Skip to main content

Inightful Intern: Back to School


“Back to school”: three words most kids dread to see come mid-August.  You see the phrase plastered all over general stores and hear it in about every other commercial when you’re watching TV (typically followed by the word “sale”).  How is it possible for two and a half months to fly by so quickly?  I ask myself this same question every year.  It feels like I just began at Kindred Nutrition yesterday and here I am now packing all my things and preparing to head back to Blacksburg to take on another school year at Virginia Tech.  Although I am by no means dreading my return to school, I still feel like I didn’t have enough time at Kindred Nutrition as there’s so much more that can be learned from Amy, Dawn, and their clients.

I want to use this blog final blog post before returning to school as an opportunity to make a short reflection on my time at Kindred Nutrition, but first I would like to thank both Amy and Dawn for allowing me to be one of their interns for the summer.  I have had a wonderful time following the both of you and your clients throughout the summer and have learned so much that I think will greatly benefit me in all my future endeavors regarding dietetics and nutrition.  After my very first week of interning here at Kindred Nutrition I told one of my best friends I wanted to be just like the two of you one day and that sentiment continued to be reinforced as my time continued on and I learned more and more from you two, so thank you for this awesome chance to see how you two change people’s lives with the power of nutrition.

When I first began at Kindred Nutrition, I had just finished my first year at Virginia Tech as a Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise (HNFE) major.  I was pretty sure I wanted to become a dietician based upon my enjoyment for my nutrition courses and based on what I knew about dieticians (which really wasn’t a whole lot).  However, since interning at Kindred Nutrition I have gained a whole new appreciation for dieticians and it has solidified my wanting to eventually become a dietician.  It has been so cool to see Amy and Dawn’s client’s progress as the weeks have continued on and it is really neat to see how much Amy and Dawn’s recommendations impact these people’s lives.  It’s remarkable to be able to revel in the joy when someone’s body or body functioning has improved how they have wanted because of the counseling provided by Amy or Dawn.  Being able to see someone initially come in feeling very insecure about themselves and then eventually seeing them leave with a new found confidence about themselves and just a new overall happiness is a very fulfilling feeling.  It is this feeling that makes me want to be a dietician.  If there is one thing I can take away from my summer with Amy and Dawn, it is that nutrition is the pinnacle of good health and the understanding of nutrition can serve to better a vast multitude of chronic conditions and other illnesses many people suffer from.  Not only is nutrition so important to physical health, but also emotional health.  When people start feeling better and looking better, it truly changes their lives as they become almost a new person. I am thankful for all that I have learned from Amy and Dawn this summer and I am excited to put that new knowledge to work as I continue my education at Virginia Tech this year.

In Good Health,
Katie Wanger

 

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