa (EBSA) programme. Dr Kajee helped launch the first EBSA intervention in the Ocean View community and has since advised on a number of the Foundations subsequent interventions.
She advocates that “there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to diets. Obese people are not fat simply because they overeat! It is not a matter of too many calories in and too few calories burned that makes you fat.” Dr Kajee said she realized that obesity occurs when a carbohydrate sensitive person eats a diet too high in that macronutrient. Just as a person with a peanut allergy or lactose intolerance cannot eat peanuts or dairy without having symptoms, so too is this true for people with carbohydrate sensitivity who manifest with obesity and diabetes as symptoms. In terms of budget, she affirms that while many assume that eating healthy food is expensive, this is a myth. The Banting lifestyle promotes eating the entire animal, bones and all. Cheaper sources of protein can be found in offal and eggs. This form of eating is actually more cost-effective. There is no money spent on buying juice, cereal, bread, cool drinks, cakes, chocolates or biscuits. Your shopping becomes more ‘concise’, being limited to real foods – and vegetables can be grown in your own garden.
As a doctor, she believes she cannot and will not continue to work in a system where it is the norm to diagnose the next lifestyle related complication without any attempt to prevent illness. For this reason, she is opening her own private practice to treat her patients according to the LCHF lifestyle and to create more awareness regarding carbohydrate and sugar intake among the population to prevent metabolic illnesses. Dr Kajee strives to heal her patients through proper nutrition, saying that: ‘The obesity epidemic is a crippling monster, one that is poorly understood (by many), stigmatized and badly managed (if at all). As a specialist physician, I experience first-hand, the disastrous effects of a lifetime of poor lifestyle choices – people under the age of 30 suffering debilitating heart attacks and strokes. As a mum, I see loving, well-intentioned parents unwittingly poisoning their little cherubs with an endless supply of sugary snacks”. She states that it is her mission to help educate people on how to reverse obesity and metabolic syndrome by eating real, delicious food that happens to be low carb. She sees a future where more people make better-informed nutrition decisions and fewer people are on pills – a sentiment shared by all those involved in the work of the Foundation. Her enthusiasm and passion for the LCHF eating science emanate through her and she is always eager to educate her patients about healthy nutrition.
Hear Dr Hassina Kajee discuss the importance of proper nutrition and the dangers of consuming refined carbs and sugars from both a doctor’s and a mother’s perspective. Book your tickets to our event in Cape Town on the 7th of December here: http://qkt.io/5UImjt
If you are a medical professional you may be interested in attending our 2 Day Professional Training in LCHF / Ketogenic Patient Treatment taking place in Cape Town on the 9th & 10th of February 2018 – please email nutritionnetwork@thenoakesfoundation.org if you would like more information.
Follow Hassina’s personal lifestyle blog Carb Free MD on Facebook.
