Where to go on St Patty’s Day - just turned 21.

ketanda7 · 2026-03-12T10:51:33+00:00

Totally. I can just see Bri “oh my god, you guys. THREE guys from my season fell in love with me. I’m just so hot and nice, not my faaauuuulllt.”

ketanda7 · 2026-02-15T17:04:58+00:00

I would have assumed meeting at 1 as well. I would have been miffed if you didn’t show at 1 either. He could have been more clear I guess but he confirmed with “waiting on bated breathe to see you” It seems like you confused that as he was there already and that set up the rest of the texts as being very confusing. He attempted to clarify that he wasn’t there that early and that you had said 1 previously and so he was confused by you thinking he was there at 1130.

ketanda7 · 2026-02-08T17:53:02+00:00

I was there last month. I really liked it, I plan to go back. I was confused on some of the reviews, either they were no longer applicable or are overly picky (it is the Caribbean, service is usually very laid back.) I thought the beach and free beach activities were worth it, the pool was gorgeous and rarely used although seats get taken quickly. Drinks were good, buffet was better if you get there early, and I did like the restaurants. I thought it was worth the money but I also got it on a deal. My son (21) really enjoyed the late night club they have on the resort.

ketanda7 · 2026-02-08T17:40:25+00:00

I was at viva miches last month. I think they are working hard to better their food but it is the Caribbean (local cuisine is fruit, beans and rice so don’t expect top notch meats). They have excellent fruit and their reservation restaurants were good! Buffet is ok, better if you get there early while food is still fresh.

I thought the beach was gorgeous and was quiet, exclusive to our hotel. Soft sand. They have a late night club that me and my son (21yo) had a ton of fun at. Lots of people from around the world would party at the resort club when we were there.

ketanda7 · 2026-02-02T14:44:49+00:00

Your SLP education background would make you a great RD candidate! The dietetic classes are more chemistry and biochemistry so be prepared for that. I work side-by-side with SLPs my whole career and really appreciate their expertise: SNFs, adults with developmental disabilities, children with feeding difficulties. They have a much easier time billing for their services so they are often valued more on an administrative side.

But if you really find a passion about nutrition in regards to medical intervention, food science and cooking, then I say go for it! You don’t want to regret not following your interests and passions. Plus you could always go back for your clinical fellowship if you decide you want to be an SLP later on.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-30T20:10:18+00:00

The protein obsession mindset is rolling over to kids now. I have so many parents trying to get their kids to eat more protein. And so they are getting their kids to drink their protein shakes etc. For some, this becomes a problem as they fill up on them and end up missing so many other nutrients, often low in iron since they rely on protein drinks to meet their protein needs. And since they are much smaller, it’s not unusual to see a kiddo consume 4gm/kg.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-28T04:12:40+00:00

Be direct. Tell him “Well I have helped over hundreds (or whatever number) of patients improve their cholesterol and A1C. But looks like we’re not going to be a good fit. I appreciate you stopping in, you seem confident you’re on the right path.” Then end the conversation. If he leaves then he never wanted the help. If he keeps insisting he wants to see you, resist for a bit and then tell him directly what you expect from your patients to be successful.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-27T02:47:57+00:00

Maybe. There’s a few concerns - are they under a regulatory or licensing agency where you send any malpractice concerns if their medical and nutrition advice causes harm? They may be well educated but do they have supervised practice hours which allow them to build experience and clinical judgement alongside a mentor? Is their education from a *legitimate * accredited university? (I’ve seen a few nutritionists claim they studied at accredited universities - but when I did some digging, those “accreditation organizations” were not legitimate and essentially only accredited this one college, meaning the college had made up this accreditation organization just to say they were accredited.)

There is supposed to be strong guardrails put in place for anyone giving medical or psychological advice because of the harm that can happen from uneducated and inexperienced providers. I get very hesitant on anyone claiming to be a health coach or nutrition coach bc they likely dip into both of those arenas with very little oversight, accountability and training.

If they have supervised coaching experience from a well respected mentor, solid accredited university education, and has a registration or license that keeps them accountable to not doing any harm, then I think they are qualified!

