Happy Thursday! Can you believe it’s March? What the eff? Okay, okay—I’ll shut up about it. March is a special month for dietitians, though, because it’s National Nutrition Month. This year’s theme is “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right.” I LOVE it. Food should taste good—especially healthy food.
One of the things I love most about being a dietitian—Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist, to use the full term—is that there is so much we can do with those credentials. Once upon a time, it was basically clinical, private practice, community work, or food service. Today, we see dietitians working in all corners of the healthcare world, the media, culinary settings, and more.
When I first went back to school (almost ten years ago—yikes!) to become an RD, I was gung-ho about going right into private practice and focusing on nutrition for fertility and pregnancy. Or maybe I would save the world from diabetes? Then I actually got into the classroom, learned my way around a kitchen (OMG—my knife skills exam was terrifying!) and found myself in one of the best hospitals in the world for my internship. All of those great learning opportunities, plus the amazing people I met along the way, cracked my worldview wide open and made me realize that there are so many different ways to get out there and do what you came here to do.
All things in moderation…
When I was first starting out, I was a little insecure about my “weird writer” side. I wrote a lot to support myself through school, but I thought for a long time that I had to keep these two sides of my professional life separate. In more recent years, I’ve found that doing nutrition work in the media—whether it’s writing articles or educational materials, developing recipes or presentations, or collaborating with food companies and healthcare companies behind the scenes—really lights me up in ways I never would have even thought to explore before.
I also love getting to talk with journalists and hear different sides of what nutrition trends people are talking about. The other day, for example, I was quoted in this Glamour article about Jennifer Lawrence’s trainer’s thought-provoking rule: No eating meat at night. As usual, I take the stance of “We’re all special snowflakes. Don’t freak out—just listen to your body.” According to my friends, this has kind of become my schtick, and I am totally okay with that, since it’s how I live my own food-life and because it’s the direction I encourage patients and clients toward.
I took some time this week to tweak my professional profiles and update the “about me” page on my website. Finally. One of the scary things about the internet is that change—and the aches and pains that come with personal and professional growth— feels so much more public, but at the same time, I love being able to share that stuff with you guys. Whether it’s offline or in plain sight, we’re all allowed to explore and grow and stretch our minds and change direction or hunker down and work like hell to pursue what’s important to us—or to step back when we need to catch our breath. Thanks for sticking with me in this ridiculous—and oftentimes, hilarious—saga and sharing your thoughts and experiences along the way.
Always an adventure over here : )
How have you changed and grown in the past few years? Do you get anxious about sharing your story?
This post has been part of another Running with Spoons Thinking Out Loud link party, where randomness is the name of the game. Thanks to Amanda for hosting.
