Community, Food and Nutrition Therapy

These are the core aspects of my degree… a.k.a. the cornerstones of dietetics. They blend beautifully together to form a well-rounded health professional. I am finding more and more value in each one of these as time goes on. As I approach my final year of studies, it becomes even more important to integrate what each of these facets have taught me, and continue to teach me. Let’s have a look.

We start with community nutrition. This is a module from second year onwards. It focuses on community principles and has taught me about South African legislation surrounding food, breastfeeding, clinical care and much more. The heart of community nutrition is the people that make our country what it is. Where communities flourish, families and individuals do to.

At the foundation of all of these modules is preventative care. This is something that is highlighted in community nutrition specifically. So many of our clinical visits and outreaches have been focused on education. Things that we often think are “common sense” (think high school LO) are often actually fundamental principles that many have been missing out on. The skills I’ve developed in passing on knowledge in understandable terms without any fancy technology are so valuable going forward in a less-developed country. Through language barriers and tired moms waiting in clinic queues for over three hours, community nutrition has made me adept at meeting people exactly where they are.

Let’s move on to my least favourite (if I’m being honest)… the Food Service aspect of my degree. In 1st year you start with “Intro to foods”, then in 2nd year move on to “foods”. You also do precursor modules such as chemistry and microbiology. All were interesting in their own way, but also extremely challenging. You learn all about health and safety, food storage, and most importantly, how to manage the food service department of a health facility.

I forged skills relating to menu-development and creating therapeutic meals, as well as budgeting and ensuring staff training and food safety in a massive industrial kitchen. The biggest highlight of my experiences has to be the actual SERVICE part of this module. Working with people, ensuring good and quality service, and managing a group of people with kindness and appropriate assertiveness has built on my leadership skills in invaluable ways.

Now, onto my most-enjoyed module, Therapeutic Nutrition. This module focuses on therapeutic intervention through nutrition. This doesn’t only involve taking measurements and calculating macro and micronutrient requirements for each person, but highlights an individualised approach through taking into consideration all life factors and emotional confounders that may be affecting a patient. We are taught how to do in-depth counselling and really pay attention to every detail when seeing patients.

It is here that we get to go into hospital and look at files. We need to read fluid charts, know which medications interact with which nutrients, and learn how to manage gastro-intestinal surgeries where patients now have highly specialised needs. Another point of interest for me was learning the specifics of special liquid formulas (enteral/parenteral nutrition) that are given when patients can’t tolerate actual food. This allows us to help patients who are very ill still fuel their bodies to heal and function in severe situations. It has shown me just how important our jobs are, and how the right nutrition can literally make or break patient recovery. The patient interaction, empathy, and real benefit I can provide in this area of my degree truly excites me. It has also been a place where God has really used people to encourage me that this is exactly where I am meant to be. After all, this all started with a born desire to help people in any and all ways that I could.

To end off, every one of these areas has helped me tremendously in building my capacity to help others. They are challenging in their own ways, but they have created a solid foundation for a prospective degree in dietetics. I have learnt to expect the unexpected, and have been completely surprised by both the difficulties and the wonder of what it means to be a health professional. As I head into the last bit of my 3rd year, I am bursting with excitement for what the next years hold as I continue to expand my knowledge, as well as gratitude for all that I have been blessed to experience and learn so far.

I hope this inspires whoever is reading this to have faith and continue to pursue the desires God has placed on their heart. Embrace the journey of completing something that really helps you grow. Then I ask the question, is it ever truly complete? Until next time…