Welcome. Who is the No Diet Dietician? and why blog?

Hi, my name is Stephanie Davis. I am a 27 year old nutrition and dietetics student - welcome to my blog. I have named this blog the 'No Diet" Dietician, which I know, sounds very corny but it was the best simple description I could come up with about the philosophy I want to take forward when I graduate as an Accredited Practicing Dietician in a few years. Like many women, I have tried far too many diets in my adult life which as you know, work in the short term but are often far too restrictive to a) stick to long term and b) provide the wide range of nutrients and vitamins our body requires.

So why blog about dietetics, especially given I am not qualified yet? I'm not completely new to blogging although I am still very much a novice. I used to blog when I was preparing for a figure (body sculpting) competition in 2009 (yes, probably the most extreme diet ever!) I found that it helped me stay focused, share my experiences with new friends and learn a lot about myself as I wrote. Therefore, I hope to use this blog in a similar way - as both an online diary of my personal endeavours with study, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and fitness and to share knowledge as it comes my way! I love to learn. When I graduated from high school, I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do (who does at 17?) so I went straight into a law degree, which I enjoyed, but worked out quite quickly that it wasn't "me". I finished it, worked for 5 years before I finally figured out that dietetics was where I wanted to be. I am now in my second year of study, while continue to work full time - I am crazy busy but so so much happier, to be on the path to my 'dream job' which I define as something I would do for free!

While I was studying law, I worked for Jenny Craig as a personal weight loss consultant. While I did not agree with every aspect of the program (mainly the reliance on pre-packaged or frozen meals) what I did love was my role in assisting people to find their own motivation, track their successes from start to finish, and educate them to plan their own healthy meals into the maintenance phase. As soon as I started full time work after graduating, I knew I missed consulting with people about their nutrition. I missed helping them find strategies to overcome everyday challenges, and to see that if they wanted something enough, there is always a way to get it done. Making the decision to go back to uni, despite not having even paid of my student loan from the first time around was difficult when I thought about the money side of things, but a 'no-brainer' otherwise... It felt like not something I wanted to do, but just had to!

So as I mentioned, through this blog I hope to share my experiences as a dietetic student, and the ups and downs of applying what I learn to my own lifestyle - its one thing to have knowledge, but its quite another to apply it! Here's to walking the talk!