By Kristy Volmert | Staff Writer
The nutrition sciences department, under Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, offers a Peer Nutrition Advisement Program in which pre-dietetic undergraduate students help you develop a plan to accomplish your dietary and fitness goals.
Free for up to three sessions, this one-on-one partnership allows the adviser to give personalized guidelines that fit one’s lifestyle and current dietary habits.
Bellevue, Wash. senior Quinn Spencer is one of five peer nutrition advisers and said the program is very helpful in learning how to simplify nutrition and transform overall health for the better.
“We all truly do it for the experience and our passion for helping others in their nutrition journey,” she said.
Spencer said as advisers, they strive to address common misinformation about nutrition and inform clients about truths that will lead them to healthier habits.
“There is so much nutrition information out there in places such as the news and social media, and the majority of it is very far from the truth,” she said.
Throughout the meetings, advisers will get to know their clients and their eating habits so that they can guide them in making goals that are tailored to their specific needs.
Spencer said she had a client who said they felt empowered after adjusting dietary habits following her advice and education.
Bullard junior Elise Ellis is also a peer nutrition adviser and said she loves seeing the progress of her clients over the course of three weeks and that it is a rewarding experience.
“I have been able to help identify goals, provide credible information we are taught in class, curate plans and then walk alongside students through their nutrition journey,” she said.
The PNA program is beneficial not only for the clients but for the advisers as well.
As nutrition sciences majors on the pre-dietetic track, both Spencer and Ellis use what they are learning in their own education by putting it into action to help their fellow peers.
Ellis said taking a nutrition counseling and education course sparked her love for the one-on-one education style she uses as a PNA.
“PNA perfectly intertwines my passions of nutrition and helping others,” she said. “I have watched older classmates I admire go through this program and speak highly of it.”
Other nutrition graduate students who completed the program during their education have shared that it helped them become well-prepared for their post-grad job experiences, according to Ellis.
Spencer shared that it is a blessing to work individually with clients.
“I truly have had positive experiences with everyone I have worked with,” she said. “Progress is different for everyone, but I have been blessed to be able to build a friendship with each person I meet and be able to see their progress throughout the weeks.”
Ellis said that through the program she has been able to form great friendships with clients who she might not have met otherwise.
“I think being able to meet with peers is an amazing opportunity because there is a level of familiarity and understanding of students’ situations,” she said.
Spencer said the program can help with challenges such as buying food on a budget, navigating the dining halls, cooking balanced meals, fueling a busy lifestyle and learning how to simplify healthy eating.
“Nutrition is not typically a stand-alone topic,” Ellis said. “It ties in with exercise, perception, behaviors, habits, culture, stress, health and community.”
If interested, fill out a PNA Request Form and an adviser will follow up with an email and set up a time to meet. Typically, advisement sessions will be once a week for three weeks.
“It is such a wonderful free resource that goes unnoticed a lot of the time,” Spencer said.
