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…
Read More
24Mar 2018 by Aidan Muir
Are Low-Carb Diets Underutilised for Type 2 Diabetes?

Are Low-Carb Diets Underutilised for Type 2 Diabetes?

Health
As a dietitian, I have held back on talking publicly about a lot of things I strongly believe in. Deep down, I think this is based on being concerned with how other dietitians view me. I know that I am not alone in this and a lot of dietitians feel this way as well. My recent article on why I’m not a non-diet dietitian made that point clear to me. The inflow of private messages I got from people sharing their stories and why they weren’t speaking up on the topic was incredible. This is exactly why I am writing about low-carb diets for Type 2 Diabetes (referred to simply as diabetes for the rest of the post). It’s another topic that I personally have avoided speaking up about. Maybe…
Read More
08Mar 2018 by Aidan Muir
Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian

Why I’m Not a Non-Diet Dietitian

Other
I recently interviewed Tyson Tripcony and asked him the question “what would you like your legacy to be when you finish your career as a dietitian?” It’s a big question. He is 10x (if not more) ambitious than me, so I thought it would get an interesting answer. At the end of the interview, he threw a curveball and asked me the same question. I had never really thought about it. I’m not ambitious enough to want to be the best practitioner in any field within dietetics or even have a reputation for being near the peak. After a while, I realised that what I want to do is contribute to providing evidence that significant weight-loss is achievable (and maintainable) for a far greater percentage of people than statistics are currently…
Read More
17Feb 2018 by Aidan Muir
Joyce Haddad Q & A

Joyce Haddad Q & A

Other
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your career? I am an accredited practising dietitian, accredited nutritionist and personal trainer. I am currently a PhD candidate with the CSIRO and Flinders uni looking into improving the diet quality of households (parents and children). I run my own business where I do private consulting, community and public health work and I teach fitness classes. What are some of your favourite healthy snack ideas to recommend to clients? I am a sucker for peanut butter! Anything with that nutty goodness tastes delicious. So for those that enjoy peanut or nut butter, I usually recommend a date with ½ a teaspoon of peanut butter or healthy seedy crackers with peanut butter and sliced banana. Otherwise, the good old Greek…
Read More
05Oct 2017 by Eleise Britt
Nutrition on Twitter: The Starter Pack

Nutrition on Twitter: The Starter Pack

Other
For all the nutrition enthusiasts out there is a Twitter account going to benefit you? Managing multiple social media accounts can be tricky and sometimes time-consuming, so is it worth setting up another platform? In my opinion, the answer is yes. Without question, Twitter has to be one of the best resources for staying in the loop on trending nutrition and science topics. It is also a great tool for nutrition professionals to network and support each other. While I have been wanting to encourage my peers to get on Twitter for a while now, I recognise that starting out it can be difficult. The initial task of finding people tweeting about topics and issues you are interested in can take some time. So to make this process easier here…
Read More
20Jul 2017 by Aidan Muir
Simone Austin Q & A

Simone Austin Q & A

Other, Sports
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your career? I always wanted to work in sports nutrition and community nutrition. After graduation, I started working at a community health centre and then shortly after, part-time at the Western Bulldogs AFL club. So, I was doing what I wanted. And then, to cut a long story short (because it’s been 23 years), I increased my sports work when my son was born. It’s been nearly 18 years since then! The next thing I did was work with the Australian cricket team part-time for seven years. I have always done some private practice and some form of presenting throughout. For the past nine years, I have been working at Hawthorn Football Club. I’ve seen three premierships there and during…
Read More
10May 2017 by Nathan Baldwin
Guaranteeing a Job as a New Grad Dietitian

Guaranteeing a Job as a New Grad Dietitian

Other
Finishing a dietetics degree is stressful. Be it a Bachelors or Masters, there remains a constant chatter amongst both students and staff about the difficulty of finding a job. There are several hundreds of dietitians that graduate each year. Of the ~6000 APD’s in Australia, countless dietitians are out of work, looking for new jobs or returning from leave. Large hospitals offer 1-4 positions each year. You don’t have the business skills to run a private practice nor the time to learn them and industry rarely realises the value of dietitians. In the end, is it all worth it? There can be no doubt that finding a graduate job is an arduous task. But there are many steps you can take to put yourself in a prime position to get…
Read More
25Apr 2017 by Aidan Muir
Joe Leech Q & A

Joe Leech Q & A

Other
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I am a dietitian from Sydney, but currently living in Stockholm. I have a website, DietvsDisease.org that provides science-based resources for those living with diet-related diseases and conditions. As you can imagine this is a huge area, so I am building the database slowly with a few topics at a time. I also collaborate with healthline.com to produce videos which you can find on youtube and on my Diet vs Disease Facebook page. What is one piece of nutrition advice that you give which surprises people? Very few foods are absolutely healthy or unhealthy - it’s the quantities you eat and your relationship with that food that makes it healthy or unhealthy. Do you have a nutrition philosophy? What do you…
Read More
04Apr 2017 by Aidan Muir
Chloe McLeod Q & A

Chloe McLeod Q & A

Other
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? I’ve lived in Sydney for the last five years, but I grew up in South Australia in the country. When I finished university, I decided that I would not stay in Adelaide, which is where I studied, and I got a job in Northeast Victoria working in the local health service there. I stayed there for a couple of years; I’d planned on a year, but I really liked the job and the people, so I stayed longer. And then I moved down to Melbourne for about a year before moving up to Sydney. I’ve always been interested in food and nutrition and how food impacts on the body, and I’ve got food intolerances myself to some degree, which is…
Read More
06Feb 2017 by Aidan Muir
Matt O’Neill Q & A

Matt O’Neill Q & A

Other
  Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into the industry? I got into the nutrition industry triggered by a passion for metabolism and how the human body responds to both exercise and nutrition. Dual qualifications in exercise and nutrition gave me a unique perspective on weight management, and that’s been my passion for the last 25 years. I’ve also been training health professionals in weight management and more recently with my Metabolic Jumpstart program helping over 24,000 regular Australians lose weight, get into shape and manage their diet. Is most of your work focused on regular Australians or is more of your time spent focusing on health professionals? On balance, it’s more health professionals and empowering them with the knowledge and know-how to…
Read More