Since You’ve Been Gone

Mondays are such wonderful days to start fresh and get back on track.

Not that I’ve been that off track {besides the whole blogging thing…}.

In fact, I’ve been, for the most part, incredibly busy.

Let’s see…

I last left you in December.

Cue: blurry flash back and twilight zone music

I had finished up my School Food Service Rotation and moved on to Community Health Centers with a kickass RD.

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.

We’ll see how it goes… ha!

Until then!

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

Graduation Part 2 :: Walking and Not Tripping

Let’s see,  yesterday we left off at Convocation with BILL NYE!

Following Convocation on Friday, I dragged my entourage to Lento and forced them to eat amazing food and sip incredible drinks.

(Moms didn’t want her picture taken – the humidity does not agree with her coif.)

Saturday we got an early start back at the apartment.

MOVING DAY!

We packed our little moving truck up in under 2 hours! Impressive, hard work was done by all.

And the reward for such labor?  Beers.

Many beers.

Another round, bartender!

Yo, dawg, don’t look at me like that!  I was about to graduate for goddsakes!

Next up, the big show.

The Rochester Institute of Technology’s Graduation Stage.

RIT {Tiger} colors are orange and brown – ehhhyup.

Professors in their funny gowns.  I can’t tell if it makes me want to get my PhD more just so I can wear something like that…

These are the only decent pictures of me from that night.  My smile was pretty out.of.control in most pictures making them un-shareable for internet purposes.

You can check out my excitement in this lovely little video put together by the infamous Nick Nameless.

So surreal to be done.

At least with the Undergrad part.

Still more to come!

Peace, love, and party!

Better Late Than Never: Graduation Part 1

Well, you will never believe it.

I am a COLLEGE GRADUATE!

Stephanie Wilson
Bachelors of Science, Nutrition Management.
Minor, Exercise Science.
Highest Honors.

Yes, I know I am a little behind schedule as far as updating the blog on all this –  It was quite the busy weekend (and very long week to follow).

Thankfully, as you remember, I finished all my coursework up on Tuesday night of graduation/finals week, which left me Wednesday to finish up all my packing.  Packing s.u.c.k.s.

Wednesday was dedicated to packing, and Thursday Mom and Dad arrived in town!

That night we went to my favvvvorite Rochester restaurant, The Gate House.

Hello, delicious sweet potato french fries.  Gobble + gone.

And White Goat Cheese Pizza. Heaven, I’m in heaven.

(Definitely not Low FODMAP/gluten-free friendly – and yup, I paid for it, but oh, so delicious at the time.)

Friday was dedicated to some cleaning of the apartment with the ‘rents.  (Yes, I owe them big time.)

Goofing around.

Such a wise old owl.

And then Convocation with BILL NYE!

According to University News, there was over 6,000 people in attendance to hear his keynote address.  People (including my entourage) were ushered into overflow seating in the hockey arena.  He encouraged us to, “Dare I say it, Chaaaaangee the Worrrllddd!” particularly when it came to issues of global warming.  The whole speech was pretty awesome, kind of like a live Bill Nye the Science Guy TV show.  I was really hoping for a bucket of water to be splashed in his face for a big finale, but no dice.  I guess I wouldn’t want to spend the next hour or so in wet clothes either…

It was such an amazing feeling to be surrounded by all of the RIT graduates.  Incredible energy.  I know we are going to have mind-blowing-out-of-this-world-astounding-stupdendous careers.  Yes. Indeed.

Well… some RIT grads may have a tougher time than others…  BUT I believe in us all!

President Bill Destler even mentioned during his speech that he applied to 1,000 jobs before a bite!

Source

Bill Squared!

And on that poor joke, I conclude Part 1 of the Graduation Series.

Later, gators.

 

I. Did. It.

Yes, dear friends.

I have done it.

As of last night at 12:35am, I submitted my LAST final exam of my undergraduate coursework!

Yeahhhh. I drop-boxed the shizz out of that final exam.

What! What!

