Latest / Nutrition Connection by Dr. Kristen Hicks-Roof / 67: Alyssa Smolen MS RDN CDN - COMMUNITY / MEDIA

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67: Alyssa Smolen MS RDN CDN - COMMUNITY / MEDIA · Nutrition Connection by Dr. Kristen Hicks-Roof

• Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Welcome back to the Nutrition Connection Podcast, the show where science meets storytelling. I'm your host, Dr. Kristen Hicks Roof, dietitian, researcher, and lifelong advocate of the role of nutrition, health, and wellness. Each episode, I get a sit-down with dietitians and nutrition experts all across the food and healthcare landscape, leaders whose work touches nearly every aspect of our lives. The views, thoughts, and comments on this podcast do not reflect those of my employer nor the employers of my guests. So let's go ahead and get connected. Y'all, today's guest, you are in for a life story here. We are gonna be talking with Alyssa Smolin. She's a community wellness dietitian by day and a media dietitian by night with Aruga Alyssa. Welcome to the show, Alyssa. Alyssa Smolen: Hi, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be chatting with you. And it's kind of funny 'cause I know you kind of a long time now when I was a baby student intern and now I say I'm a real dietitian now. So full circle. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: It's always it's always fun to like watch people as they progress in their career, especially the older I get. I end up knowing a lot of people as they progress in their career. and it's just fun to see how people, especially because you're still, I would say consider like still early in your career, how you've Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: really navigated that, especially in a niche area. But I want to bring it from the beginning. What really inspired you, Alyssa, and made you want to become a nutrition professional in the first place? Alyssa Smolen: So I went into high school wanting to be an artist and being and doing that kind of thing, being a writer, being an artist and having that kind of a lifestyle. My whole family is very artistic and musical. And then I joined the track team because I wanted to be a runner. And then I fell into that unfortunate trap of many young athletes where being thinner means being faster. And I ended up battling an eating disorder during my freshman and year of high school and eighth grade year of early, you know, middle school. So I ended up, you know, recovering and seeing a dietitian from that experience, which really inspired me and I remember distinctly I was a sophomore in high school and I said, I think I want to be a dietitian because I was inspired by the woman who helped me. So that's kind of where it all started. But going back to my writing background is when I was in high school, I always knew that I wanted to be the source of information for people. I was writing nutrition articles for my high school soup school paper because I always believed someone who at least knew about nutrition should be writing about the topic. So when I decided I wanted to be a dietitian, I was like I also want to minor in journalism too. So I kind of like paired the two and that's the school that I picked allowed me to do dietetics. Also minor in journalism, but I also didn't even want to go to college in the first place, which is why I wanted to be an artist, because you didn't need to go to college to do that. And I distinctly remember also crying and crying and crying, thinking about having to pick a college to go to. So it's very surprising to me that I ended up here also with my masters because I was someone who was like, if I wanted to be a dietitian, I like knew that I needed to go to school. I couldn't like bypass there's no shortcuts. So That's kind of what inspired me in the first place, like my own personal experience. But I also always knew that dietitians were the expert even when I was like a teenager. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: One, what a dynamic duo of degrees too. I think one of the missing assets in the nutrition field is we don't have a lot of courses and teaching moments on communication, right? And how that would differ between Obviously we have like counseling. We right, there's a lot Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: of counseling skills where you're one-on-one or maybe group classes. But then how do we take those similar communication skills and go into the media or go into writing for a newspaper or things like that? Like that's a whole nother art of writing versus talking directly with a patient. Alyssa Smolen: Yeah, I had got a lot of experience in college. I loved my journalism classes. They were s also so different than my science classes. And that was really fun, just like getting to talk about different topics with people that weren't related to LaSelle or I got to talk about like just different sorts of things and learn about a lot of different like areas of the world. I also had a ethics of mass communications class, which was ev that was mandatory for all the journalism students, but it also was a foundation for me when I do like media and journalism work and like where you stand ethically and how you want to navigate different brandales even in your personal morals and how you wanna interview people if you want to include this or let them know. Like there's a lot of different things that you learn in those types of classes that kind of shape you and or just give you different perspective about, I never really even thought about telling that person I'm including this. It's always like checking yourself and Making sure you're following what you believe also. