I love being a dietitian! It's a profession of hope and meaning and has been such a blessing for me. For me, being a dietitian is much more than just creating meal plans or critiquing food and lifestyle choices. It's more than just showing up to a job on a daily basis. As with many professions, what it means to be a dietitian changes day to day and sometimes, hour to hour. We are counselors, comforters, teachers, cheerleaders, and challengers all in one! Being a dietitian means knowing how to approach someone to discuss end of life nutrition issues, it's knowing how to work well with all the other disciplines in our facilities, it's knowing how to calculate the nutritional needs of a critically ill patient and then implementing the nutrition support that can help save their life. Being a dietitian is about educating a patient on how to prevent or control their chronic disease with lifestyle change, it's about about teaching teenagers how to cook, and about helping someone on a limited budget make the most of their food dollar. It's about creating a lasting impression and helping someone improve their own quality of life! I could go on and on...
In my career, I have had the opportunity to work in many places and meet many different people! I have been truly blessed with lasting relationships and friendships with patients and coworkers alike. What I like most about my profession is being able to learn someone's story. Getting to know the story is the key to helping a person make a quality change, which will impact how they feel on a daily basis. Maybe that means they can do things they love to do and feel good while doing them. Maybe it means someone can spend more quality time with their family.
Making healthy food choices, exercising, managing stress and getting adequate sleep are the keys to improving overall quality of life. RDN's are vitally important in helping people create these kinds of healthy changes in their own lives. When we help people improve their quality of life, the possibilities are endless!! Thank you to all my creative, hard-working colleagues out there who are making a difference one patient/client at a time! Happy National Registered Dietitian Day!!!
Kellie Blake RDN, LD
