Guest Post from NFLP Intern Brianna: How I Got Into Nutrition
Hello, Friend! Happy Tuesday!
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Hi Friends! Happy Tuesday!
This week’s blog comes to you from Brianna! As some of you may know by now, I have been interning for Sara for a couple months right now, helping her out with some behind the scenes work.
This week, I wanted to share more about myself and how my interest in nutrition came to be.
So right now, I am a senior at Emmanuel College with a major in biology with a concentration in physiology, and a minor in psychology. Going into college, I was stressed about picking the right major, and having to make all these important choices that would influence the path for my future. I had no idea what I wanted to be. All I knew was that I was most into biology rather than business, math, education, etc. While growing up, I watched a lot of doctor and hospital shows (maybe surprisingly, Grey’s Anatomy was NOT one of the shows I watched). Because of this interest I thought I wanted to be a nurse. And I was set on that mindset up until one year after starting college. However, that didn’t seem all that realistic anymore… after I realized that I’m not going to be able to stick people with needles for a living. But, I knew that I still wanted to help people, and that’s when the idea of being a nutritionist came alive.
I found myself constantly thinking about different career paths that I could take. And finally, I found something that I could relate to and that I was most drawn to…something that actually made me excited to talk about.
Since I was born, I have had so many allergies. As a baby, I was allergic to all kinds of fruits and vegetables… I was very sensitive. As I grew up, I lost most of those allergies but I still have an extensive list of things I cannot eat. This includes dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and seafood. If you're reading this and are like everyone else, your initial reaction might be, “Wow, I feel so bad for you! What do you even eat?”
And that’s a valid question. Vegan diets, or just any types of diets geared to support people with allergies in general, have only recently started to become normalized. When I was growing up, it was very hard for me to find one thing on the menu that didn’t have to be specially ordered for me. When it came to attending birthday parties, I either did not go, or I had to bring my own desserts to eat while everyone else had the provided cake. I also always had to carry around an epipen and Benadryl, just in case.
Fast forward to college, it has been a huge struggle trying to stay nutritionally balanced, especially now that I was on my own. As a freshman, sophomore, and junior, I had to eat in the dining hall. My school is very small so there are not many options, meaning that I don’t always have something to eat. Most days, I would stick to the pasta section, but I knew that that was not a sustainable lifestyle. Then I moved to chicken and rice, with maybe some vegetables from the salad section. Although that is a more healthy meal, I still got bored of it. Eventually, I just started eating chicken and fries everyday. Luckily, now I am a senior living in an apartment-style building and have my own kitchen. I am able to make myself more nutritionally-sound meals, meal prep, and have a balanced diet… but don’t get me wrong, I’m still a college student who is just now learning to cook so it’s still a learning curve…
But anyway, getting back to how I want to be a nutritionist. With all of these experiences, I have had to be cautious of the foods I eat and I’m always having to look through nutrition labels. When I was younger, it was mostly just looking at the ingredients section, but now I am slowly trying to familiarize myself with all the calories, carbs, sugar, and all that good stuff. I have since taken a human nutrition course during my junior year which really solidified my interest. I learned about the way food affects your body and your mental health. I found that I could really apply this to not only myself, but also to my family members who have health issues, and try to share some of my knowledge. With this background and chronic struggle with food, I was naturally drawn to this field.
My hopes for after I graduate is to continue to gain experience and knowledge in this field, and get a job with someone like Sara who has their own private practice and is able to help people in a smaller and more intimate way. Especially with my minor in psych, I think I would be most interested in some sort of nutritional counseling based on either allergies or food’s relationship with mental health (but I’d definitely enjoy any type of experience I could get). I also soon hope to go back to school to get a Masters in Applied Nutrition, and then start working my way up the ranks.
Well, that’s it from me for today! Thanks for allowing me to share! If anyone has any advice they want to share, experiences, or any questions for me, don’t be afraid to reach out or share in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
Brianna