Simple Nutrition Insights
Welcome to Simple Nutrition Insights, your practical guide to understanding nutrition in less than 30 minutes. Join us as we break down the science of healthy eating into digestible insights and actionable tips. Whether you're a busy parent or just short on time, our goal is to provide you with straightforward advice to enhance your well-being. Tune in for expert interviews, evidence-based advice, and quick, easy-to-implement strategies for nourishing your body and living your best life.
Simple Nutrition Insights
From Foster Care to Dietetics: Jessica’s Journey and Insights on Nutrition
Ever wondered how a journey through foster care can lead to a passion for nutrition? Join us as we sit down with Jessica, a remarkable dietetic intern whose life story is a testament to resilience and dedication. From aspiring nurse to committed dietitian, Jessica’s path is filled with pivotal experiences and personal health challenges that shaped her career in dietetics. We’ll uncover the valuable lessons she’s learned during her initial internship rotations, particularly in understanding business operations and mastering the art of client communication. Jessica also shares her tactics for keeping up with the ever-evolving world of nutrition through professional resources and continuous learning.
Discover how theoretical knowledge and hands-on practice are balanced in the field of nutrition, especially for those with limited access to healthy food. Jessica provides practical advice on adapting communication styles and utilizing community resources like SNAP and food pantries. We delve into the future of dietetics, exploring the rising significance of technology, telehealth, and remote work. Hear about Jessica’s aspirations and the importance of gaining diverse experiences during internships, all while emphasizing the supportive nature of the dietetics community. If you’re a student, a prospective dietitian, or simply passionate about nutrition, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice to fuel your journey.
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Hey, hey, welcome back to. This is actually my first live episode, so we'll see how it goes. Just as a reintroduction, my name is Leonila Campos. We're doing this live for my podcast, simple Nutrition Insights, and today I have a special guest, jessica. She is a dietetic intern, so we're going to talk about her journey as a dietetic intern as well as being in the nutrition program, and so welcome, jessica.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So let's start with the first question what inspired you to pursue a career in dietetics?
Speaker 2:That is a great question and I'm sure if you ask that, you'll get several different answers as to why someone joins dietetics. So I actually want to say that I joined because I a little bit about my background. I was actually in foster care and I was sick all the time growing up and so when I became an adult and I was able to buy my own groceries and feed myself and make like better choices on what I ate and what I consumed, I noticed like I became healthier and I was in charge of my own food choices. So I just fell in love with nutrition and dietetics and I wanted to pursue that as a career path.
Speaker 1:Awesome. That's really inspiring, right, because of how your journey is growing up and really taking into the nutrition aspect of it right, like I have my now I have my the ability to buy my own food right and make healthier choices like and go into a career right In nutrition. So it's amazing very nice.
Speaker 2:I actually thought I was wanting to be a nurse. And then I'm like always looking at ways on, like how to boost my energy, or what was good for your skin or your hair, or, and then I was. They were like why don't you become a dietitian? I'm like what is that?
Speaker 1:and then here I am right. Yeah, it's interesting, not, um, this is not something that a lot of people know. If maybe someone said why don't you become a nutritionist? Right?
Speaker 1:That would be probably more like I know what that is, but a dietitian right, it's something more unknown. Same thing with me, right? I was in college or in high school and I wanted to do something with nutrition and so, yeah, I didn't even know what a dietitian was either. But I think that's changing slowly. Hopefully Can you share a memorable experience from your internship? I know you just started, but like maybe something memorable that comes to mind?
Speaker 2:For my internship. So so far I am just starting my rotation, so I'm in my first rotation with Leonila and this is my business rotation and so far is definitely like eye opening what it takes to, like you know, run a business and everything that goes into it. I would say time and work life balance is very important. So what I think has been really great so far is just, like you know, learning the part about like networking and you know, adapting your communication style to the client or the patient, and I would say one of the most memorable part for me was just seeing how you changed your style and how you were able to meet, like the patient where they were at. You're very like, I said, you're very soft spoken, I think.
Speaker 2:I told you that before and I'm just like amazed with like how you just know like the right thing to say and you know you're able to like build that credibility with the patient, so I think that was really great awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that. Um, I definitely I'm curious to do this interview at the end of your internship and just see how that you know build on to that and how much you grow. But okay, we'll have that. We'll put that pin um on our calendar. Okay, um, this is a good one. How do you stay current with the latest nutrition research and trends? Because that is something that, as dietitians, right as nutrition professionals, we we have to like really be up to date right with with that.
