NEDA Reflection

Hello all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I know I didn’t exactly time this post right with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week being last week and all, but I still wanted to take a moment and talk about everything that it stands for because I think it’s incredibly important.

Eating disorder awareness is something that I’ve found tends to blend into the background when it comes to most of nutrition. Granted, registered dietitians are not the sole healthcare point of contact when it comes to eating disorder recovery, but I still feel like we should be just as integral in promoting its awareness.

So you want to be a nutrition student?

Today I’m about to get up close and personal with you. I’m going to tell you future nutrition students some things you might not want to hear. Some of the things I say may make you question yourself. But let me make myself 100% clear: despite everything I say today, I couldn’t be happier with my choice to become an RD. So yes, even when I lay out all my frustrations with this field, know that I am content with my choice because it feels 110% right.

Regardless, if you’re thinking about majoring in nutrition in college, considering becoming an RD, or if you’re already in nutrition and debating switching majors, this list might be something for you to take a peek at.

Ten Things You Should Know Before Becoming a Nutrition Student:

1. Everybody else thinks you’re “just studying food so how hard can that be?”
2. If you think you’ll “just be studying food” you might want to reconsider.
3. Justifying that nutrition is science is a daily occurrence.
4. It’s expensive. And I don’t mean just tuition expensive, I mean be prepared to dole out a lot of money between memberships to professional organizations, your internship, and random things your professors want you to have.
5. Oh yeah, that internship. 1200+ hours working for free and slowly dying for 10 months? Sounds fun.
6. Ooh did I mention how competitive this field is? The internship only matches about 50% of its applicants. Good luck! (<– Not sarcasm, I know a lot of you have submitted DICAS recently and I know you’re waiting on pins and needles, so really, good luck!)
7. If you’re becoming an RD (which you should if you want to do anything nutrition-related) get ready to sit for a tough credentialing exam after your internship.
8. All your friends will suddenly stop wanting to eat around you (possibly). Or, they will constantly be looking at your plate and dissecting what you’re eating. You’re a nutrition student and you’re having a cookie? *gasp*
9. This field is so vast it’s so hard to pick what direction you want to go in (which isn’t totally bad).
10. You will doubt yourself and your desire to follow this path. Stay strong because it will be worth it in the end, I promise.

I’m making nutrition sound like a pile of poo, but I promise it’s not. And maybe these don’t apply to every nutrition student out there, and maybe they won’t apply to you, but throughout my time these are some of the things I’ve encountered. Nutrition is a fascinating subject and it opens the doors to being able to help so many people. I don’t regret my choice for a second, but I do wish that I came into it more prepared than I was. Hopefully armed with this short list of sarcastic quips you feel a little bit more prepared for the journey you’re about to embark upon.

Have a wonderful week ya’ll.

❤

Don’t get rid of that chocolate!

So, it’s the day after Valentine’s Day. Your loving valentine has just gotten you a box of chocolate. Sure, you indulge a little bit on V-Day – but what do you do the day after? You don’t want to scrap the box (it might make your valentine feel bad), but you can’t keep it around (you’re still kicking butt on your New Year’s Resolutions after all) – you’ve reached a predicament.

You Can Still Get Your Five-a-Day in this Winter

Hello all! So, we are definitely into the thick of winter. Living in Upstate NY, I can definitely attest to brutal winters – and it’s definitely a season I’m not a fan of. For all you winter fans out there, you enjoy the season that seems to last forever. I’ll stick with loving fall 😛

What to do with the food in your fridge if the power goes out?

Hello all! This post comes after a pretty serious storm worked its way up the East Coast of the US last weekend. Cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and NYC got slammed with snow, ice, etc. a couple weeks ago and left many without power. Because I’m sure this is not the last winter storm (or just severe inclement weather in general) I thought it would be pertinent to discuss what you should do with the food in your fridge/freezer when the power goes out.