Despite having so many good ideas for articles, recipes, and other content, here I am writing nearly two years later. But, why?
Let me start with a bit of an update of what has been going on in my life over the last couple of years. I graduated Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science degree, in Nutritional Sciences, Dietetics option, in May 2022. During the summer of 2022, I worked as a nutrition educator at the Mae J. Strong Child Development Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While there, I worked with children ages two and a half through five years old, teaching them about fruits and vegetables. It was an amazing experience!
Each week we brought in five to six fruits and vegetables that were split into two groups: food demo and grocery shop. The demo foods were prepared for the children so they could touch, smell, taste, and learn about different fruits and vegetables. The grocery shop foods were set out in containers, each child was giving a paper shopping bag, and then they walked around collecting that week's foods to bring home and share with their families. We did different fruit and vegetable activities throughout the summer also. We made paper fruit masks, fruit cards with finger-paints, and personal bowls of salsa. We had story time, snack time, and interactive play time with different fruit and vegetable toys.
I had not worked with this age group before and was not sure what to expect, but we had a wonderful time. Introducing new fruits and vegetables to small children was a lot of fun and very rewarding!
In August of 2022, I began the combined Master of Science and Dietetic Internship (MSDI) Program at Saint Elizabeth University in Morristown, New Jersey. The first year is majority coursework, while the second year is largely dietetic internship rotations. During the first year I took many interesting courses and started volunteering at the Keyport Senior Center as a way to learn more about my local older adult community.
It was an assignment for my Health Promotion and Aging course that led me to the senior center, and I am still volunteering there, at the time of writing this. Just this week, I presented two Healthy Eating Talks at the center, "Nutrition & Inflammation" and "Nutrition & Sleep" Previously, I held fourteen nutrition presentations and one cooking demonstration and tasting at the center. Many of the presentations covered chronic diseases and age-appropriate nutrition for older adults. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with my local seniors and gain experience with another age group. I am currently working with the manager of the center to put together another cooking demo and nutrition talk for this summer.
In August 2023, I began my dietetic internship rotations at Community Medical Center (CMC) in Toms River, New Jersey. The two main projects I worked on while there were my theme meal and an in-service for staff. I was asked to create a bulletin board to match the theme the hospital asked me to work with, which was Hispanic Heritage Month. It was so much fun, I felt like a school teacher!
My theme meal became much more than just a regular day at the cafeteria when I teamed up with the Director of Diversity & Inclusion and SALUD (Service and Advocacy for Latinos United for Development) to turn my Hispanic heritage meal into the opening ceremony for the hospital's Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.
I worked with the manager of the employee cafe to create a Hispanic inspired menu that had the employees raving! I was told this was their most well-attended and profitable theme meal event ever. Some of the menu items included were Not Just For Tuesdays - Tacos, Patatas Bravas, and churros with a chocolate caramel dipping sauce. Check out the full menu below.
The in-service project I worked on was another great experience. The hospital had not long before switched over to using IDDSI for their texture-modified foods. They were working on making sure level 5, minced & moist, and level 6, soft & bite-sized, were consistently being served according to the IDDSI framework. I worked with the production team and created multiple forms of media to help everyone understand the guidelines and what they looked like for Community Medical Center.
Through preparing each of the hospital's cycle menu meals, based on IDDSI level 5 and level 6, and photographing them, I created two binders, one for each level. I also created two poster boards, one for each level, with QR codes to the IDDSI framework and how-to videos; a PowerPoint presentation; and a database of cycle menu meal photos. On my final day at CMC, I presented the in-service three times, to kitchen staff, diet office staff, and registered dietitians.
I continued my dietetic internship with rotations in retail dietetics (Weis Markets, virtually and at the Hillsborough Township, NJ store), community nutrition (Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Monmouth County, NJ), in-patient clinical (Overlook Medical Center, Summit, NJ), nutrition education and counseling (on the SEU campus, with Aramark at Drew University, Madison, NJ, and virtually with Atlantic Health System), and long-term/extended care (The Oaks at Saint Clare's Hospital, Denville, NJ). In between these rotations, I have continued coursework, including a virtual course on the public health issues children face globally.
One very exciting outcome came from my rotation with Rutgers Cooperative Extension. I was able to work with my preceptor to publish an article I had written on fermentation and fermented foods. The article was recently published in the Rutgers "Visions" newsletter, which is peer-reviewed and published for public consumption. Check out my article on pages five and eight of the newsletter by clicking on the PDF below.
More recently, I have taken on a leadership role with the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (VN DPG) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. As the Student Member Coordinator for the VN DPG, I am spearheading several student-only opportunities. The first is the new VN Topics for Students Webinar Series where I host an experienced registered dietitian who speaks to students on how vegetarian nutrition can be implemented in future careers. Each month we have a new topic and speaker. In February we learned about Wellness Career Opportunities and in March the topic was Bringing Plant-Forward Thinking into Private Practice. This month, April 2024, our guest will tell us all about how vegetarian nutrition can be seen in a sports nutrition career. I find these webinars not only very interesting, but great learning experiences on how to host a virtual event, utilize Zoom webinar functions, and handle the odd things that pop up with these. Aside from these webinars, I have organized the Get To Know VN - Student Information Session, where I will moderate for a panel I have organized, so that we can show student VN members and non-members what the VN DPG is all about and the opportunities we have to offer students. I am also currently working on putting together a journal club and a mocktail mixer virtual social event for VN student members.
The last two years have been very busy and stressful at times. Besides coursework and rotations, in 2023 I travelled from New Jersey to Massachusetts for my sister's baby shower in May; then to upstate New York for my other sister's bachelorette weekend in June; to Boston for the Rufus du Sol concert in August; back to Massachusetts later in August for my sister's bridal shower, then for her wedding in October; and finally, once more back to Massachusetts to celebrate Christmas.
Despite being busy, my fiance Anderson and I, try to get outside for a walk or a hike as often as we can! In 2023 we started to explore local parks and hiking trails, and found that getting out into nature can be very rejuvenating. Sometimes we just walk into town though, and grab coffee or a couple of ice creams!
Now that it is April 2024, I have almost completed the MSDI program, and I am so excited to graduate with my masters two days before my 42nd birthday! Between now and then, I will complete rotations working with outpatients, specifically with patients that have diabetes at CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold, NJ, and pediatric patients at Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, NJ. I will also be working on a Capstone project, for which I have started to work on my business plan. This project is something I have been looking forward to since I very much want to build my own business after school and passing my RDN credentialing exam! My final rotation is an elective that I was able to select for myself. I am ecstatic to be spending my last two weeks of rotations with HealthBarn USA in Ridgewood, NJ, working with children of all ages, providing nutrition education and getting our hands dirty in the garden and the kitchen.
I often feel bad that I am not posting enough on the Befittwell website or the Befittwell Instagram page, especially since these are tools I can utilize to help me grow my business. Reflecting back on the last couple of years, while writing this post, has reminded me that I have been one busy bee! I look forward to bringing you more content in the future, but please be patient with me.
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