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah, I remember when I go back to my PhD days, I took a class that was not in nutrition. It was like in ag ed or ag communications. And it was like how to build like course infrastructures and how to uniquely tailor your lessons plans and stuff like that. And it was like so valuable in how when I went in my academic career, like how I would structure presentations or even the color dynamics on my Alyssa Smolen: Okay. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: presentations and helping people be able to see my content better. Like those things are on the communication side, yet they are easily transferable and utilizable in all of our nutrition works that we do. So I could see that like journalism piece playing such a big part Alyssa Smolen: Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: of what you do in your role today. Alyssa Smolen: I think that even though there seem very different being like a journalist and being a dietitian, at the end of the day I feel like both of those when you do investigative journalism, I think at the end of the day, you are trying to bring something forth to the public in a way that they like need to know. So they both have strong ethics tied to them. Like when you are like trying to get a hard hitting story in the New York Times, you're trying to do this for the people so they know about something important and You want to do no harm at the end of the day at at as a dietitian. So I think they're both strongly rooted in integrity. And being a dietitian, you always want to refer out if it's not something that you feel like is your expertise, or if you hear a doctor say something about your patient, you want to make sure you're advocating for them. So they're both different but the same strongly rooted in integrity, which is I think why I'm drawn to both of them. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Totally. Well, so let's discuss your journey a little bit. So you decided to pursue nutrition. You went you you made it through all the science courses for someone who didn't want to go to school. So Alyssa Smolen: Yes. Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: what what sort of roles and positions have you had ultimately to get you where are today where you're kind of like a blend of two different roles? And I want you to talk with the people who are listening, like, how do you manage balancing those two roles? Alyssa Smolen: I say you always have to shoot your shot and like just you don't y like it the worst something could happen is like a no. Like and it and someone says no, it's not because you're like stupid and I hate you. It's just maybe it's not the right fit is what I like to say. It don't take trake it as personally as you like could. So when I was I took every opportunity in college, basically, when I took my intro class, they said you basically have to do everything to match to a internship and that's kind of what I did. I tried to find opportunities that were interesting to me though. Like I didn't just take anyone. I wasn't necessarily interested in sports nutrition, so I didn't seek those opportunities out. But going back to like my artisty musical artistic background, I used to edit a lot of YouTube videos when I was a kid. Like I used to film on my iPod Touch and then edit on Adobe Premiere Elements when I was ten years old. So I loved editing videos. And then we got an email when I was a freshman for the nutrition listserv about this dietitian needing someone to edit her YouTube videos. And I said this is perfect. It combines editing with dietetics. Wonderful. And this was one of the best things I think I ever did. The dietitian, I wanna shout her out. Her name's Fiorella DiCarlo. She is wonderful. She's from Italy and she inspired me In every single way. She taught me everything I like knew from the ground up about being a media dietitian. And she was wonderful. She mentored me. She wrote my internship letter. She went to the same internship as me. So it was kind of the best thing. She was she's an eating eating disorder dietitian by day and a media dietitian also on the side. So she kind of said to me, I love being an eating disorder dietitian, but I need something else as an outlet because it can be really like serious work. So she kind of inspired me that way where I took what she taught me about being in the media and being a spokesperson and working with brands and like just everything that way. So that was the how I kind of got into media work from her and also blending that. But also where I land now with my community work, which is still my like passion, is when I was a I think I was a freshman. I took one class, it was I can't remember the name of the class, unfortunately. It wasn't necessarily a nutrition class, but this one professor really believed in me, which was shocking because this all I one didn't want to go to college, but two, I didn't think I was very smart. I went to a very competitive school. Like I was in a lot of the smart people classes, but I was never succeeding the way that the other kids were, and it was very discouraging. So I kind of thought I was stupid. Because I just wasn't making the grades that the other kids were. So then when this one teacher said, Hey, you, do you wanna help me with my research? I said, sure, I guess. And then it was one of those opportunities where you're supposed to just take everything to get into to match on die cast. So I said, sure, that's gonna look good on my resume. And little did I know that working with this professor like kind of would shape the trajectory of my career because it was research about the New Jersey Farmers Market Nutrition Program WIC redemption rate and why it was so low. And it kind of opened my eyes to the farmers market, to the Women Infants Children Program and working and like learning all about that area of nutrition. And that kind of just formed my passion for women's health, for WIC, for the farmers market. And that's quite literally what I do now in my current job is I I started off at WIC at my first job out of the internship. And now I currently counsel women and then I refer them to WIC on the opposite side and run a farmers market that accepts the WIC FM MP vouchers. So it's very full circle. