Dietetics: It's like water

I had a moment last year. You know the kind: When you hit a bend in the river of life and you're not sure you're headed the right direction anymore. I fretted over the field of dietetics, feeling I relegated myself to the edges by working at Extension in communications.

"Food is hopelessly broad and complex," I complained to my fellow #rdpoet Garnet one night. "I just don't know why I'm a dietitian right now."

Luckily, Garnet knew.

"Yes, it's a harder-to-conceptualize position than say, an architect, or a lawyer, or a construction worker," he said. "But a dietitian's greatest asset is in REALIZING that the scope of humans and food is broader than you can really understand. It leads one to seek out research and knowledge that is more broad and holistic—to make connections that might not be obvious and might not be taught in a narrow setting."

I lapped it up.

"It's like water," he continued. "Society can use water in a variety of different ways. You can grow your crops, you can generate power, you can swim in it. So you can decide what you want to do with food, whether it be economics, or preventative health, or nourishing children."

Or tweeting about SNAP-Ed in Minnesota.

Anyway, happy registered dietitian nutritionist day to all you RDNs out there, working at the edges of this broad and beautiful field. Especially my beloved HEN DPG colleagues.

Me and GB on the New River Gorge Bridge in WV. #rdsatwork

Get out there and swim upstream.