YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Over the last twenty years, local kidney specialist Dr. Kathy Padgitt has witnessed the adverse effects food choices have on a person's health.

She's developed a lecture series educating people about the benefits of a whole foods diet.

However, Dr. Padgitt understands that in order to live a healthier lifestyle you must have access to that food, which is why she has launched a campaign to help feed people our Valley.

Dr. Padgitt has supported the Second Harvest Food Bank on her own for years. This year she's decided to give back in an even bigger way by using her lecture series as motivation for her campaign, Meatless Mondays. Her hope is that people donate the money they save from forgoing meat on Mondays.

"The goal really is just raise as much as we can to help to feed the people of our community so we can all share in some kind of abundance. I spend a lot of time talking about the benefits of a whole foods, plant based diet, but before you can even go there you have to have access and food security," Dr. Padgitt said.

Dr. Padgitt launched Meatless Mondays earlier this month and will continue it through December. Through her donations, Dr. Padgitt hopes the food bank is able to pay off some of the hidden costs associated with running such a service, like electricity bills to keep the freezers running and gas to distribute the food.

"There are all of those things that you don't think about that goes on every single day to make the food bank able to serve the people of the Valley and i really wanted to be able to really help that aspect out," Dr. Padgitt said.

If you would like to learn more about Meatless Mondays log on to Dr. Padgitt's website. You can donate through the site. You can also contact Dr. Padgitt at the Center for Lifestyle Change at 1-888-565-6754 or drkathy@tc4lc.com.