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Is pretty crazy. You know, and that was one thing I used to tell my students all the time, say yes to opportunity, even if you like don't really know what you're getting into. And I've heard that on my podcast quite a bit. People are like, Yeah, you know, I was just like, I'm gonna say yes to this research opportunity. And then all of a sudden things do come back full circle. They always do. Alyssa Smolen: No, it was really I think about it all the time. This another like when someone believes in you, a really and gives you a chance, throws you a bone, it can really change your life. Like that woman saying help me really inspired me and I current I just I owe us so much to her. Her name's Doctor Bloomberg. Shout out to Doctor Bloomberg. She changed my life that way. And also she gave me the opportunity to present our research poster at Fenty in Philadelphia in 2019. So that was my first Fenty when I and it was presenting research that I really heavily participated in. Like I wrote a good chunk of that paper and did the tables and I was really like inspired by what we did. And I still talk about that research because it's relevant to my career now and Like she really did so much for me, which is why like as a preceptor I try to do that for the students I have. I only have them for a short time, but I still try to like give them anything that I can because she really changed my life just by saying, Hey, you you might help me with my research. I need free labor, you know what I mean? Like Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah, but mentors can be so impactful. I think a lot of people don't realize that mentor mentee dynamic, whether it's formal or not, it can be really empowering. For both parties, it's not always just the person who's, you Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: know, working for the investigator or something. So you work in community, but you also do media. So like talk to us. Like, what is a day-to-day? What do you do in your jobs and how do you balance both without making yourself Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: exhausted working twenty four hours a day. Alyssa Smolen: Yes. And I the I l my job I say every day is the best job I'll ever have. I said that when I was at Wick. That was the best job I ever had, but this is also the best job I ever had. And I love my job currently now because it's the same thing every week but different every day, which is wonderful. Because in college I didn't have one job that I did every single day. I had three different jobs and I liked the variety because I it's very stagnant if you're doing the same thing. Some people love it. I think I don't. I like the consistency of the work schedule, but I don't like the consistency of a day to day. So on Mondays I teach two classes. It's kinda like my busy day. I teach a virtual class where it's a general wellness class for older adults. I get guest speakers, I give a presentation, it's very like just wellness oriented. I get to answer questions. I get to I have a personal trainer come and do like a seated chair yoga for the seniors. I have the pharmacist come who gives presentations. And then in the afternoon I teach a cooking demo every week, which is wonderful because I kind of can do whatever I want with it where I get to plan it. It's got like a theme, but I've made the theme whatever I want. So it's what did I make? Next week I'm making a zucchini lasagna because it's National Zucchini Day. So I'll do it that way. Or if it's like a specific heritage month, I will feed my recipes designed to like A API month or Hispanic Heritage Month. I try to do it something like that. So and I get to really create recipes, which I love. I'm creating two to three recipes a week for that, which and I love cooking that also is my one of my loves and joys. And I get to be like a culinary dietitian in this role, but I also get to do so many other things. 'Cause I run most of our culinary programming. So I do our adult culinary programming on the Monday and our kids culinary programming on Tuesday. So I teach a tween between eight to twelve year old class. That's a lot more hands-on for them. So I design a recipe for them and all of the recipes are under the dietary guidelines for salt, saturated fat, and added sugar. So I have them every week. So that's Monday, Tuesdays are like my teaching days. And then Wednesdays is kind of up in the air for different sorts of outside activities. It's like sometimes we'll have field trips where different programs come and I do like a demo with them how to make a smoothie. We'll do like different healthy things. And we also have a greenhouse. So, at the hospital that I work at, so we do like a pairing of a greenhouse activity with the nutrition activity. We also work with