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.

19 April 2012 ~ Agencies

In class we discussed various agencies offered to the community and all over the country. It was surprising to hear how many organizations that exist which try to help specific groups of people, as well as the general population. It is beyond inspiring that these organizations have maintained their assistance to people, even if it is not for substantial profit.  If the predator wanted to play baseball for the Indians, would you let him play? Or do you think he would kill all the players on his own team? haha :)

26 April 2012 ~ Ohio Board of Dietetics

The Ohio Dietetics Board has many surprising roles, which I had no clue even existed in an organization: issuing license & permits, establishes standards of professional responsibility & practice for Ohio dietitians...and what happens in consequence of malpractice, investigate complaints made against dietitians, continuing education and administering exams which evaluate minimal competency. Their main role is to investigate and take care of dietitians performing substandard or illegally. They hold, very formally, meeting for the Board and allow for public citizens to sit in on any meeting held! It is truly wonderful that we have the ability to see what is going on behind closed doors with nutritional issues within the community and state. Chicka yeaaa

24 April 2012 ~ An Inspirational R.D.

Francie Astrom is a Registered Dietitian, working for WellWorks of Ohio University. WellWorks is located in Grover Center, in a hidden corridor off the main hallway. She is paid primarily by means of the University Wellness  funds as well as from Wellworks membership fees. 
At WellWorks, there are a plethora of options available to members: massages, blood pressure screening, personal training, nutritional counseling, cholesterol readings, etc. As an RD, WellWorks is a place for them to help the members with specifically nutritional counseling and programming. The RD is expected to keep up to date on new information relating to their field as well as providing supplemental care to the members.  Membership is offered to faculty/staff, Athens business employees, community members and graduate students.

12 April 2012 ~ Influence of Farmers' Markets

Corresponding to the relationship between legislation and food activism, it was inspiring to see the video on the blossoming of a Farmer's Market in a needing Southern state community. The people formed together (health care staff, local farmers, legislators, citizens, etc) in order to establish an opportunity to improve the community. A simple implementation of a farmer's market allowed for prospective improvement in health and economy of the community. Simple actions, taken by ordinary people, can propel an even larger group into bettering their quality of life. So many people feel that they are powerless and cannot impact others in the tremendous ways we would hope for, but (with the video clip as a prime example) individuals can pull together fantastic strategies and utilize resources in order to create beneficial change. It definitely makes you think about buying more often from your local farmer's market in order to support your community and fellow neighbors.

10 April 2012 ~ SNAP vs. WIC

While talking about policies and the overall corresponding cycle in which policies are made, Dr.H mentioned an ethical question related to the SNAPS programs (commonly known as 'food stamps') and the WIC program: Should the foods which are obtained via SNAPS be monitored as closely as the WIC program? WIC requires certain food choices be made which are beneficial to the health of the woman and her children. However, with food stamps the applicant has the ability to buy as much junk food (or healthy food in some cases) as they're allowance permits. In my humble opinion, I think that if the government and its citizens are technically paying for someone to eat free food, they should have to create limitations which may ultimately give back to the rest of the community: better nutrition corresponds to better health, which in turn corresponds to overall improvement of life across the nation. It may seem far-stretched, but America has to start doing small things in order to promote a change in the right direction.

5 April 2012 ~ America and Food Security

Learning such statistics as nearly 17.2 million Americans were found to be "food insecure" in 2010, and that Ohio was the 6th in the nation for most food insecure, there is alot of room for improvement. Sitting in class and  thinking to myself : 'I'm only a college student, earning my degree in dietetics. What could I possibly do in order to put some ease to such a horrible situation all over the country (and world)?' Taking small steps, such as learning about gardening and making the effort to put yourself in the shoes of someone who has to go to free meal programs in order to survive, might just be the key to opening our eyes to the reality that lies outside of Ohio University and college life. As a dietitian, we are bound to come across people who are going to laugh in our face when we tell them to buy fresh fruits and veggies in order to improve their health; we have to be able to come up with solutions and answers for these people which fits realistically in with their lifestyles. In my opinion, in order to do that we have to be able to understand and have an empathetic view of what it must feel like. There are 17.2 million in the US alone who cannot comfortably buy the food they want or even need. That could be us one day, and we are likely to be dealing with these people as well.

3 April 2012 ~ Community Garden

The community garden project will be something quite interesting and new to me; I have never gardened or farmed in my life. Furthermore, after learning that my group's plot will be designated for young teenage girls, there is an added purpose to completing the activity. Teenage girls are known to be going through accelerating changes each year they get older (as do boys). My group has decided to choose the specific nutritional needs and common deficiencies in iron and calcium, and also nutrients which may help with their womanly cycles. We have brainstormed and thought of planting crops such as tomatoes, strawberries, mint, garlic, dandelions, and spinach. Further delving into the nature of farming will let us know whether or not they can actually be grown this time of year!

29 March 2012 ~ Food Security

To my astonishment, there is a "secure" and "insecure" aspect to food. Food security revolves around the availability, access and utilization to food. As we spoke about the topic and what it truly means, I realized that there are more people out there living with food insecurity than expected and that I may be one of them. Not going to the depth of dumpster-diving and searching for meals that way, it is difficult to balance the money outgoing towards bills and books and rent and the money spent to feed yourself. I never thought of myself as being insecure about food, but making the dollar stretch far is a common mindset amongst people nowadays. After watching the news clip on food security, it truly makes you open your eyes and count the blessings in your life. People are resorting to standing in food lines with hundreds of others in order to get bread and eggs and milk to last them the next 2 or 3 days. Watering down their milk as they once did in the Great Depression. Is this really happening today? The only way to manage such a problem while being in a financial depression throughout the world, we need to become more clever in our approach to food: utilizing gardening, less expensive substitutions, using "scraps" in order to replenish nutrients in the fertilizer for growing crops, educating people on how to lead more sustainable lives. Food insecurity is a sad situation which many face, but there are certainly solutions to aiding in their suffering.

27 March 2012 ~ Hopes and Thoughts

Walking into class, not having done my field experience yet, I did not have the slightest clue as to what "community nutrition" was. School systems, nursing homes, even recreational centers came to mind when I was pondering on what the class could possibly involve. Aspects of community, encompassing people from a wide range of life stages, would indeed include such operations as mentioned previously. In the broad scope of things they all relate to one another and function as a unit: the youth, middle-age, and elderly all flow together in the cycle of life and make up what a community is. Within each category there are unique needs and circumstances amongst individuals, which form subcategories of the community. Community nutrition takes into account the needs and circumstances of people and produces interventions in order to improve the group as a whole.




It is my hope that I learn not only the individual factors which effect the community altogether, but also strategies and the ability to apply an empathetic approach to a varying group of people. I want to understand the way a community functions and the factors which play a powerful role in daily life: government, education, finance, disease, location, etc. I believe strongly it is the capability to look at the details meanwhile paying attention to overall key points which makes a great dietitian: I hope to enhance this ability as I continue on my educational path.