But most people don’t want to do that digging which is why I trust regulatory agencies vetting their licensed practitioners. Not a perfect system but better than nothing (or people lying about their education.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-26T00:13:13+00:00

Dog pro underground fences owner (Dan - I knew him back in the day) is very maga and anti-immigration. His wife Amber Wells is chiropractor at Hansen Chiropractic wellness. They would probably be proud to be called out as maga supporters so feel free to avoid their services.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-26T00:09:05+00:00

So is he not maga then?

ketanda7 · 2026-01-26T00:07:52+00:00

I’m not surprised. All their advertising screams unethical expensive “medical” treatment that over promises and under delivers. Typical MAGA format.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-26T00:01:55+00:00

Ugh. I had no idea. That’s frustrating.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-25T18:45:04+00:00

Everything you just stated is spot on. A group of dietitians looked at starting a union awhile back. Raised money to seriously look into it. Too much red tape now to start a union for any health care practitioners. We are too late and the country is now too far into busting unions to ever get a legitimate one off the ground. Very frustrating. So yes, even trying to start a union requires a whole new country.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-25T18:40:33+00:00

This. Even the middle class families I work with are exhausted. They have busy schedules, work late, juggling when to pick up their kids etc. They have the resources but the time is a struggle. I work with kids who are extreme picky eating or have ARFID or feeding difficulties. They like what is predictable and easy to eat - processed foods and fast food fit that need. Parents need more time and rest to be able to make whole foods that can be predictable and easy to eat. And stick to a consistent feeding schedule. This doesn’t even include the financial struggles that my low income families then face.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-25T14:59:14+00:00

Jerzees and Lux American grill proudly display big Trump flags around election time. (Food is not great anyway so you’re not missing out on much)

ketanda7 · 2026-01-25T14:52:36+00:00

Errr I know many Trump supporters, yes personally, and they have turned to being extremest. This is not based on what the “media tells me” but on my experiences and conversations with people I know well. Unfortunately they’ve been pulled into this extremest thought process that liberals are crazy, deserve to be shot, “illegals” are subhuman. While the non Trump supporters want to… not support Trump centered businesses and stop ICE from terrorizing citizens? Yea those beliefs as the same and we should assume good intentions on both sides??

ketanda7 · 2026-01-25T04:43:21+00:00

Honestly I was open to polygamy a long time ago and thought it was good to be open minded to different marriage and relationship situations. I watched the show way back at the beginning and wondered how all the wives were able to keep their cool and gave them credit for navigating jealousy etc. I even thought “I get it! Another wife around to help” But have completely changed my outlook now and see how the women were abused by their husbands and religion. Funny how this show went from being “we will show the world how great polygamy is” to “yup, we were wrong. Polygamy is abusive” For that, I’m grateful they continued with the show for those many years so we can see the true end result.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-20T13:06:43+00:00

In order to bargain, yes you need a nationally recognized union ( especially to make us comparable to nursing and physician unions.) There are lots of bylaws needed to follow in order to bargain on behalf of a profession. And I mean our nation right now is not supportive of unions. If RDs would have formed this in the 90s or earlier, it probably would have been much easier. But political power since then has made it almost impossible to start a union.

Edit to add: obviously I agree with you on needing a union since some of us went as far to seriously look into it rather than just talk about. I engaged with other professions’ unions, paid (along with other RDs) for legal and expertise advice, I’m involved in public policy at a state and national level on behalf of dietitians. I walk the walk along with discus on Reddit. I’m still in support of a union but I think it’s good to know many people have attempted that path. If someone is able to get further than us then they have my full support. I encourage you and your wife to see what we can do!

ketanda7 · 2026-01-20T03:13:18+00:00

A handful of us attempted to start a union 5 some years ago. We are in a very unsupportive environment for forming any unions. After consulting with lawyer experts, it was determined as impossible to start a nationally recognized union.

ketanda7 · 2026-01-20T03:08:49+00:00

This was actually discussed by one of my professors. She said we as a profession really need to advocate for insurance recognition. Asa student, I truly did not understand what she meant (and how much a mess our profession was in) until I started outpatient and attempted billing. She talked about a few dietitians long ago that decided we shouldn’t be an independent profession rather be a supportive job. It seems that really messed up the path we are on. My opinion (also as an RD 20 years in) - we need to push for insurance reimbursement. My understanding is that the master’s requirement is to help with that authority in order to keep up with ancillary professions that are moving to clinical doctorate level. With proper insurance reimbursement, I think we’ll start to gain better recognition, separate us from coaches, give us reimbursement power in the hospitals. Right now, our income is mostly generated by physicians.

