CNPP, in Photos

The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion: home to the food guide pyramid, Dietary Guidelines, and much more

Lauren, Ala, and I were happy to attend the Ag Outlook!

Day 1: Secretary Tom Vilsack, the keynote speaker, introducing Bill Clinton

Clinton was one of the Agriculture Outlook Forum’s Distinguished Speakers

Clinton discussed global agriculture and the William J. Clinton Foundation

Staff from CNPP discuss the 2010 Dietary Guidelines

The Deputy Director of CNPP, Dr. Robert Post, made an effort to reach out to interns.

Posing with CNPP preceptor Jackie Haven, MS RD and my internship partner Ala Wallace. We made a great team!

Recent Work: from FNCE, to the First Lady, to WordPress

Since I have to remain mum for many of the projects I have been working on while at the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, I just wanted to update Mission: Dietitian with some updates about some other things I have been working on.

Today I submitted an abstract to the American Dietetic Association for the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (ADA FNCE) about a project I worked on at CNPP.  I also plan on submitting it to the Maryland Dietetic Association Annual meeting…we’ll see what happens!

Also, in the past couple of weeks I have submitted two more blog posts (I suppose it’s 3, now!) to the ever-expanding blogosphere:

Blogging: What’s the Word(press)? -about using WordPress for your nutrition-blogging needs, for the Society for Nutrition Education blog

Modeling…With Moderation -a reflection on Rush Limbaugh’s accusation that Michelle Obama does not follow her own dietary advice, for the University of Maryland College Park Dietetic Internship Blog

Check ’em out and let me know what you think!

At the “Center” of it all

Interning at the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) is going great, I’m really enjoying it (especially because it is so timely!) With my background at the Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC), I already knew that I really enjoy consumer education and web-based nutrition communication.

However, I also love the whole nutrition policy part of USDA.  To think that you could influence the way America learns about healthy eating is really great.  I told my preceptor: it will be so cool in the coming years, no matter what I do as a Registered Dietitian, the Dietary Guidelines and Food Guide Pyramid will always be a large part of dietetics.  So a couple years from now, I can look back and see how some of my work has helped- even with my little five week rotation.  Speaking of, the past three and a half weeks has flown by.  I can’t believe next week is our last!  Then, I’m back to community nutrition, interning at Moveable Feast in Baltimore, MD.

Until then, I’m working on my abstract and poster presentation for the Maryland Dietetic Association, and I’ve already started preparing for the RD exam a little bit.  I know…it’s four months away…but I don’t want to forget anything I learned in clinical at the beginning of the internship!

And the Coolest Place to Intern Right Now is…

Hello all, sorry about another lengthy delay in updates.  My life as an intern has become even more hectic with over 3 hours of commuting to Northern Virginia each day.  Luckily I can often drive in with my dad (who works in DC nearby) or stay with friends who are closer.

But I don’t mean to sound whiny- I feel like the luckiest dietetic intern out there.  Why, you ask?  I have the opportunity to currently be working at the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP).  Still not clicking?  Well, you may have heard that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 recently came out.  USDA’s CNPP along with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are the ones responsible for this project that is released every 5 years.

In a nutshell, I have been afforded the opportunity to be rotating with the organization responsible for releasing the Dietary Guidelines, a document that outlines the best nutrition research out there, DURING the release of the Dietary Guidelines…which only happens once every 5 years.  How cool is that?!

USDA CNPP is also responsible for the Food Guide Pyramid

The people working at CNPP are so inspiring, whether they are Registered Dietitians or non-dietitians who work to support nutrition communications and policy.  They all seem to love their job and feel very passionate about communicating nutrition to the American public.  Can you tell I love it here, or what?

The projects we are assigned to work on are very exciting!  My partner and I are mainly working with the Nutrition Communication and Marketing Division of CNPP.  I actually can’t share too much with you all because it’s confidential at this point in time…but as certain things are released I will blog about it and let you know what I was a part of.  It feels awesome to know that things I am helping out with now may impact the public on a national level.  It blows my mind!  I mean, I loved helping people on an individual level during clinical, but to reach thousands, potentially millions of people?  I can’t even tell you.  I mean, I’m just an intern!

I’ll return another time to summarize what I’ve learned about the development of the Dietary Guidelines that were recently released.  Looking forward to another three weeks here at CNPP!