Speaker 2:So Okay, so I could share a few different things, a couple of different. My resources is one. I, you know you have to frequently check your email, so I do get a lot of like emails again, for from the Academy, which about like nutrition trends, but also to um. I also work at a university, so I work around a lot of students and I work with them as far as like you know, like the dining hall or like the food, and I'm able to see like what students they gravitate towards. Is it like the healthier, cooked grilled port, like food choice, or is it, you know, chicken nugget and fries, because they're like, they like the fried food and it's quick and it's easy.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times like students will come in and you know they're with a laptop and they're pretty busy. You know a lot of students. They go to school full time. So I do observe that I also um on social media platforms. You know usually hot topics you like go on there and you kind of see like, oh, you know that craze that they had about this is Jennifer Aniston's favorite way to make a salad, or this is something she eats every day, and then you'll see a remake of it and I think, did you hear about that? What is the green goddess dressing? Or something like that? But I think a few different resources like what I'm able to see like in person because I'm at a university. There's so many different populations and groups, and then again, like I said, my emails that I receive, and then social media also keeps me update to the current trends of nutrition, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And once you become a dietitian, right, we are legally we have to do 75 units by education, continuous education units, in order to keep our credentials right. So that is something that that we have to do in like in that five-year span, but that, just like doctors, right, or these other health professionals, we have to keep up to date with um, with the latest trends, with the later resource information, to be able to provide evidence-based information. And so it's not that we just learn something and then we stay like that. We have to continue to learn things Absolutely. I love what you said about the trends. Right, social media is a perfect way to really know about new trends, either if we agree with them or if we don't. But it gives us an idea because we can research and then if a client comes to us and you know, ask us, you know, what do you think about XYZ? You know about it, you have research about it and you can provide an evidence-based opinion. So let's see what areas of dietetics are you most passionate about?
Speaker 2:See, I think we've talked about this. I am actually still figuring that out. I want to say functional medicine is kind of what I'm gearing towards, but I don't know specifically what. So I guess that's you know why I'm in an internship to observe and learn and just be in an environment and find out, or at least try to find out like what's for me. And the great thing about being a future dietitian is that the more I learn about it, the more I find out that there's so many different jobs out there and even jobs that you probably never even heard of or haven't existed, and I'm just so excited to see what's the right fit for me and I'll let you know when I find out.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah, I think that is the beauty about our career, right as nutrition professionals nutrition experts, dietitians is that we can pretty much go anywhere, right? Food is everywhere and so we can essentially go anywhere we want to go. Not you know. Some people think you're just in the hospital, right? Or you're just in the kitchen.
Speaker 1:You can find dietitians anywhere you know food marketing or advertisement or television. Your sports right, your professional sports are going to have a dietitian, and so it's just really amazing to see that for sure. And I think we jump into the interview so fast. But just for the listeners that maybe don't know what it takes to become a dietitian right, you have to have a college degree, right, Either if it's in food and nutrition or something related. Extra classes, right, it's a heavily science-based thing, career right, and so we take a lot of classes that doctors take, a lot of science classes physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, all that. Once we have a bachelor's right in science, specifically nutrition or whatever the case may be, and we decide to become dietitians, now we have to do an internship, right, and recently there has been a change that any new dietitian now has to also have a master's degree.
Speaker 1:So it's extensive right, an extensive amount of education that dietitians go through. And so when someone says nutritionist is the same as dietitian, I get this question often. So every dietitian is going to be a nutritionist, right, just that's the default. We are the nutrition, food and nutrition experts, but not every nutritionist is going to be a dietitian. Exactly that education part of it is huge, so someone can just call themselves nutritionist because they got a certificate right or they got a few hours of training and that's it. But dietitians have a lot of education and, as I mentioned, we have to keep up with our educational units to maintain our registration. Anyway, so a little sign up there for you. How do you balance the theoretical knowledge right from school whatever you learn in school with practical experience in the field?
Speaker 2:So I try to connect it to whatever I'm going to learn. So I have my agenda, agenda or task list for the week and, you know, based on what we're going to do and what I'm learning, I'm like, okay, this is where I can get more like hands on experience and I know that would help me learn. So, for example, we're looking at the nutritional counseling part. I can say like, okay, I'm looking at observing what you're doing and how you're speaking and then I'm tying that into, like what I'm learning, um for better practice. So I am trying to make that connection as much as possible, um for me to get better at it. Perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, thank you, that's great. This is. This might be a little tricky one, but you do have a lot of experience with sort of with this topic.