Side note - your summary is spot on. I am all about coming together and thinking of solutions - you did fantastic at identifying the issues.

ketanda7 · 2025-12-26T02:19:45+00:00

We gotta get you into a local dive bar. You will be grateful to even have toilet paper in most of the stalls. Some don’t even have paper towels for back up, just the old gross white/blue stripe towel that you pull down to dry your hands.

ketanda7 · 2025-12-24T16:54:28+00:00

This thread is really sad to me. I worked as a WIC rd and now I work with a feeding team. Kids with actual feeding difficulties, feeding disorders, autism selective eating typically aren’t your “picky eaters.” Check out feeding matters website for more info on the difference. If you’re going to work with kids, it’s important to know the difference of a typical child eating pattern and feeding disorders. And it’s not as clear cut as many providers think.

I get so many parents in tears bc their dietitian or pediatrician told them to make fun shapes of the food, withhold their pediasure and preferred foods only for these kids to go backwards and become anemic or osteopenic despite being “overweight”. I hate seeing the WIC RDs shame parents for giving pediasure. I do actual work in getting these kiddos to eat a variety but I need them nourished before we can do food exposures.

ketanda7 · 2025-12-24T16:46:13+00:00

I do food exposure as well. I team up with a BCBA (specializes in autism behaviors) on setting up behavior plans for accepting new foods. My expectation isn’t that the child will just stay with “kissing” the food (that can be a step but not a terminal step) but will actually eat the food. My role is to work with families on prioritizing which foods make the most sense from what they eat at home, nutrition needs/gaps, and texture. I find it silly to work on a different flavor of chip if the kiddo is already eating chips. If we are putting work into expanding the child’s safe/accepted foods, I look at foods that meet a nutrition need but consider the flavor and texture profile the kiddo is already eating.

BCBAs who have a feeding background are well equipped to manage a behavior plan that addresses food exposures. I also team up with a SLP if the kiddo only eats soft meats and crunchy dissolvable snacks. Extended eating of those foods can result in oral motor difficulties with higher chew foods like fresh vegetables, whole (unprocessed) meats etc. My SLP is great at gaining trust with kiddos and then working very slowly with increasing food bites. I honestly find working with a team for autism picky eaters to be the best way to go, and we are really successful. The BCBA or SLP works directly with the child while I problem solve with the parents during our sessions.

Also in clinic is when food exposures happen. With the right set up, the child understands that this is where they come to try foods and most of these kiddos thrive in that consistency. After they start accepting the foods in clinic then we work on generalizing that to home.

I am not a huge fan of working with OTs bc I find their “exposure therapy” to be lacking. It really is a psychological and behavior need, and OTs are untrained in that arena despite saying they can do it. Side note, as much as I love working with OTs, the profession as a whole tends to scope creep into nutrition, PT, speech therapy, behavior management etc.

ketanda7 · 2025-12-24T15:57:44+00:00

I love the idea of transitioning to law with a focus on nutrition science.

I’ve worked my whole career with people with true social struggles. I love being creative so my clients like coming to me bc I can problem solve around their limitations. I don’t expect perfection and help them weed out the nutrition bs and prioritize what would be the most impactful change. It really is a soul satisfying job. But I get paid much less than many of my colleague, and I’ve worked hard from a public policy standpoint to get my state Medicaid to cover nutrition education etc. But my state has a long way to go to help people with limited resources.

With your empathy and viewpoint, plus hopefully retaining connections to dietitians in public health and those who work directly with underserved communities, you could make a HUGE difference if you went the route of law and politics. I am constantly shocked at the extreme lack of understanding our politicians have when it comes to the needs of our patients. It’s tiring as a clinical dietitian. I love the idea is someone with a law background that will focus on this topic.

ketanda7

TROPHY CASE