other organizations. I'll do outside demos, we'll go to different like food pantries or other community events to promote our programs or even just answer questions, be a dietitian there. So that's kind of a free day. Thursdays for half the year I run our farmers market. So that's in the hospital. We accept senior farmers market benefits, WIC and EBT, along with cash, card, anything like that. So that's also wonderful. And then on Fridays I do our prenatal counseling in our women's clinic. So I refer people to WIC but also give nutrition advice as well. And then one Saturday a month I teach a baby t little kiddo class, two to four year olds and five to seven, which is very like mommy and me style. So I do hundred and one different th things at my job, but it's never boring. And I get to be really creative with with what I want to do and you know It's great to have a really supportive team and a wonderful I have a wonderful team, a wonderful boss, I have wonderful coworkers. Even if I have a bad day, I still have a good day, is what I s say. Like even if it was nothing went right, I still things were still going pretty okay. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Well, and I I think because you kind of came into the field of nutrition with that artist creativity background, this is almost like your outlet, you know, where you get to have that creative freedom. And I think that's what some dietitians are really craving, is they want that creative outlet. And that's why I think you're starting to see more of a push of Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: dietitians in the media, not only for credibility. But then also they want to be creative in the culinary medicine space and in in Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: media trainings on like cooking demos or what have you. I do think that there's more people who want and desire that creative outlet because nutrition is so diverse that I feel like you can have the analytical side, right? Like I'm a scientist, like I'm super analytical, but I love creativity. And so it's like, How do you blend that and maybe for someone who is more creative like you are in your day-to-day role? So you do, yeah, I mean you work with all life stages, all different Alyssa Smolen: I do. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: backgrounds, I'm sure, different socioeconomic statuses, it sounds like. How do you, how does scientific evidence come into play? And how do you like communicate science when you're doing all these different workshops or even in the media that you do? Alyssa Smolen: I think at the end of the day always comes down to how you present the information and like your tone and how and your audience. Also going back to like college, your nutrition education class, how do you speak to two year olds versus how you speak to someone who's sixty-five? I teach my kids classes so differently than how I speak to the tweens, how I teach the prenatal s I also do like a small prenatal group a couple times a month. So like that's all that's just all different types of people that you're getting in different ages and different genders and everything. So it's always going back to the truth and making sure you're communicating it in a way that's understandable for everybody, but accessible, where you're and you're asking questions and making sure that you're listening. I think one of the biggest things I'm a talker, I've had definitely had to learn and I'm still learning about pausing and like listening to people and actually hearing what they're saying instead of talking over them and making sure that they feel comfortable. Also with that you want to make sure that they're gonna tell you or ask you that question because you want to answer their question for them and not dismiss what they have to say too. I think there's a lot of misinformation out there and you want to make sure that someone feels comfortable asking you that question so you can tell them, yes, that is true or actually based off of this, you are or you can do X, Y, and Z things. Someone asked me one in one of my classes just like about what types of supplements they should be taking or dip all the thing about pr the protein craze and you just have to wait and listen to your what they have to say and then, you know, give them your two cents based in the facts. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah, you know, it's really hard. I remember when I was a corporate wellness dietitian, and this was like pre like massive social media. I mean, I'm dating myself a little bit, but Alyssa Smolen: Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: it was like before all of the like media craze were just information happened so fast. And I remember I would get people to come in and it was like they would come from left field, right field, center field, like with all questions. Things that like I would have never even heard of, thought of. Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Contemplated in my brain. And so it was really challenging to start to figure out one, how do you validate them? Because you're happy that you've built enough report for them to be open Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: to asking you the question. So it's like, how do you validate them? And then how do you not just go like, you're wrong? Right? Because like no one responds Alyssa Smolen: Yeah, it's hard sometimes. