Food Scientist to Nutritionist

Food Scientist to Nutritionist

Dear Anthony,

I have been in the process of quitting my job and enrolling in school full time at Buffalo State to pursue becoming a nutritionist! Yes, you read that correctly!

The company I was working for as a Food Scientist refused to allow me to resign even after I made multiple attempts… so we negotiated and settled on a leave of absence until January and at that point I will revisit resigning.

Leaving the world of the food industry was the best thing I ever did and pursuing nutrition is amazing!! I still don’t like sitting down to learn all of the “little details” but sometimes we have to do a few things we aren’t thrilled about to do to get to where you want to go.

So after all of the analysis I have been doing for years, I decided to “take the plunge” into a new career.

Thanks again for all your help and I’ll keep you posted as time goes on… it is only going to take me two full-time semesters and two part-time semesters to be qualified to become a nutritionist and be licensed as an RD by the ADA (American Dietetic Association)… so by May of 2002 I will have a new career!

Thanks, Anthony!

Keep in touch – I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

Paula

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Dear Anthony,

Just wanted to let you know that everything is going well with my career change decision. I completed a 13 credit semester in nutrition with a 4.0 . . . I guess we chose the right career for me!

Thanks again for your help!

Paula

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Hi Anthony,

I’ve been waiting until I had enough time to tell you all the details of where my new career is going but then I realized I might be waiting forever. 🙂

So, briefly, I decided not to take the job in DC with the Food Marketing Institute… it is too much of an “organized” environment, too many food safety responsibilities, not enough focus on nutrition. I might as well have just continued to be a food scientist and not pursued a degree in nutrition.

Then, in early April, I went to a meeting in Buffalo for Registered Dietitians, met a woman there and within two days I was hired by her! I started part-time, even before I finished school. I graduated on May 11 and started working with her full-time within a week.

Bottom line, I am teaching community nutrition classes to adults that range in age from 20 to 80 – I just love the teaching part of the job, even as stressful as it is at times. I am also responsible for helping to redesign the program which I can do and I’m good at.

I may also get involved in determining what we need to measure to prove the outcomes of our program, and hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do individual and group counseling because they are also discussing this as a possibility.

They are also thinking of an Internet chat group to answer nutrition questions and I am interested in this because it plays into another one of my hobbies—computers.

So, it looks like I’ll get to teach, coach, and counsel… all of the key things we talked about me being really good at… like a duck in a pond… and being a “people, people, people” person.

All that said, I listened to you the night we visited, and I didn’t compromise this time. I listened to the tape of our conversation again and realized the job in DC was not the best fit for me and miraculously something else fell into my life!!! Cosmic, isn’t it??

So, that’s it in a nutshell. I can’t thank you enough for your help in this process!

Take care and thanks again!

Paula