24 May 2012 ~ Dairy Council

Karen Bakies from the Dairy Council came in to give us an in-depth look at how the dairy council works and what exactly it consists of. The main focus of the council is to inform people of all scopes (from doctors to consumers) about the scientific evidence behind the dairy group in the diet and its importance. Funding for the Dairy Council comes from the dairy farmers across the nation. Not only did she speak about the background info of the council's work, but also ways to publicly speak to an audience and captivate their attention. It was a great lecture! GO MILK!!!

22 May 2012

Met with my group, very informative time! WONDERFUL

17 May 2012 ~ Good Earth Farms

The Good Earth Farm trip  was led by the farmer himself, Paul. At the farm there are crops and fruits grown which are provided to people for free. There are cows and sheeps at the farm and raised by Paul. Good Earth Farm even provides dinner (made with the crops grown) for free to people of interest. The food grown is typically for donation to food banks however. It truly goes to show that small acts, such as raising your own farm, can go to provide for so many people and decrease food insecurity locally! Cahmenayaaaayhaaaa

15 May 2012 ~ WIC

Melissa Alfano from WIC, Women Infants and Children, organization came in to talk about her job as a dietitian. People serviced and able to receive food tickets and other food assistance must be below the 185% of the poverty line. WIC is completely funded by the government. People typically come in every 3 months or so in order to get check ups and get another 3 months worth of food tickets. The tickets are very specific with the type of food items the WIC applicant can purchase. Further, women who breastfeed their babies receive more benefits from the program. The overall goal of the organization is to improve the health of mothers and children.

10 May 2012 ~ Sustainability

On Thursday we had the chance to explore the compost site and Ecohouse here at Ohio University! Annie Cadmus was nice enough to show us around and explain the ins and outs of both places. She is specifically funded through grants from the compost site, whereas the compost site itself and the Ecohouse are both funded from Ohio University itself. Specifically using an in-vessel way of composting, the site utilizes wastes from  Shiveley and Central Foods which are packages up everyday and sent to the site. There is not enough room for all of the dining halls to participate in composting just yet, but the education aspect is going on in order for people to understand what it is and why it is important. At the Ecohouse, three students are chosen each year from a pool of applicants and ultimately have a chance to work on sustainability projects as well as live in a sustainable manner for one year. Coming from a variety of educational major backgrounds, the students get some of their electricity from solar panels and heat from thermal panels outside their house. Sometimes they even avoid using their dryer and just hang dry their clothes. Would ya just look at that? Just LOOK at it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF8GhC-T_Mo

3 May 2012 ~ Heidi Anderson

A wonderful WellWorks worker, Heidi Anderson, primarily works to coordinate and organize special events for educating people on health and their programs. Funding comes from a couple sources, such as membership fees and donations from the College of Health and Human Sciences. As an RD, with her Masters in Public Health, Heidi  uses her knowledge for the educational portion of special events in combination with her coordination and organization skills. Often, she has to communicate and form relationships with other agencies in order to manage and carry out her job, to "get the ball rolling" on certain events. It is an exciting aspect of dietetics which could be a possibility! Also, it would be a great experience for the communication and making connections with other agencies. Question: If you had the choice of becoming the top scientist in your field or having mad cow disease, which would you choose?

1 May 2012 ~ Meijer Dietitians

Janine Faber, a dietitian working with Meijer stores, informed us on the exciting life of working in the business side of dietetics. Specifically with the Healthy Living branch of Meijer stores(an educational,marketing as well as business program), it is her responsibility to: inform customers of healthy choices/options when shopping at their store, organize events which inform/raise customer interest in Healthy Living, answering questions, providing reading material and recipes for healthier nutrition planning and coordinating with other dietitians in order to brainstorm ways to become more successful. Funded primarily by businesses looking to get more publicity for their healthy products, the program's mission statement is to : "...to increase sales and promote customer loyalty by creating and communicating health solutions and product knowledge to shoppers." All in all, it was interesting to be provided a chance to see what the path of dietetics could lead to: working with more of a media and marketing side of food is an option out there for our major. I could see myself creating educational tools and magazine booklets for patients or customers due to my interest in the creativity involved, however it seems kind of overwhelming to have to deal with the media and pressure of organizing so many events all the time! Suck it Trebek.