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: well when they're just turned down. And so you do have to get savvy. And I'm sure your journalism background on communications has probably also helped you in that, in both. verbal but also like in writing, you know, in some of your freelance Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: stuff. Alyssa Smolen: It being teaching the classes and writing and I also write our newsletter for our hospital once a month. So I do a lot, I get to communicate nutrition to like my smaller community there, but I also also do it, you know, with the media work. So it's a lot of navigating, choosing your words carefully, making sure and just being like true to yourself and honesty. I also going back to the integrity how you do things. Making sure if you like type something and you read it over and you say, Mm, I don't think that's gonna go over well. Let me edit it, pause it, or read it out loud, or give yourself a second to, you know, evaluate what you're about to say. Also not being so quick to respond, giving yourself a second to pause and say, 'cause I have often put my foot in my mouth and I probably will a couple more times in my life, but from those instances I have learned to maybe I shouldn't say that. Maybe I shouldn't say that. If you you know, you never know who's listening. Even you can have the best intentions with something and someone can still take it the wrong way. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Well and the pauses are challenging. I mean, I've had to learn that too Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: with this podcast. Like obviously trying to help people share share their story, but then keeping it as a conversation. It's not like just one question, one question, right? Because Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: I don't want it like super structured. but like that positive and that reflective piece just it's just go back to validating. Like that's what people ultimately want, I feel like. As a as a dietitian for well over ten years, it's just like people just wanna feel validated, whether it's their thoughts, their actions, their opinions, and then ultimately they're gonna make whatever choice they're Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: gonna make. They just want you to validate it, whether it's incorrect or correct. so what's been your favorite so far or like what you've had most impact on you feel like in your career? Alyssa Smolen: I love when I am teaching my class with it and the kids tell me that my I this was I want this to go on my resume, really the most the top thing is when I had eight tweens tell me this was low-key good when I had them eat cottage cheese mini I made mini cottage cheese chicken pot pies and they said this was low-key good. Or when they think it's gonna be gross and And that's actually good. And I tell them I would never I tell everybody this actually. I never would make you eat anything I wouldn't eat myself. Because why would I do that? Like I made the recipe. Why would I make a gross recipe? R that's true. Like Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: It's true though. Alyssa Smolen: why would I make you eat something I would not eat? Like that's so silly. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: I don't know. I so I have worked for a number of like corporate wellness companies, just like as a contractor. And one time, it was it was last year, I did like a consulting gig for one of the corporate wellness, and I showed up and they like wanted me to cook a recipe. It was awful. Like it was not Alyssa Smolen: No. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: good. And part of me was like, here I am serving this, which I like the ingredients in it, but it was like Super unfamiliar. It was like bulgar and like and again I love vulgar as a as a Alyssa Smolen: Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: dietitian, but it was like it was unfamiliar. It was like really choppy and grainy, and it was like the texture was bad. I'm like, man, you had this premier opportunity to meet with an audience and you didn't really put the best foot forward. So I like that you said like and the fact that it's low key good, like that's a compliment in the in the young generation. Alyssa Smolen: That is it is from the tweens and then the little kids like when the parents say, they never eat this at home and it's really nice. One time we I called it Rainbow Grain Bowl. And like I had these little four year olds eating lettuce, raw tomato, bell pepper, and quinoa at ten o'clock in the morning. You know, like that is exciting. And then when they want to make it, or they'll tell me the recipe. was good or or they remember the one that we made a couple months ago. That is always nice or when when they're just happy and happy to be trying new foods and they tell me. Like I don't do it so they tell me that my recipe was good. But it is nice when someone tells me my recipe is good. I want it to be good. I don't want to make bad food for people. That's not, you know, the gay the end goal I want you to think I don't want you to think eating healthy is challenging or hard or expensive. I want you to say like, I have or when they say I have these ingredients at home. That is also super exciting because I'm trying to make sure that everybody can make the recipe. That if you look in your pantry, you look in your fridge, you can make that if you don't know what to make for dinner. Because that is what a big barrier for a lot of people is just not knowing what to make with what they have. And if I give you a recipe with these five things and you're like, I have them all already. And you know, so you can still feed your family that with something that tastes good and it doesn't feel like a chore to eat healthy, like b I was just talking to somebody about how before eating healthy meant like being on a diet, like eating healthy was dieting when in reality it's not that, but there's just such a conversation that has been changing at least now with eating healthy is not dieting. It can just be eating like nourishing yummy food and I think that is what my end goal is. That's rewarding when someone says like just like this recipe was good and they don't think it was healthy because I never title them like healthy chicken salad. You know, it's just, you know, crispy this or bold blah blah blah. Like I don't want it to say healthy 'cause also people won't eat it if you say this is a healthy recipe. