Community Nutrition

Pregnancy Project

NFSC 360: Nutrition through the Lifecycle

Skill Area: Nutrition Education

Assignment Title: Pregnancy Project; 24 hr Diet Recall, Revised Meal Plan and Summary

What I learned: During the project I learned how to effectively collect a 24 hour dietary recall and how to use software to better assess the micro and macro nutrients that are consumed. I was able to create a revised meal plan that would better neat the nutrition needs of a pregnant woman according to her individual pregnancy needs.

Reflection of the assignment: This assignment helped me to better understand how challenging and difficult collecting data such as a dietary recall. There was so much information to consider and be placed correctly into software to analyze the nutritional status of patients. This assignment helped me to focus my career goals in realizing that I enjoy working directly with others and providing them with the information they seek. Being able to revise a meal plan and share this information with the client and educate the client helped me to link textbook material to a practical situation.

Relevance to the profession: A basic understanding of Nutrition Education is vital in helping professionals understand how to effectively communicate with the population they work with. The skills I gained through this assignment will be useful not only in community or clinical settings, but in all aspects of life.

Article for the Lay Public

NFSC 365: Nutrition Education and Counseling

Skill Area: Nutrition Education and Counseling

Assignment Title: Bonding and Breastfeeding, a Nurturing Relationship

What I learned: This project taught me how to create an article for the public. I learned how to modify my writing style, my word usage, and my nutrition lingo to better serve the lay public. This assignment provided me with an understanding of how to address certain topics and get my point across when writing for media, magazines, or newspapers.

Reflection of the assignment: This assignment helped me to better understand how challenging it can be to take a nutrition related topic that is complex, and break it down to make it an easy read. This particular topic highlights the many benefits to breastfeeding with a focus on the bonding that occurs. Being able to broach a sensitive topic such as Breastfeeding and present it in a positive light for a magazine was a challenge that pressed me to think out of my box. This assignment was a bit of a challenge, but I feel that using my interviewing skills helped me to gain the proper insight to write a relevant article for the media.

Relevance to the profession: Being able to put a pen to paper and write something that is informative and clear for the public is such an important aspect of any job. Those is the nutrition field are often writing media announcements, magazine articles, newsletters, or for papers. Being able to present important information in a comprehensible way for the lay public could only benefit my skill set in any job or career.