Hi! My name is Stephanie and I'm a dietetic intern at Cal Poly, SLO. I'm an endurance athlete, wino, foodie, musician, and lover of all things aviator. I hope you enjoy my daily ramblings, “healthified” recipes, running rampages and all the other things that seem of importance to me! Thanks for stopping by!
I have been glued to the computer watching live streaming of CNN news, religiously reading tweets and facebook updates, crying over the gruesome pictures and videos of those injured. My heart is breaking. How could someone do this to the running community? People who train hours upon hours, raise awareness, donate and run for cancer, charities, children’s hospitals, in honor of family members… How could they?
Overwhelmed by those rushing into action after the first blast. Our boys in uniform tearing down mangled fences to get to the victims. My thoughts wander to my little brother, who has served our country and is back in Afghanistan on his own free will, just so he can help people. He would be doing the same thing. Rushing into the blast along side the brave volunteers. My god.
Those innocent people who came to cheer on runners, and now who’s lives will never be the same. Limbs lost. Children dead.
Those runners who completed the race, and who should celebrating their incredible accomplishments. Instead, running to the nearest hospital to selflessly donate blood.
So if you follow me on facebook or twitter or instagram you know I have been raving over my NEW Brooks Pure Flow 2′s.
I was in dire need of new running shoes, and after I started having a little medial arch pain, I got myself RIGHT down to Running Warehouse.
The girl who helped me was so friendly. I initially went in there thinking I would just pick up another good ole’ pair of mizunos, but I wanted to try out a few other pairs just to be sure.
So glad I did because as soon as I tried on these babies, I was hooked.
Lightweight, plenty of cushion, great arch support, and a biodegradable sole – hello, I’m saving the landfills!
The Brooks Pure Flow 2′s weigh 7.2 oz, which is slighter lighter than my Mizuno Wave Precisions at 8 oz. #racefaster
I love the asymmetrical lacing and “burrito” style fold over tongue, which really helps it stay in place. Don’t you hate it when your shoes get all wonky to one side?
It’s also got this fancy split toe – which honestly, I can’t feel any difference. Ha!
Pretty sick, huh?
Now I’ve just got to get my lazy butt out for a run.
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On an unrelated note, CONGRATULATIONS to all the future RDs out there who matched this Sunday! You guys are all rockstars!
Let me know if you matched at Cal Poly!
{Congrats Karen!}
And remember, if you didn’t match this time around, don’t give up on your dreams! You’ve got second round, and fall match, PLUS time to make yourself a stronger candidate! YOU CAN DO IT!
This rotation focused on counseling pregnant women {with or without diabetes} to ensure they were getting adequate nutrition, understood pregnancy food risks (mercury, foodborne illnesses, etc.), and helped troubleshoot any of those pesky pregnancy side-effects.
She threw me right in to counseling clients on the first day. It was thrilling {and slightly frightening}! During this rotation, I became quite intimate with the exchange system, pregnancy weight gain guidelines, medications/supplements approved for pregnancy, foods to avoid/incorporate, gestational diabetes recommendations… gosh, I could keep going.
Needless to say, I learned a ton.
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Then it was home for Christmas break…
Home sweet home.
Hometown lovin’. So hard.
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Next up! My 10-week Clinical Rotation! {The main reason I have been absent.}
Once again, I was thrown right in. Starting with 2-3 patients working my way to a full load of 12-15 per day.
I went in to Clinical thinking that this was an area that I probably wouldn’t pursue as a future career, but surprise, surprise- I l.o.v.e.d. it!
Maybe it was the brand spankin’ new hospital, the supportive interdisciplinary team, or the incredibly helpful, patient, and intelligent RDs who I worked with… My experience was steller.
I also have to give a big shout out to my undergrad MNT education at RIT – I came in to Clinical so prepared.
And even though, I’ve finished my 10 weeks, I’ll be back for more – 2 weeks of staff relief in June and I’ll be sporadically working on a menu planning project for my elective.
If you have any specific questions about my different specialty rotations at the hospital feel free to contact me.
Can someone buy me this mousepad?
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Currently, I am rotating at WIC {Women, Infants, and Children}.
Lemme tell you, WIC is way more than just breastfeeding and food vouchers.
A big part of the dietitian’s jobs is meeting the requirements of the various different grants that fund their salaries – this includes food demonstrations, nutrition education classes, dentistry, and other community-based nutrition/health/wellness programs.
I’m learning a lot about government nutrition programs and being exposed to a wide variety of issues. Certainly eye-opening and interesting.
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Whew! I think we are up to speed now.
Looking forward- I have a mere 3 months till DI graduation. Where has the time gone?
I’m going to do my best to bring you more frequent updates – I’m thinking I could handle weekly or biweekly posts.