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah, well, you know, I think we've gotten so far and I think we're the pendulum is swinging, but like, you know, you remember back 80s, 90s, early 2000s, and it was like everything had to be healthy, low sugar, low fat, right? Like we got like all the Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: way over here. And so people associated healthy, quote unquote healthy is not good in in terms Alyssa Smolen: Thank you. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: of like not tasty, flavorful, delicious, satisfying. so I do feel like we are going back that way. So what would you say to people who like who are interested in this kind of community wellness path, but maybe don't have that creative edge that you do? Like, where do you get without you creating all your recipes, Alyssa Smolen: Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: like do you have a recipe hub that you share on your website or do you just pull recipes from nonprofits or commodities or where would you grab? Alyssa Smolen: I do in fact make all my recipes myself from my own brain. I will look at like this is also my biggest thing that I tell people is look in a cookbook designed by a chef, look on foodnetwork.com, look on a recipe website that has been designed and tested by someone who was paid to make the recipe because they were paid to make that recipe taste good in theory and put their time and effort into it. So I will look at the recipe and like get inspired by it in that respect too. Like, and then when I look at when I plan my classes accordingly for the themes, I'll look what's the national food of the month, what days are in the month, and that will help me get inspired that way. Things that I've like made with my family or just stuff that way. If you and that thing is if you like cooking, it comes a little bit more naturally to you. I don't think that if you you can start and enjoy cooking, but if you don't necessarily love to cook, then it's not the best role if you want to be a recipe developer or if you've I always have my interns do one of my classes with me and it's just like kind of like a given they will teach my one PM class where they do the demo and then sometimes they will say, I don't cook or I've never cooked before or I've never made this recipe before. And I always have to be, This is such a good learning opportunity for you. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah, you know, and cooking is a skill that you have to learn and it you're constantly improving. I would Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: say I'm the kind of cook that where I'm like I get inspiration and I look at the recipe list, but I don't measure anything. So I can never cook the same thing twice because my husband will be like, my gosh, this is so good. And then I'm like, Great, because it will never taste like that again. Alyssa Smolen: And I'll never see that exactly the same. Well, that part of it is great because a lot of the recipes I have made myself at home and then I do try to test my recipe at least one time before I send it to the public and make it. At least enough where I can be like, this needed this or this was too much this. And if I've made it at home, then I can add the measurements later on where I'm like, okay. This is this and this is that. Because I when I am at home, I just do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But you really can't do that when you're also trying to create the nutrient recommendations for I Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: No, you can't. Alyssa Smolen: could be like, could be this percent saturated fat. Here's a range. That is not helpful for someone who was trying to manage their diabetes. So, you know, I that's why I like cooking at home because it is a lot more freeing, but I do like knowing. that I can make it under the guidelines. It still tastes good for people. And people don't really necessarily even know that they are under the guidelines, which is kind of nice. They just know that it's tasty. