FNCE 2014

What's up everyone?! So my food service rotation is finally over and let me say, I am happy that it is. Don't get me wrong, I think it's important for every person interested in dietetics to get experience in food service management. In my case, it just reinforced how happy I am to be in a program with a concentration in Medical Nutrition Therapy. Just because I want to have a clinical dietetic profession, doesn't mean you will not LOVE your food service rotation during your internship. I had such a great time, met some wonderful people, and really got a feel for all the hard work that goes into running a food service establishment (FYI: a lot of work goes into it).

Anyway.... who went to FNCE this year?! We did and it was great.

For those of you unfamiliar with FNCE it is the Food and Nutrition Conference Expo where thousands of RD's/student/healthcare professionals gather and learn about all things nutrition-related. This year it was in "Hotlanta" as our internship director would call it but the rest of the world refers to it as Atlanta, Georgia. It was amazing. We each attended speaker sessions on current topics in the dietetics field. Hopefully you all get a chance to attend one year because there are SO many pros and not enough cons to convince you to go. I'll keep this short because you honestly need to find out for yourself, but here are a few reasons to go to FNCE:

• Education: this sounds boring but it's not like a basic college science class. It's about up and coming topics being spoken about by extremely incredible speakers!
• Free Stuff: the expo is full of companies and health food brands (some of which I had never heard of) and they all give you free samples and take-home products of theirs. I had a bag full. Here is just some of what I got...

• Great Location: FNCE is always held in a fun and interesting city. Next year it's in Nashville so obviously I will be there. 
• Networking: If you are going to FNCE bring your resume and even business cards.My roommates and I did not due to lack of time and I wish we did. There are TONS of recruiters and companies looking to meet young and fresh dietitians in the field. FNCE is the perfect place for that.

For more information on FNCE 2015 visit their here. That's all I have to say about that. Keep an eye out for my next post on my first week or two of my clinical rotation! Have a great day everyone! xo

The Best Fall Trail Mix Ever!

Wow, two posts in one week, who am I? I need to calm down. Anyway as you know it is finally Fall. Autumn, if you wish. I love this time of year for so many reasons, most of which are your typical girly responses: pumpkin-flavored everything, big sweaters, pretty leaves changing colors, riding boots...yeah yeah yeah I'm obsessed with all that. BUT I especially love the types of foods that come along with this season. And as a dietetic intern I feel like it is totally appropriate to discuss my favorite fall snack.

Yup. It's the best. I love it because you can mix together anything you want and call it trail mix.

Pretzels, crackers, and peanuts? Salty trail mix.

Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, and Nerds? Candy trail mix. Wait what?

Donuts, cupcakes, and chocolate chip cookies? Diabetes trail mix. Why not? I can tell you a million reasons why not but I'll spare you.

Okay maybe you can't mix together anything but you get my point. Almost anything. At the hospital it is the first full week of October which means that the chefs are getting pretty creative with incorporating their featured food of the month--pumpkin (duh)--into a ton of recipes. Yesterday they came up with this killer trail mix that I just had to share.

Ingredients:
- Cheerios*
- Dried cranberries*
- Raisins*
- Pumpkin Seeds*
- Shredded coconut*
- Chopped walnuts*
- Chopped almonds*
- Drizzle of honey
- Sprinkle of cinnamon
- Chocolate chips*

*Amounts aren't listed because some people like more of one thing than the other, etc. I'd say a safe bet is half a cup of each. Equality for all ingredients!

What you do:
- Mix the Cheerios, dried cranberries and raisins in a big bowl.
- Toasted the pumpkin seeds, coconut, walnuts, and almonds in the oven for a few minutes.
- When they are all warm and toasty mix them into that big bowl with the cheerios, etc.
- While everything is STILL WARM, add the honey and cinnamon. You don't need a lot just a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Mix it all up and wait for it to cool.
- Once everything is cool add the chocolate chips. Be extra sure it is cool or you'll make a big chocolate-y mess.