Speaker 2:But how do you approach nutrition education for individuals with limited access to healthy food lightly Again we want to adapt, like our communication styles, to the person that we are communicating with, and I think I would just look for cues, cues that if I, you know, you know someone who's dealing with food insecurity. It might not be something that they speak about, but there are clues if you're listening and you'll get that hint. But you can also make suggestions. So I would say, you know, based on their environment or their age or what they're surrounded with. Then I would always say like, oh, did you know that they do this? This is a great idea to try out. Or based on whatever the patient or the client is saying, I think I would just like add on to what I'm receiving so then I can gauge them in that direction. If that's what we're trying to talk about.
Speaker 2:I know at my undergrad where there was programs like if you qualify for financial aid, like if you qualify for financial aid and that you were able to sign up for SNAP and that was really great, because a lot of students they're working and they're trying to go to school full time and there is food insecurity there. So what's wonderful about that is that when we'd have like wellness days or pop-ups or you know, a lot of school activities. We're able to talk about that and share that with students, and you know it's from what I've seen. In my experience has been really helpful to know that there is other resources and some people haven't even heard of. Or sometimes you get like I didn't even know that was there. If I would have known I would have checked it out, because now I think everybody can relate to this. Groceries are very high right now, so anything that could help reduce you know that amount that you're spending and then also, in addition, get more fruits or veggies or other sources of food, I think it's going to be beneficial to anybody.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, absolutely. I think that is great. And you also today, right, you provided that the food pantry in the school, right, and so that's another resource there, as well as, like resources in the community, right, like you said, sometimes people don't know that they're out there, right? So, like food banks, food pantries, um, that they can go to and still be able to get these nutritious meals, like adding more fruits and vegetables or more of your shelf-stable foods. So, yeah, awesome. What advice would you give to someone considering a dietetic internship or a career in nutrition?
Speaker 2:I think I would be one excited to hear about that, because we definitely need more dietitians. And then two, I think one of the first questions I would probably ask is what's your why? So I think that's really important when going into a major, especially something like dietetics and nutrition, because it's so essential it's needed everywhere, because it's so essential it's needed everywhere. And then making sure that you know, once I find out their why, I would probably adapt what I would say to that person, but letting them know, like you know, always keep that their why. That's close to them, like don't forget it, like remember, use that as their motivation throughout the process.
Speaker 2:Because nutrition and dietetics is just not as easy as, like I took a nutrition class and that was so much fun and yay, like I'm done. No, it's, it's, it's very it's challenging at times and you really got like some parts of your journey in nutrition and dietetics. You really just got to push through those really tough classes and if you want to get to the next level, and then you know when you're in those positions, when you're dealing with like you know those challenges and you you stop and you think, like, do I want to continue this? This is really difficult. It's a lot more harder than I thought. You remember your why and that's what. I would give an advice to somebody who wants to be in nutrition and dietetics, because that's a wonderful thing, it's a wonderful thing to want to come into this field. But, you know, hold on to that and, like, push through to the end. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love, I really love that because it's so true. Right, it's not about just, oh, I love about learning about nutrition, right, yeah, you're going to have those classes, but you're also going to have like the really difficult classes, right, when you're like, when you feel like, is this really what I want to do? But I think that is lovely, you know, holding onto your why, like I came into this field right because of this reason.
Speaker 1:Right, it's tough right now, but it's not always going to be like that. Let's just keep pushing through. I think that is awesome, very nice. Let's see. Um, this is a good one. I think we can discuss this a little further, but what role do you see technology playing in the future of dietetics?
Speaker 2:So I see that being a huge role. I've seen it now even throughout, like my undergrad going into, like right now I'm a grad student but I'm seeing it expand and, you know, at a fast rate, especially since we had the pandemic. A lot of people just you know we had that fast switch where we had to adapt and do everything from our home, so it really did like innovate, like so many changes to where, well, I can do this from the comfort of my home or my office or from anywhere else and still able to, you know, keep up with like my important things, like if I had an appointment or if I needed to see a dietician or my doctor. Telehealth is huge. And apps, you know workouts I don't always need to go to the gym, I can download an app and follow a workout from my phone or anywhere else. They can have access to electronics.