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah. So you talked a lot about your day life. Give us a little insight as a media dietitian. What does that look like? How did you get into it? And what do you do? Alyssa Smolen: So I briefly talked about how I I got into it from being in the media being a like a media dietitian intern. So she kind of like put my foot in the door, kind of taught me how to reach out to brands, to companies, to outlets, kind of like what to do. And then I just slow I started my Instagram in twenty twenty, actually shortly after my thyroid cancer diagnosis in twenty twenty. So I w I it became like a big outlet for me, my cooking Instagram, finding like my passion, like getting myself back after it was I got thyroid cancer during COVID of 2020, March of 2020, had two thyroid cancer surgeries in a very stressful, already a stressful time. I was a junior in college. So it was a big it was I don't even know how to describe a blur, kind of a blur. And then by June of 2020, things kind of settled a little bit and I was I was off of school so I just felt like I guess I need something to do. So I started my food Instagram and cooking and it just be kind of came a became a way for me to like heal, I guess. Partly also like cook food that was nourishing, but also coming from an eating disorder, being able to like create healthy, yummy, delicious food in a way that I never thought that I would be able to do. Like if I look back the things that, you know, I thought ten years ago versus now. It's very like therapeutic and healing to know that I have come so far with this and I'm able to use cooking as a way like as an outlet, which is so wonderful, which is because food is medicine at the end of the day. So I started my Instagram then in 2020 right after that. So it was kind of like a healing process that way. And then slowly I knew that I didn't want to be a big advocate or say it was like a dietitian and give advice that way until I had that credential after my name. I was very adamant about when I was creating my posts on Instagram about not saying that this is from a dietitian, just as a new dietetic student, nutrition student that way. And I knew that brands necessarily weren't going to work with me and use me as a spokesperson until I was a credible source. So I kind of just built up my Instagram following that way and like just built relationships with brands. And then as soon as I passed my exam, you best know that I would I reached out to all the companies, the organizations, and I said, I passed my exam. Are you willing to work with me? Because I am a registered dietitian. So I kind of slowly, surely did that and just kind of it's a long it's just you have to keep being at it. But I didn't want to start doing it until I was a credible nutrition resource, which goes back to me when I was in high school being like, No, you can't say this unless you're a dietitian. So a lot of Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: What I think that adds like the empowerment of you can start to build your platforms because platforms take time, right? It's not Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: like you wake up tomorrow and you have ten thousand followers. So you can start to build that and just being transparent and honest. I think it goes back to that ethics course that you talked about. It doesn't mean you can't create content, especially as you're learning. You can be Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: that nutrition communicator, but then there's another competitive edge, right? Once you become that credentialed provider. Alyssa Smolen: Yeah, so part of it so when I do work with brands, so during the day I'm, you know, being a community wellness dietitian, but then I will still be able to at nighttime write articles for different sorts of companies when or different outlets. I or if I have an idea, you know, just a lot of pitching, you know, di to different magazines to websites to see who will take you. And, you know, it's not sometimes seasons are busier than others and sometimes you know, I have a lot of like lot of things to be doing and sometimes I'm focusing more on my day to day like life or things pop up or three you get three emails in one day that are exciting and then all of a sudden you're very busy. But there were a couple of weeks before that where no one was emailing you back. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Yeah, well, I think it's a it's a hard truth to swallow sometimes as people want to go in the media, you know, and I think we talked about before we hit record. It's like sometimes it's very fruitful and then maybe it's not, and then it's very fruitful. And so like being able to balance that. And I remember I was talking with I think it was Alex Turnbull in one of my early episodes. It was like it took her a while to really build the brand to then say, Okay, I'm ready to just pursue this full time. Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: and some people make that decision and some people decide they want to kind of live the by day and by night dietitian role. So what suggestions or tips do you have for someone who's maybe interested in the community health role, but then also the media role and maybe even the balance of the two. Alyssa Smolen: I think if you want to do community, you have to build a lot of relationships when either when you're starting out or just like as you're going through your career because you never know what food pantry you went to, who you did a demo with one time when you were in college, actually is now looking for a dietitian that you can help them build their X, Y, and Z program. Or if you are looking for that, go back to that. organization and say, hey, are you looking for a consultant? Are you have room for a role? Like I think a lot of it is just being building relationships and always remembering where someone might need your help. I think with community nutrition, like just seeking opportunities that way. And then with the media, I also think you just got to shoot your shot if you want to do it. You kind of just have to go all into it. You kind of can't ha like do it halfway. Like if you you have to go all in, my brother's a musician, so it's a lot of like you have to just keep going, sending the emails, going to the gig, having a lot of you can't give up. It can always be just you have and