Kent State Interns

45,000 That’s the average number of products a typical U.S. grocery store or supermarket has lined up on its shelves. This translates into an abundance of choices you must make every time you browse the aisles on your weekly shopping trip. During these tough times, you may consider delaying your shopping trips by stocking up for 2 or 3 weeks at a time in order to make less visits to the grocery store. While this may be the preferred choice for many, it’s important to consider how this might affect your health. Now more than ever, it is important to boost your immune system by providing your body with nutritious foods. With such a vast number of choices in every section of the grocery store, where do you even start? Next time you make a trip to the grocery store, try adding these products to your shopping cart in order to keep nutritious meals and snacks in your freezer and pantry: Produce As tempting as it may be, don’t skip this section! While this section ma...

Meal delivery services seem to be a huge trend these days, and it seems like people keep getting busier and busier. Some days are super jam packed where it feels like you’re moving a mile a minute. The convenience of getting food delivered right to your door without the hassle of grocery shopping or prepping a meal is appealing to many. There are several options to choose from, but I listed five below that are popular, local and accommodate certain diets.  HelloFresh : $69-$129 per week. All the food is packaged in one bag; the recipes are pretty basic and easy to cook. Plated : $9.95-$11.95 per meal. The portions are large so you could use for two meals. Some of the recipes call for ingredients that aren’t included in the delivery. The recipes were a bit complex and not really time efficient. BUT there is a large selection of meals to choose from.  Blue Apron: $59.94-$139.84 per week. The recipes are unique and fun. There are only certain meals to choose fr...

Person: What are you studying in school? Me: Dietetics Person: What’s that? I get asked this question all the time. There always seems to be confusion between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist. So I want to clear the air between the two.  Requirements of a Registered Dietitian: Needs a bachelors degree from an accredited university  Coursework includes anatomy and physiology, biology, microbiology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, medical nutrition therapy, etc.  A masters degree will be required beginning 2024 Dietetic internship entail 1550+ hours of supervised practice Rotations include: community, food service, clinical, business, and electives National exam to receive credentials as an RDN Licensure to work legally in the state of practice  Must follow the professional code of ethics and continuing education the maintain credentials and licensure Requirements of a Nutritionist: There are no requirements or qual...

Is anyone else feeling tired of repetitive, basic protein sources like chicken, beef, and egg whites? Protein is such an important macronutrient for growth, repair, processes, and many other functions in the body, but let’s be honest, the same food over and over again gets so boring. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight a day for an average adult to maintain adequate protein status. If you’re an athlete or active individual, you need more than 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to support your goals and needs. The recommendation for athletes, depending on the sport, is 1.2-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. When it comes to weightlifting, bodybuilding, and simply being more active than the average person, I like to recommend a higher amount of protein and encourage you to evenly distribute your protein intake throughout the day. So below is a list of protein sources and ways to pre...

We've heard the terms: often times we hear terms such as lactose intolerance and we think "oh, that person is allergic to milk", but that's not true. An intolerance and an allergy are two different things. Okay, but how? Let's use milk as an example, since it is often the greatest offender of this misunderstanding. Milk is actually a very common food allergy and food intolerance, which is probably one of the reasons why it is so often cited.   First: allergies. A food allergy is most often involves the immune system and includes a sensitivity to the milk protein. In simple terms, a milk allergy is when your immune system thinks that proteins in the milk are foreign invaders and attack these invaders. Symptoms include hives  anaphylaxis  coughing or shortness of breath itching swelling or the lips, tongue, or throat It is possible, if the food allergy is developed at a younger age, for a person to "outgrow" the allergy.  Second: intolera...

We've heard the word before: antioxidants. Often times uttered in the same sentence as such vitamins as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A. To the uneducated, antioxidants are sometimes utilized as a medicine of sorts-only consumed (oftentimes in inappropriate quantities) after someone has already gotten sick and they consume antioxidants because they believe that they have healing properties. But that's not really how antioxidants work. Antioxidants work to stabilize harmful free-radicals that bring about degradation of cells in the human body. We tend to know of free-radicals, but we often don't really understand how they work and, in turn, how antioxidants work to nullify them. Seen above is a side-by-side comparison of a stable molecule and a free-radical. A free-radical is a molecule that is missing an electron, and attacks nearby molecules to satisfy the need for this empty slot. This is why free-radicals degrade tissue; free-radicals are literally tearing tiss...