Speaker 2:I think even like grocery shopping, we can do that from our phone. And there's just so many accessible things now with technology that we didn't have before. You hear remote jobs almost everywhere, which is pretty amazing because you know those that have families and a lot of like obligations, for you know, family it's something that's not always easy to be away from. You know your children or your loved ones, and if you can do that at home, you can work and you can go to your doctor's appointments, you can order groceries, you can work out and so many other things that I think that is a positive thing because it gives us more options for like what? What benefits you?
Speaker 1:as individual. Awesome, yeah, that is perfect. And I do have to agree with that accessibility right. Thank you to the technology, because now patients, right, or clients, are able to communicate with dieticians or their healthcare providers with just a click right, like telehealth or virtually, and that opens the door to those patients that maybe even now right, they maybe they can travel or they can go, or they get further or they're really busy, and so you can still get the treatment that you need or get the support that you need using one of these technologies too. So very nice. Where do you see yourself in five years and how do you plan to continue growing in the field of dietetics?
Speaker 2:That's a good question. I will answer that the best that I can. So in five years I'm definitely hoping to be a registered dietitian and I am hoping to have found what is right for me. As I mentioned before, that's what this dietetic internship is for. You know, you kind of get a feel for different areas where you think you might want to pursue. So I'm looking forward to the learning experience and I feel that I gravitate towards so many different areas that it's hard to just pick one. It's like okay, like what's your favorite dessert, like I just want one, like no.
Speaker 2:I want more than one. So I don't know. I'm looking at, like I said, functional medicine, possibly with kids, and then I also like media portions of it and then see, I just don't know yet, we'll see. Five years, yeah, I definitely hope to even be a preceptor, you know. You know, give back. I know that was something that in our undergrad they had asked like would you ever consider being a preceptor? And now that I'm in this position, that I am as a dietetic intern, we need them, we absolutely need them. So it's so important that you are one and you're taking me, so I really appreciate that. But also to like, how else are we going to help grow, or like develop future dietitians? You know where are they going from? Like, we need more preceptors and we definitely need more dietitians. So the only way to, like you know, help with one thing is to do another, and I'm hoping I can be involved in a couple of different things.
Speaker 1:Yes, Sometimes we don't know right away what we want to do, and that's okay, right. Like we said, with Dietetics you can go in so many ways in so many areas. So prior to having my prior practice, I did women, infant and children, long-term care, corporate wellness, I did dialysis, right. So I think it's really it is a good idea to have a good experience or exposure to things in areas in dietetics, because then you really find like this is what I want to do and then if you get tired you can go do something else. Right, which is the beauty of our career that's why it's hard to choose.
Speaker 1:It is hard to choose where do I start?
Speaker 2:but then that is a beautiful thing. I don't like it. I will try something else. Exactly that is probably like one of the most beautiful things, too, about being a dietitian you get to help others to do something that's very important, such as health. You know, we see all these chronic diseases that are expanding and you get to be a part of. You know the process of changing that. But then also career wise, it's like I'm not so stuck in one thing. I can change it up if I want to. So that's pretty amazing. So yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And then just to piggyback on the preceptor aspect of it, right, yeah, giving back to your profession right To future dietitians, I think, honestly, I think that is something that everybody should do right, because, like you said, who, where are you going to learn these things? Right, you do need preceptors, mentors, whatever, to be able to continue to grow and being able to do your internship. So, yeah, any dietitians out there that are not preceptors, consider that, please. I think those are all the questions that I have for today.
Speaker 2:I'm definitely going to do another interview at the end of your internship and see where we're at, but any final thoughts, anything else that you would like to provide, or say I would just say to any listeners out there who's just interested in dietetics or you know, or in dietetics right now and still going to school, I would just say like it gets better.
Speaker 2:It is hard but it gets better and there's it's very rewarding as well and plus you always get food, like pretty much everywhere. So if you're a foodie like me, and I'm sure most dietitians are, it's kind of why we're in this field also. You know just you know partner with your peers and piggyback on them or really supportive when you want to pick their brain about like, how do you feel about this? And you know perspective or advice and I think we all know what it's like. We're all, we were all in that one position at one time and one point. And no matter if you're a beginner or if you're like what you know far ahead and you have like 20, 30, 40 years experience, you know in the fields there's always some perspective that could be provided. So don't be afraid to reach out, build your community and build your network.
Speaker 1:I love that Awesome Mic drop there Perfect. Thank you so much, jessica, for this interview. Thank you everybody for listening. If you have any more questions for me or for Jessica in the podcast app, you can send us a text or you can reach out to us, but that's it for now. Thank you so much. Take care, thank you.