23Jul 2018 by Aidan Muir
Hannah Baker Q&A

Hannah Baker Q&A

Other
Can you please tell us a little bit about your career so far? I started out in marketing in Perth—that was my original career—but I’ve always been interested in health and food. So, I decided to “bite the bullet” and moved to the Gold Coast to study dietetics as a mature-aged student. Six months after graduation, my fiancé got a job in Shanghai so we moved to China. As extremely challenging as the move was for my career, it was also amazing because (as far as I know) I am the only qualified sports dietitian in Shanghai so it has meant I have been offered some fantastic work opportunities. I have worked with the Shanghai soccer team, Olympic and provincial athletes, movie stars and brand ambassadors. I also lived in…
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18Jul 2018 by Aidan Muir
Maeve Hanan (Dietetically Speaking) Q&A

Maeve Hanan (Dietetically Speaking) Q&A

Other
Can you please tell us a little bit about your career so far? After I graduating I spent just over four years working in a hospital in the UK. During that time I got experience as a rotational dietitian in a number of different wards and clinics; I also worked as part of a community stroke rehab team; and more recently I worked as a Paediatric Specialist Dietitian (which I loved!). Since starting Dietetically Speaking in 2015 I have been doing some freelance work on the side like health writing and giving talks about evidence-based nutrition. Then at the start of this year I took the leap to become fully freelance, so that I could continue to work while traveling. Most of my current work involves writing articles about nutrition…
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07Jul 2018 by Aidan Muir
Bariatric Surgery Q&A Featuring Purva Gulyani

Bariatric Surgery Q&A Featuring Purva Gulyani

Health
Can you please tell us a little bit about your career so far? I started my career as a private practice Dietitian in 2004, and then we planned to move to Melbourne in 2009. That's when I cleared my APD status, but I had to head back to my home town of New Delhi, in 2010. In 2011 I joined the team of an esteemed Bariatric and GI Surgeon Dr Atul Peters, where I got hands on experience of Bariatric Nutritional Management. Every day was a new challenge; each patient comes up with some unique queries and issues. In March 2016 I finally ended up moving to Australia. It took almost 3-4 months to set up my own practice in Melbourne with help of my mentor and guide in this…
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26Jun 2018 by Aidan Muir
Shane Jeffrey Q&A

Shane Jeffrey Q&A

Other
Can you tell us a little bit about your career? My career had an interesting start I guess in that I didn’t complete my placement at university. I’ll share a little bit about how I got into eating disorders. I had two clinical placements: the first placement I did really well and the second placement I didn’t do really well with. I like to think it was a bit of a personality clash more than my clinical work. At the time, I wasn’t typical eating disorder dietitian. I ended up having to do an extra couple of weeks work at the Gold Coast Hospital to try and demonstrate my competencies, and out of that I passed the course and then I was offered a locum job—and out of that I…
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17Jun 2018 by Aidan Muir
Low-Fat vs Low-Carb Diets for Weight-Loss?

Low-Fat vs Low-Carb Diets for Weight-Loss?

Health
There is the age-old question of which is better for weight-loss: Low-Fat or Low-Carb diets? At the end of the day, it comes down to calories in and calories out. If calories and protein are matched, then the results should be equal. But that brings up a different question: What if one of the diets is easier to follow in the real world? Of course, you can show the results are the same if you account for all the variables in a strictly controlled study, but that doesn’t mean very much from a practical perspective for those looking to lose weight on their own. Due to this, I’m going to mainly focus this article on what I truly believe is one of the most interesting nutrition studies of the last…
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12Jun 2018 by Aidan Muir
Alicia Edge Q&A

Alicia Edge Q&A

Other
Can you please tell us a little bit about your career so far? I graduated in 2008, so I’m on the ten-year anniversary this year and I’m not even sure how that happened! I came out and, like everyone else, I struggled to find work—particularly in Newcastle where I graduated, because when you graduate in Newcastle those jobs are pretty few and far between and everybody wants to stay locally. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to stay if I wanted work. I’m from Taree originally which is two hours north of Newcastle, so I was lucky enough to get a job in community health and from there I ended up in a job in Taree in private practice. I was in employment there full-time for about a…
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09Jun 2018 by Aidan Muir
The Evidence-Based Dietary Treatment for Depression

The Evidence-Based Dietary Treatment for Depression

Health
For a long time, it has been known that there is some form of dietary link with depression. It doesn’t take a genius to look around and notice that people with depression often don’t have the best diets (although there are exceptions), but that brings up a chicken or the egg situation. Do they have poor diets because of the depression leading them to care less about their diets? Or is their poor diet one of the key factors in their depression? I believe it is likely a combination of both. Having worked with quite a lot of people with severe depression, I can clearly see that there are a lot of times where they throw any care in the world about good nutrition out the window, no matter how…
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28May 2018 by Aidan Muir
Andy The RD Q&A

Andy The RD Q&A

Other
1) Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I am a kale loving Canadian dietitian and nutrition blogger from Toronto, the place where I’ve lived my whole life and also home of worldwide rap phenomenon Drake. My life revolves around nutrition! I tell people what to eat in person, I write about what to eat on my blog and social media, and if I’m not doing one of those two things I am probably thinking about what I’m going to eat myself. I also happen to love playing and watching soccer. 2) Hypothetical situation: An overweight 30-year-old male with no cooking skills (and no interest in cooking) who gets takeout every night, comes to see you with a goal of weight-loss. What are the first options that you…
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12May 2018 by Aidan Muir
Lana Hirth Q&A

Lana Hirth Q&A

Other
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? My name is Lana Hirth. I’m a dietitian and nutritionist from Campbelltown (South West Sydney). I’ve lived in the South West all my life and there are some unique challenges living in this low-socioeconomic status (SES) area when it comes to nutrition. I work in a private practice clinic in the Campbelltown area and most people I see are referred from by their doctors under Medicare plans. What are some of the nutritional challenges faced by people living in low SES communities? There are many. High number of fast food outlets, long work hours, substance abuse and lower education levels are all factors that influence nutrition. One is summed up well by the ‘Red Rooster Line’ – the significant difference in…
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06May 2018 by Aidan Muir
Q & A with Brianna from The Ambitious Dietitian

Q & A with Brianna from The Ambitious Dietitian

Other
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your career? Well I always knew I wanted to be a dietitian. I did work experience in year 10 with a community dietitian and from then on that was always going to be the path I was going to take. I started doing Health Science (public health) at uni as a means to transfer into the 4-year bachelor which was relatively at the time… I then moved to Wollongong to do my dietetics, then went back to Melbourne and completed my health science degree so after 7 long years, I got both bachelors! I always thought I would go into community work or public health however my first job was servicing nursing homes across Victoria as well as consulting…
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