I should take a typing test right now, because I am a SPEED DEMON!
ZOOMIN’.
Three day weekends allow for things like 7 cups of coffee.
{Which I don’t feel bad about after drinking this article. I am pro- anything that allows me to incorporate more of my vices into my everyday life.}
And three day weekends is what I will be getting up until January! WOOHOO!
No more Monday classes = 1 of the few perks of being an intern.
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Let’s rewind to my weekend baking extravaganza with Rotaract.
First, for those unfamiliar with what Rotaract is {because I had never heard of it until about 2 weeks ago either}:
“Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they’re sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true “partners in service” and key members of the family of Rotary.”
It’s like the young professional version of Rotary. Cool, huh?
And there are clubs are all over the U.S. {even in little ole’ Wenatchee!}
So far, this rotation has been a mix of awesome-incredible-wonderful and loathsome-contemptible-dreadful.
Let’s break it down, shall we?
Day 1 :: Tour of the main kitchen/central office facilities, as well as the elementary school I will working at. I met the staff and volunteered to play a game/give a presentation during lunch time, which was promptly set up for the next day (!).
The rest of my day was filled with hours of reading school food guidelines. I am pretty much an expert now.
Day 2 :: The day began with peeling and chopping an entire case of sweet potatoes to serve to the kids during my presentation.
I made the mistake of my telling my preceptor that I wouldn’t consider myself a chef and that I don’t do a ton of cooking, which I think he took as I don’t know how to cook. He was trying to tell me how to hold and use a knife…
PG-rated commentary.
Pro-Tip :: Don’t try and be modest, and down-play your strengths. Be confident in your skills, or else deal with the exasperating consequences.
Side Note :: Have you ever had raw sweet potatoes, sliced into chip size, drizzled with honey? Me either until Wednesday, but damn it’s good! Try it!
Then I headed over to the elementary school to play my Fruit and Veggies of the Rainbow game!
The kids are freaking adorable. There were 3 lunches, so I got to play 3 different times.
Lemme tell you, there is nothing more fun and smile-inducing than making a cafeteria full of first and second graders scream the names of fruits and vegetables at the tops of their lungs.
And who would have thought it, but the kids GOBBLED up the sweet potatoes! #sweetsuccess
Then I came back to the office and brainstormed ideas to get kids to eat more fruits and veggies.
I liked my Eat a Rainbow Sticker Chart idea, so I went a little further with that…
And then created a survey to figure out which fruits and veggies the kids like most.
All in all, a fairly decent start to the rotation.
Day 3 :: I got in to work at 8 am and immediately started to do food prep once again. My first job was to chop up an entire case of zucchinis that needed to be used before they went bad.
Okay, so not that bad. Long, boring, time consuming. But I finished that. And then went back to my preceptor for more direction. “Oh, while you are at it, why don’t you chop up this case of cucumbers.”
My response:
Are you freaking kidding me.
But being the good little intern that I am, I of course completed my task with a smile on my face.
Ever wonder what 20lbs of chopped cucumber looks like?
Not. Fun. And now I have a freaking blister.
Chopping vegetables for 3 and 1/2 hours is not my idea of beneficial future RD training.
Needless to say, I was more than ready to get out of there and talk with kiddos more about their produce preferences. Such a breath of fresh air.
Day 4 :: Remember when I was complaining about having to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn? Well Friday was my day to be there at 6am to get an idea of how the tray-line worked.
I scooped food on to trays to be sent all over the district, washed their dishes, cleaned up, and just as my preceptor was about to assign me to more chopping, I pulled him aside to chat about my objectives for this rotation.
I explained to him that I am here to get an idea of how he does his job, and that I have payed my dues as a dishwasher {coincidentally, my very first job}, line-worker, and in food prep. I showed him the list of competencies I need to achieve before the rotation end {food costing, menu planning, budgeting, purchasing, attending meetings}.
I let him know that I completely appreciate the importance of understanding your staff’s responsibilities, and when necessary, stepping in to help out, but that I need to know the ins and outs of running the school food service business as future RD.
He was very receptive, and to my delight, we dug in on the business-side of food service. Which I l.o.v.e.
{For some one who always hated math growing up, I sure do like budgeting and food costing. Weird, I know.}
So to all you girls and guys completing internships now or in the future, don’t be afraid to speak up and push for the experience you want out of your DI. Afterall, you are not paying $12,000 to chop vegetables. You have the power to make your internship in to what you want.
I’m sure I will have more irksome tasks in my future, because, let’s face it, I am a lowly intern, BUT I now feel confident that I don’t have to take a backseat in the whole thing.
Life is good. And this rotation will be too – I can feel it!
Now I’m off to bake massive amounts of cookies for a Rotaract fundraiser and drink wine. Could volunteering get any better?!
We had quite the operation going on.