That's it. Try it. It's amazing. Bye xo

Welcome to your Food Service Management rotation, where you get home and immediately want to go to bed!

If there's anything that starting this blog has taught me it's that I'm a terrible blogger. I know I said I would post weekly but clearly that hasn't happened and I'm sorry that is will be a wordy post. This rotation literally takes every ounce of energy from you that by the time you're done for the day you just want to do absolutely nothing but binge-watch Netflix until you fall asleep. Here are some things you can expect during this rotation as a dietetic intern:

1. People calling out: If you don't have at least one person calling out right before their shift starts then consider it a good day. Don't get me wrong, many of these employees are hard workers but with so many staff members working at once there's always something going on that causes the kitchen to be short-staffed. And if management doesn't have any back-ups to come in guess who's doing that job for the day? You guessed it--interns. It's not so bad, though, because I think it's important to understand all positions in the workplace.
2. Last minute menu changes resulting in chaos: It happens. Something is supposed to be the entree on the menu but *oh snap* someone forgot to add the main ingredient to the purchase order or the sous chef dropped the pan on the floor right before it was about to be served. Whatever the case, things are always changing in a food service setting so being quick on your feet and having good communication between staff is important.
3. Unrealistic complaints by patients: While hospital food does have a reputation for being sub-par (not true BTW), you still get complaints that make no sense at all. For example, we had someone say they didn't like their food when they were labeled NPO (no food by mouth) that day and never even had anything brought to them. That being said, however, you should always take patients comments into consideration, just use your head. If a patient is saying they never got their food but you see on the tray log that it was delivered, you should check on it before sending them another tray. Maybe they were sleeping when it was delivered and the nurses were holding it for them or maybe they have family members in and are trying to get a free meal out of it (both of these have happened with us). 
4. Hair nets: The amount of hair nets I find when doing laundry is insane. You use them every time you go in the kitchen and when you're out of the kitchen we tend to put them in our pockets instead of throwing them out so we don't have to get a new one every time we go to the kitchen again. The problem is that you forget that you have one in your pocket so you get a new one and by the end of the day you have three in your pocket that you don't remember to take out and then you find them all on laundry day.Also I would like to point out that there is no way to look cute in a hair net. I hate hair nets. 
5. Being tired all the time: Seriously all the time. Your days may be 8 hours but if we're being realistic they'll be closer to 10. Seems manageable until you realize you will spend 75% if not more of those hours on your feet that day. Oh you wanted to go for a run when you got home? Have fun trying to put your running shoes on your swollen feet. Work out in the morning if you can. If you're not one of those people who can wake up early enough to sweat it out then take a short (or long) nap at the end of your workday before hitting the gym to avoid falling asleep mid-bicep curl. Moral of the story: get as much sleep as possible because you will need it.
6. Gossip: This is a big one. I'm sure this happens in any workplace but for some reason I notice it a lot more here than anywhere else. It's virtually harmless but everyone talks about everything in the kitchen. As an intern if an employee wants to gossip to you about who-knows-what I advise you to just listen, absorb the information, but do not contribute at all. You are only there for X number of weeks and you have so much work to do that you don't have time for that. Also it's unprofessional and no one wants to be known as that intern but you already know that. Just save anything you have to say for your friends/family/whoever you vent to at the end of the day!
7. Awesome stories: While gossiping is not appropriate, getting to know the employees definitely is! In our kitchen we have people from all over the world. Learning about where they came from and what their home life is like really gives you perspective on other cultures. You'll always find diversity when working in food service.

So these are just some things you can expect to encounter during your food service rotation BESIDES the actual course work you will be doing. Every internship is different so the curriculum will vary, but you can expect a lot of temperature taking, food prep, quality control monitoring, and food safety inspections. I know with our internship we have a lot of assignments to go along with each task that we do. Hence why I have not had time to blog as often as I would like. I think I'll start setting a weekly reminder on my phone. That's what Siri is for, right?

That's all for now. See y'all in a week! xo