National Nutrition Month ®

You may be a nutrition nerd if your clothes coordinate with your nutrition education lesson! 😀

Yesterday, I spread the word about National Nutrition Month to members of a weight loss class at the outpatient health clinic I contribute time to as a volunteer. I’ve volunteered at this clinic for over two years, working closely with an RD.  She has allowed me to take ownership of several nutrition related projects, but this time she let me loose on her patients! Really, I was fine. I had a fabulous time.  At the end of the lesson I realized I barely used my notes.  The patients were so appreciative, fun, and motivated to make healthier choices.  I love sharing what I know, but it was especially thrilling to share it with such a enthusiastic audience.

National Nutrition Month is celebrated in March and this year’s theme is “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right!” This year the enjoyment of healthy foods is emphasized. The theme promotes combining taste and nutrition into healthy meals. I used this theme as inspiration, building my nutrition education lesson around it. My lesson was titled “Bring on the Flavor: Healthy Taste…healthy waist.” The objective of this lesson was to instruct participants on how to flavor foods in a healthy way. I specifically taught the class members how to use salt-free herb and spice combinations to enhance the flavor of food so that they can decrease or eliminate the use of salt, sugar, or fat when flavoring foods. I also taught the class members how to make “Fruity Ice Cubes,” which are a healthy way to enhance water and decrease the intake of added sugars from beverages. For this portion of the class I did a live demonstration with a taste test and these were an instant hit!!! The ladies in the class just Oooo’d and Ahhhhh’d over these! I’m so excited I was able to give them a new approach to lively up their H2O!

These fruit ice cubes are all over the internet. So, I must give credit where credit is due. I was inspired by this recipe from MOMables.

 

See easy as 1…2…3! I used an unsweetened frozen fruit medley of peaches, mango, strawberries, and raspberries.

It’s the final week of National Nutrition Month! How will you Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right?  

 

 

 

 

Switchin’ things up

 

I had to jump on here to talk about my dilemma…

Today is an important day among many in the application process for a dietetic internship (DI). While the BIG day (Match day) is April 6th. Today, March 21st marks the day that dietetic students can reorder their prioritized list of programs they applied to. And I have no idea how I will rank the programs on my list? However, the deadline to complete this task is March 31st, so I have some time to think.

I am thankful that this option exists for numerous reasons. Probably the biggest reason why I will reorder my list, is not receiving an interview with a program. Especially since I know it is a requirement for acceptance to some of the programs I applied to. Ouch, that hurts, right?! But, I had what I would consider great interviews with several other outstanding programs. So in the end, it all works out! Other reasons for reordering the DI list could include feeling like you completely bombed the interview. Even though you may spend many hours preparing for an internship interview, still sometimes there are mishaps. Also, you may change your mind. Say what? I know, sounds crazy…right? Especially after I described this as a competitive process in my first post. However, I don’t mean that you drop out of the process entirely. Although life happens. Instead you may have different career interests and now want to specialize in a different area of dietetics. Therefore, you may select an internship with a MNT concentration over one with a Food Systems Management concentration. Last, you may want an advanced degree, which means graduate school. So that coordinated program may move straight to the top of your list. An advanced degree will be the requirement for all entry level RDs by 2024. So why not be proactive? Ah, decisions…decisions.

These are only a few that I’ve gathered from my own experience and from a few of my dietetic friends that are currently enduring the ups and downs of this Spring 2014 match process. Most important is to go with your gut feeling! Hang in there everybody, its almost over!

Source 

What are some reasons for reordering your DI list? 

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Casting Call

WANTED: A dietetic intern with the minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an ACEND-accredited program, minimum of a 3.5 GPA, completion of the GRE, work experience preferred/required, volunteer experience preferred/required, ability to demonstrate leadership, effective oral/written communication skills…etc.

Sounds fair enough for a job description…eh?  Well, similar to American Idol, The Voice, X-Factor, or America’s Next Top Model the competition is FIERCE! Chile…all I keep hearing is Debbie Allen playing in my head, “You want fame …Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying. With sweat.” I’m sweating all right, but it ain’t from dancing! I’m currently sweating it out for a dietetic internship! 

On February 15, 2014, I hit submit on DICAS (Dietetic Internship Centralized Application System) and suddenly became a ball of nerves. Since then I have endured two dietetic internship interviews, one on the phone and one through Skype. In an effort to calm my nerves, I’ve partaken in too many glasses of wine and huffed and puffed through several workouts as I wait for April 6^th, match day.  T-minus 19 days to go! Stay tuned…

For those of you who don’t know who Debbie Allen is or believe that Glee is the first show of its kind, check this out:

She was something else, right?

Did anyone else apply for the Spring 2014 match?