have a thick skin too. I think I'm working on that. I've thin skin. I am a I'm a crier. I do a lot of crying, but I will still do the job. I I might have cried first but you don't know, but I Think you you you might have I often say that, like you I probably cried before doing it, but you would never know because I still did it. I the th the skin is thin, it's trying I'm trying to build it. I not you can't take everything so personally, I think in the media, especially. Like maybe they didn't respond to email. That's okay. They don't know who you are. They're passed on the opportunity because someone is has a better fit, like or they don't have the budget simply. Or you sent an email two years ago, they said, we don't have it right now, but we'll reach out to you again. And if you are persistent and if you still love that company, that brand, that organization, that website, they will reach out to you again. That's happened to me a number of times where I reached out X and Y and Z months ago and then they finally got back to me and said, We've been blah blah blah. Here we go. So I think sometimes you just have to not be discouraged and just But you gotta believe in yourself. I always say you need a little faith, trust, and pixie dust sometimes in life, especially in this type of media career, like just y com sometimes it it'll be okay. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: How even when you talked about your farmer's market, right, and your community role, like everything kind of comes full circle. And I've had similar experiences where it's like I reached out, didn't hear anything, and then like a year later, they were like, Hey, do you still do this kind of work? And I was like, actually, yeah, I do. So you never know, like build your network and try, right? I think it's Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: try. And and I remember, I I don't remember who told me, but they were like, the worst thing that's ever gonna happen is someone says no. And I really took that to heart. I was like, you're right, like who cares? I'll always ask. Alyssa Smolen: It's true though, it Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: I'll ask for a deal. I'll ask for a, you know, a promotion. I will ask for a job, a gig. Like there's you can always ask for things. And the worst you're gonna hear is no, which is exactly where he started. So my favorite question, Alyssa, if you had a crystal ball, what do you think is coming next in nutrition? Alyssa Smolen: nutrition. I thought I was saying for myself. I was like, I couldn't tell you. I would I'm gonna manifest. People eating more fiber. I'm gonna manifest protein takes a little bit of a hit and we keep going for fiber. I'm gonna push for fiber and beans. And yeah, fiber and beans I'm gonna push for. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: So how do you bring that creative freedom in what you do in recipes? Like if you were to give someone a tangible way, like how do they increase fiber or use beans in their recipes if they're doing any sort of like culinary medicine or community workshops or things like that? Alyssa Smolen: Well, somebody asked me in one of my classes, I s they asked they got very overwhelmed by the vitamins and minerals. Like we talked about phosphorus, we talked about mag magnesium, we talked about vitamin B and B twelve or whatever. And then I said, they're like, Do we have like a my plate version of this? And I said, Unfortunately we do not. However, I said, if you look at your plate and it looks very colorful, you're probably getting everything in. If you I say you got at least two colors, you're probably getting in most of the micronutrients you need. The colors are giving us the nutrients. And if your recipe is very colorful, you're probably getting in a good amount of fiber. I would be like high I would be very doubtful if we had a red, green, and blue plate. Like if you had a bowl, an oatmeal bowl with two fruits and some pumpkin seeds, I You're we're short pressed, that's probably no less than ten grams of fiber. I that's being a I'm low balling, that ten grams of fiber. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: Though that's it, it's simple, it's kind of like the portion size, right? Like a lot of people Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: are like, Well, this your hand is not three ounces, and it's like, you're right, everyone's hands are different. However, there's like some of these easy strategies, right? Like get two or three colors at every dish. Like, that's something easy where it's like someone's like, one, two, three, okay, versus Looking at the back of the pack and how much of the serving size Alyssa Smolen: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: am I using. So I will manifest it with you. I don't think I reach my fiber goals anymore, but I'm gonna try and do it too. I love me some beans, I love fruits and vegetables, although I'm on a pause on too much lettuce right now. And if you're listening Alyssa Smolen: yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: in the future, then you will probably know when we recorded this. So Alyssa Smolen: What are you talking about? Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN: thanks so much, Alyssa, for coming on the show and star and sharing your story. And remember, if you like the podcast, make sure you like, subscribe, leave a review. But most importantly, check out the next episode because every episode I bring on a different dietitian and nutrition expert to share their story and give you tips and advice on how to be successful.