WIAW & An Internship Update

Heyoooo, guys! Happy Wednesday! Hope y’all have had a great short week – if you got Monday off for MLK Day, that is.

As you know, I’m in the middle of completing my dietetic internship to be eligible to sit for the registration exam this summer. I recently completed my clinical rotation at the beginning of December and have had the last month off to relax, visit with friends and family, and sleep in!! We started back last week with a week of orientation class before beginning our community rotations this week. We had a number of dietitians come in and present on various topics related to community nutrition, many of which were review for me after the time I spent as a WIC Nutritionist this time last year! That’s not to say that I didn’t learn something new, because I certainly took home a whole set of new information that I’m excited to put to use in my rotations.

So, where will I be for this rotation? Typically, interns are placed in various health departments across the region to work with dietitians in the WIC program to gain experience in the community and public health setting. One great perk of my internship program is that I was able to apply for “Prior Assessed Learning” for the time that I spent working as a WIC Nutritionist! What that means is that I receive credit for my work experience, allowing me to be “excused” from up to four weeks of our community rotation. So, while all my other fellow interns had their first days yesterday, I was sitting in Barnes & Noble getting a head start on some of the assignments we are all required to do, browsing through cookbooks like this one full of drool worthy recipes, and working on this little slice of the internet known as my blog!

While I won’t be “going into work” every day over the next couple months, I’m still finding ways to be productive, whether it be working on new recipes for my blog, getting a jump start on studying for the RD exam, or even answering all of the awesome emails I’ve received from many dietetic students that are approaching the application deadline 😀 As nice as it feels to not have anything to do or have anywhere to be, I’ve found that I’m definitely a person that has to have a schedule of some sort to feel like a functioning member of society…

That all being said, there will be days that I DO have to report to someone, and I’m really looking forward to it! I can’t wait to share my experiences with y’all as I go through it, and I’m eager to learn more ways to plug into the community and public health aspect of nutrition again.

One upside to not having to be somewhere? Being able to share more of my meals!! I know I’m notorious for posting waaaaay too many pictures of my oatmeal, but I’m excited to finally share more of my lunches, snacks and dinners that I’m eating on. In doing so, I thought I’d start off with my first ever (or at least, in a very long time) What I Ate Wednesday! Essentially, it’s just a blog post devoted to capturing each meal and snack I ate in a day to show you what my daily intake is like and to inspire you with some new meal ideas. I hope to do more of these over the next couple months to give you a better picture of what my daily diet really looks like as well, because it certainly can change from one day to the next! So, without further adieu, here is What I Ate Wednesday:

Breakfast – 8:30 am

I know I know, soooo original, right? I’m serious guys, I’m STILL not tired of having oatmeal for breakfast!! Not only is it perfect for sub-freezing mornings, but it’s serving as great pre-workout fuel. Not to mention it tastes BOMB. This one is my standard chia seed and egg white oatmeal recipe (found here) mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of brown sugar, and topped off with half a banana sliced up, frozen blueberries that I zapped in the microwave for 40 seconds, a sprinkle of Purely Elizabeth cranberry pecan granola, and a tablespoon of Trader Joe’s creamy almond butter. My favorite way to start the day! It was perfect fuel for a low intensity cardio session on the treadmill to stretch out my legs from leg day yesterday.

Lunch – 12:30 pm

I absolutely LOVE a good, hearty grain bowl like this for lunch!! This one was packed full of flavor and kept me full for a good four hours. Bed of arugula with a spray of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of ground pepper, and topped with roasted sweet potato, avocado, tricolor quinoa, roasted okra, and turmeric roasted chickpeas. 

Snack: 5:00 pm

Yep, doesn’t get more simple that that, does it? Like I said, I got some work done at Barnes and Noble after my lunch, where I grabbed a cup of their hot cinnamon spice tea. If y’all haven’t had it yet, get it!!! I’m obsessed. The flavor is spot on, and has been great at taming my sweet tooth, too. Anyway, I got home around 5 and needed a little snack to tide me over until an early dinner, so I cut up a pink lady apple and sipped on some water. I couldn’t get over how fresh this apple tasted!

Dinner – 6:00 pm
Super excited to share both of these veggie recipes with y’all soon!! A quick dinner before heading to a mid-week church service was baked tempeh cubes, honey ginger roasted carrots, and “cheesy” roasted cauliflower. ALERT: SO. FLIPPING GOOD. 

Night Snack – 8:45 pm

I got home around 8:30 and made a cup of tazo’s baked cinnamon apple tea to warm up, then threw together a little snack of vanilla siggi’s with a sprinkle of Purely Elizabeth granola for some added crunch. 

That’s all I’ve got for today!! Did y’all like this? See any new meal ideas you’ll try?

Check back next week, and hopefully I’ll remember to photograph another complete day to share with y’all. Have a great rest of the week!