Skip to main content

Insightful Intern: Meet Maryellen

We've been so lucky at Kindred Nutrition this year to have two great interns. Read below to see how a student athlete views her experience so far at Kindred Nutrition. We can't wait to follow her season this year!

I’m Maryellen Hauver and I am one of the interns spending time at Kindred Nutrition this summer.
I just completed my sophomore year at Bridgewater College, studying Nutritional Science. As I got into my major at school, I began to consider what job I would like to use my degree for after school. In my classes I mostly heard about working as a Registered Dietitian. Before choosing this as my career of pursuit, I wanted to get some experience that would help me understand exactly what the job entails. Knowing that I would be home for the summer, I did some research about dietitians in the Frederick area. Through the magic of Google, I found Amy! I also discovered this blog and saw that she had taken college student interns in the past. It appeared to be the perfect opportunity, so I contacted her last fall in hopes of gaining this wonderful experience. We did an interview while I was home on Winter Break. Then this spring, I was so thrilled to find out that I would be spending my summer shadowing Amy and Dawn in the office!

Before I share my reflections and impressions of my experience so far, I will share a little about myself. I’m a student athlete at Bridgewater. I run cross country and track. Running keeps me busy year round, but I really enjoy it. I’m a middle distance runner, focusing primarily on the 800. Cross country in the fall helps me build my strength. Then during track in the winter and spring I work more on speed. My life as an athlete in college has taught me a lot about the importance of nutrition in sport performance. I have always been fascinated with food, but understanding the application of food to my daily life, activity, and health has been especially interesting.

There are so many different ways food and nutrition touches our lives. Last summer I worked at a farm where you can pick your own berries in the summer. This summer I am working at a catering company. The farm gave me insight into how our food is grown and also challenged me to think about the different ways food gets to our table. The catering company has given me insight into the many ways our food is prepared and served. It’s also made me consider how food encourages fellowship and how we use it to gather together in times of celebration.

There is just so much to food! I find it so interesting. This internship is giving me a deeper understanding of how we relate to food and how food nourishes us. It has also shown me how a Registered Dietitian can help people by sharing their knowledge about the science of food and the body. It’s been amazing to observe Amy and Dawn as they listen to clients, address problems, give advice, provide encouragement, and develop solutions.


I’ve been so inspired by all that Amy and Dawn do. It has definitely confirmed that this is the career I want to pursue!

In Good Health,

Maryellen Hauver

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Family Nutrition: What’s the deal with Multivitamins?

This is definitely one of my top ten questions from clients and frankly it’s a hard question because there isn’t a generic answer.   The internet and such stores as the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC continue to place a lot of focus on vitamins and minerals and some of my clients swear by their regimen.   I’ve even had some clients tell me they can tell a difference within hours of taking certain supplementations.    Since this is a subject I try to tame my responses too, I was very glad to see the article “Multivitamins, So Many Types, So Many Labels” by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal published June 21, 2001.   Did you know that the multivitamin is the number one dietary supplement producing $4.8 billion back in 2008 and that one third of American’s take multivitamins religiously?   As Melinda points out there are many different varieties of multivitamins yet there is no specific formulation that specifies what a multivitamin should look like.  ...
4 comments
Read more

Food Trends: A note about Stevia (zero calorie sugar substitute)

We’re all on the lookout for that sugar substitute that withholds calories, tastes good, and is natural and safe.   Recently I was asked what my thoughts were on Stevia?   Well to tell you the truth I didn’t have many thoughts on the product because basically I didn’t know much about it, except that in my mind it was a zero calorie product that could be substituted for table sugar.   I put this thought in my attic with the hopes of getting more acquainted at a later time. As I get myself more familiar lets start with the derivation.   Stevia is an herb that comes from South America and has been used by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for over 100 years.   This is advertised on the Stevia website along with a statement that it provides zero calories because the body doesn’t metabolize glycosides from the leaf or processed forms.   Essentially Stevia is absorbed by the gut and broken down into Stevol which is excreted from the body as a waste.   Th...
5 comments
Read more

Food Trends: Plant vs. Animal Protein

In my practice I see a lot of vegetarians who have a lot of questions about the types of protein they eat.   In case you need a refresher, animal proteins are proteins derived from meat, dairy, and eggs.   Plant protein is derived from nuts, seeds, beans, legumes and soy.   Most animal proteins are higher in saturated fat as well as cholesterol which have been proved to increase risks of arteriosclerosis, a precursor to cardiovascular disease.   A lot of the general public, not just vegetarians, are starting to focus on decreasing intakes of animal proteins and focusing on plant sources to decrease total calorie, fat, and cholesterol intake.   It’s important to know that most generally healthy individuals only need .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.   Basically this means that a 150 pound man or woman requires about 54 grams of protein in an entire day. Protein is made from amino acids.   Although there are many amino acids, ther...
Post a Comment
Read more