By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
To raise awareness of their diverse nutritional services, the Peer Nutrition Advisors have launched an Instagram page.
Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences offers free Peer Nutrition Advisement for students, faculty and staff. There are six advisors total, led by their professor, Stanley Wilfong, senior lecturer in nutrition sciences and program coordinator for nutrition sciences.
Ashland, Ala., senior PNA Amiyah Smith said the advisors initially provide three sessions for whatever clients need nutrition-wise.
“We meet when you — obviously when we’re free — but when you want to meet, we answer your questions,” Smith said. “We do what you want to do.”
Bullard senior PNA Elise Ellis said St. Louis senior Reilly Brophy started the Instagram page because she hoped to reach more students.
“She really was passionate,” Ellis said. “She’s a new PNA this semester and was looking through our client list and the responses that she was getting from her clients and how life-changing PNA can be, and she wanted to broaden our horizons so that we can reach more people.”
Ellis said they have several post ideas, including dining hall tours, “MythBusters”-style content on nutrition misinformation, nutrition advice for the holiday season and a “day in the life” video for each advisor to introduce themselves.
“We all live very busy, ambitious lives, but very different,” Ellis said. “We all have our interests and the different things that we do and that we prioritize, but nutrition definitely brings us all together.”
Ellis said each advisor has their specific niches, from cooking to fitness goals.
“We have a variety of people with different skill sets,” Ellis said. “Whether you are trying to learn how to cook for the first time or lose weight or gain weight or train or put on muscle or anything in between, we have someone that is ready to learn with you and educate you and just take your hand on that journey and walk alongside you to achieve your nutrition and fitness goals.”
For example, Durban, South Africa, junior PNA Bella Agostinho said she is always making new recipes.
“I did pumpkin monkey bread because I wanted monkey bread, but I wanted it to be softer, like a muffin texture,” Agostinho said. “And so I created a recipe; I love doing that in the kitchen. And then I like to put down all the macros and break it down and see how I can adjust it to be more balanced.”
Beaumont senior PNA Izzy Darwin said she enjoys the educational aspect of nutrition.
“I’ve had one client that wants to learn, and he’ll ask me so many questions,” Darwin said. “It’ll be like, ‘Oh, I heard something about this supplement.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I actually know this,’ with nutrition and science-based, science-backed research to debunk it so he can save money and not spend $60 on a certain supplement.”
Guatemala City, Guatemala, senior PNA Paola Stackmann said she enjoys learning about nutrition and fitness in day-to-day life.
“I love reading about it, and I feel like I also love the fitness part of nutrition,” Stackmann said. “I’m not an athlete, but I love trying out new things and seeing because at the end of the day, like everyone, we all have to move our bodies.”
Overall, Smith said that nutrition advising is like a friendship.
“We are here to help you and to give you advice, but we also want to get to know you and figure out your passions and be able to serve you best for what is going to be most beneficial to you — specifically as an individual,” Smith said.
Students interested in nutrition advisement can register on the Robbins College website and can learn more about each advisor on the new Instagram.
“We are all friends and we have gotten to know each other and we definitely have our strengths and it would be ignorant not to utilize the different strengths and diversity that we have to serve the population,” Ellis said.