It was surprisingly very easy to write.

The words just seemed to flow effortlessly.

It’s as if the angels were guiding me, whispering in my ear, “You’re almost there! Keep going!”

…

Orrrr maybe it was just the margarita I had with dinner.

Probably should have re-read that over again this morning with a clear head…

But, it doesn’t matter now, because I. AM. DONE!

WOOO!

Time to celebrate!

Party On, Rocker Dudes!

My Last Day

I can’t believe that this day is here.

{The past 10 weeks have zoomed by.}

Today is my last day shadowing Carol Plotkin at On Nutrition.

I have learned so much from Carol.  This experience has been invaluable.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever gone into much detail about my experiences, so [without breaking any HIPAA rules] here is a general overview of my experiences.

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Let’s start with an quickie, simplified breakdown of what Carol does:

Carol is a private practice dietitian specializing in weight management, sports nutrition, cardiovascular nutrition, diabetes, gastrointestinal health, and much MORE. She helps improve the health and wellness of her clients through counseling and coaching, with the goal of empowering and providing the tools to allow for change and progress toward individuals’ goals.  Carol dispenses the most recent nutrition information and research to her clients, along with specialized meal plans and guidelines for nutritional change.  She spends an enormous amount of time and effort on each client to ensure they are set up for success!

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Now that you know Carol does, let’s take a look in to what types of daily activities goes on in a private practice:

March 19
+ Introduction to the Metabolic Cart to read BMRs
+ Prepped to speak to a local high school cream team about eating to support athletics, “power” foods and pickle juice (for cramping).

March 26
+ Follow-up appointments with two clients: one with low FODMAP recommendations, and the other a boxer looking to cut weight
+ Observed counseling and recommendations for a client with excessive water retention following surgery
+ Submitted SOAP notes to insurance companies
+ Explore the Nutrition Entrepreneurs Dietetic Practice Group opportunities and signed up for their ListServ e-mail

April 2
+ Composed article on Barrett’s Esophagus for On Nutrition’s blog while Carol attended the ACSM annual conference

April 9
+ Observed counseling for a Gout client
+ Observed recommendations client undergoing surgical menopause with an estrogen-sensitive tumor
+ Received an introduction to Office Ally, an electronic medical record keeping and billing system

April 16
+ Accompanied Carol to market her business at Doctor’s offices where we distributed her business cards, brochures, sticky-note pads, and cover letters with listings of her services
+ Observed a follow-up/coaching session with a weight loss client

April 23
+ Submitted insurance claims on Office Ally
+ Reviewed and discussed Carol’s recent trip to Washington D.C. for the Public Policy Workshop
+ Prepared a meal plan using the exchange system for a weight loss client using information from the metabolic cart reading and caloric expenditure calculated from METs of activity
+ Observed an initial visit for a weight loss client

April 30
+ Gave a presentation and distributed information to high school parents about healthy eating for athletes
+ Opened a bank account for the business, learned about the differences between being a Sole Proprietor vs. a PLLC
+ Observed recommendations for a weight-loss client

May 7
+ Attended the NYSDA Annual Meeting and Expo

May 14
+ Visited Congressman Reed’s office to discuss and advocate for the Farm Bill and Preventing Pre-Diabetes in Medicare
+ Follow-up appointments with an weight management clients – one looking to becoming more defined and one post-partum woman

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And this is only one day out of the week! Private practice dietitians work hard!

As you can see, the clients and activities are varied.  Things are never the same day-to-day, which I love.  I also love the fact that you absolutely must stay up to date on the most current research.

I know it’s still early in my career, but private practice is totally for me!

A HUGE thank you to Carol Plotkin for donating her time, energy, and resources to allow me this amazing experience! I have learned more than I could have imagined over these past 10 weeks and I truly appreciate it!

And for those future RDs who are interested in private practice, get on the NEDPG ListServ, contact an RD in your community, and gain experience!  Your eyes will be opened and a fire will be lit in your little bellies!

Be Inspired and Do Work!