Kent State Interns

Happy Fall! If you’re anything like me, once the weather gets colder and the leaves start turning colors, I immediately yearn for apple picking. Not only is it a great Fall activity, but you also have apples for months! The apples in the grocery stores are picked months before they hit the shelves and are always covered in a waxy coating. The wax coating is used to prevent rotting and lock in the moisture, so it definitely serves a purpose. There’s just nothing compared to a fresh picked apple. Whenever I go apple picking, I always pick way too many. I don’t know if it’s the sheer excitement over the apples, or if I just have a bunch of dessert ideas for them. Either way, my apple picking bags are filled to the brim. A great tip for apple picking is to ensure the apple stem is still on the apple after it is picked. When the stem comes out, it can rot way faster! If you put your apples in the fridge, it will also assure they stay fresh longer than if they’re just resting on the counter....

The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping, and the urge to bake a cozy late-night treat is stronger than ever. When I think of Fall, I immediately conjure up dozens of ideas for a homemade treat: apple crisp, banana bread, pumpkin cookies. Anything with a touch of apple, pumpkin, or anything cinnamon is usually a win for me. With a sweet treat of course comes sugar. During the colder months, many individuals worry about sugar consumption and weight gain due to the amount of busy holidays lined up, since these holidays usually bring large social meals, and of course, a hoard of delicious desserts.  Some individuals try to cut down their sugar consumption by replacing real sugar with lower calorie or non-nutritive sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These low-calorie sweeteners have become some of the most common food additives in regular and functional products. The use of these sweeteners seems to be at an all-time high with around 140 million American...

  Unleash your inner squirrel  The start of October marks the season where our nutty friends start to bury nuts for the winter. Us as humans have a little bit of a different approach to how we can incorporate nuts and seeds into our October meals! Seeds from pumpkin, squash, and sunflower seeds can all be good for adding texture, nutrients, and fun to whatever you make. Some nuts that are also popular during this season include hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios.  It can be as easy as roasted pumpkin seeds or adding them to a baked good or salad. Whatever it is, they are filled with many different essential micronutrients and even phytochemicals to contribute to antioxidant effects. They carry fiber, essential fatty acids, and even small amounts of protein. The nutritional value of pumpkin seeds sometimes goes unseen. You can even roast pumpkin seeds with sweet ingredients like brown sugar and cinnamon, but here is a hardy recipe with a wide variety of nuts and p...

  We need our own  Florence Nightingale !   Florence Nightingale  or “The Mother of Nursing” long story short a wealthy English woman who chose to pursue nursing as a religious and personal calling, walking around with a lamp, caring for wounded soldiers, lamp in hand during the Crimean War.  If you ask any nursing student or nurse well ever “who created nursing” they will tell you good old Florence Nightingale . Note: Florence Nightingale is also cited by some historians as the first pioneer of dietetics due to her revolutionary use of proper food and sanitation to nurse soldiers back to health during the Crimean War in the 1850s, though Rorer established the formal profession and title in the U.S. (But honestly, she has nursing so she can lay off the RDN train because we have someone wayyyy better). But when you ask who the mother of Dietetics is? Crickets! Because she has been forgotten to the historical dark pages, tucked away in a book no one reads. Well. T...

"Nothing Taste As Good" by Luke Dumas describes as:      Retail worker Emmett Truesdale has never fit the Southern California mold of six-pack,            suntanned masculinity. Over three hundred pounds, he carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. After trying every diet under the sun, he remains stuck—in his dead-end job, in love, and in his body. Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous and as Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight. Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing and when the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster...

It’s My Last Semester as a Dietetic Intern! As I approach the end of my internship, it is such a bittersweet moment. I am extremely proud and excited to complete this chapter of my life, but it is also sad to leave. Kent State has given me so much more than two degrees. It has challenged me beyond what I could have imagined, given me confidence, leadership skills, and provided me with countless memories and, hopefully, lifelong friends. This experience has truly been one of the most challenging yet rewarding things I have done so far in my life. Now that I am nearing the end, there are so many things I wish someone had told me at the beginning of my internship… Mistakes Are Going to Happen! You are going to make mistakes. We are human! If you think you are going to be perfect, think again. Mistakes are part of learning and growing. Instead of being afraid of them, learn to embrace them. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn something new and become a better dietitian. Ask Questions!...