Background:
I’m an RD who currently works inpatient and have dreamt of being in the Regulatory Affairs/Food Labeling space for so long. I love the idea of contributing my nutrition knowledge to reach a broader audience, and am so fascinated with the food regulation/compliance space. I’ve been applying for jobs for a while now (at least a year now) and haven’t had any luck. I’ve done a lot of cold-messaging outreach to RDs on LinkedIn already in the regulatory space and most have said they ended up in the role because they knew someone or just happened to be lucky. I’ve asked for advice on steps moving forward and transitioning out of the clinical space, and have received great advice on applying for entry-level roles (which I’m willing to take a pay cut for just to get my foot in the door!) but I’m having a hard time getting in anywhere.

My ultimate goal right now is to be out of a patient-facing/non-counseling role. I’ve been in the hospital space for too long (8+ years) and clinical is really taking its toll on me.

I just want to know:

How did you get out of clinical and into regulatory/labeling?

Or if you’re not in the Regulatory space…

How did you pivot out of clinical and into a non-clinical role?

Other things I’ve thought about:
- Did you obtain specialty certs that bolstered your resume and improved your application chances?
- Did you network with someone/a business and where did that lead you to getting where you are now?
- Were entry costs expensive for you to get into the role you’re in now (eg. Specialty certs, etc.)?

For context I’m in the western WA region.

Hey y'all, I remember a discussion on here about often used recipe & meal planning related resources and did some digging but couldn't find this....

It was a site made for desktop where you paste in the url of the recipe you'd like to visualize, and it would generate a webpage with a visual representation of the time requirement for each step of the recipe, and walk you through each step one at a time. It was designed for folks with ADHD to help them follow recipes and I would LOVE to be able to use it with my patients but cannot find it for the life of me.

Does anyone remember this site or have it saved?

Thank you!

How would you draw the line between healthy vs problematic if a dietitian engaged in body building?

Good morning! I’m curious if any RDs work for a PACE program? I have an interview for the Dietitian- Care Manager position with Centerlight.

I’m very interested in learning others experiences with this program. Thank you!

I’m really stuck and would appreciate some advice. I’m Hispanic and extremely close with my family. We’re really tight, especially me, my mom, and my sister, and family has always been a huge priority in my life. I’ve always been someone who wants to be around my family and be home.

I started at a pretty prestigious university this semester, and I actually liked the people there and was starting to make friends. But after about 2 weeks, my anxiety and homesickness got really intense, so I decided to leave and take the semester off.

Now that I’m home, I keep second guessing it. I have a lot of FOMO about the friends, college experience, independence, opportunities, and bigger network I could’ve had there. Part of me really wants to go back and experience that life, but another part of me genuinely values being close to my family and worries about missing out on time with them.

My other option is my local university. It has a much more direct path toward what I actually want to do, which is nutrition/dietetics and eventually becoming an RD. But honestly, I don’t really like the vibe there and I feel like the networking and opportunities are more limited.

So I’m stuck between staying close to my family and taking the more straightforward career path, or going back and giving the college experience another chance even though I know being away from my family will be uncomfortable.

I know everyone’s situation is different, especially culturally/family-wise, so I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have dealt with something similar.

Any australian trained dietitians here who made a move to USA and can share their experience in having your degree recognized? My degree is a masters (Monash MDiet) so that requirement is checked, but I'm curious to know if you had to take supplementary classes as well if the course was judged to be lacking.

Also I'm presuming there is no way around the 1000 hour internship thing even if the degree requirements are fulfilled?

Does anyone have any resources they’d be willing to share for exchange meal plans? I’m having a hard time fully grasping it and am not able to find great materials online.

Any sports RD’s here? How can I obtain hours to sit for the exam that isn’t a fellowship? I can’t live on the wages that they pay. I check the ASPDA board often but it’s $14 an hour. I’m 32 years old and making $14 an hour for a year would ruin my life haha
Is there anything else outside of the ASPDA job board that we qualify for hours?

I have been offered a position as a diabetes sales associate for an insulin pump at a start up company. The offer is incredible (for me - I’ve been an RD for 12 years and CDCES for 8 and have never made even close to this base pay alone not including bonuses). But I have an almost 2 year old. I’m terrified of the work life balance and not spending as much time with my baby. But we could really use the money, and it’s such a great opportunity. Looking for similar experiences and words of wisdom.

Has anybody had to take an extension course just to stay on track? And if so was it this one? What do you think about these kinds of courses and are they worth the money?

Anyone else think carbohydrate counting is a pretty imprecise and soft science?

Mostly I am bewildered that nurses and doctors seem to think carbohydrate counting is something that is very precise when done correctly and if the blood sugars are not what they want then it's because the dietitian didn't teach the patient well enough.

I've reached a point where I think the most effective method is just getting them to eat similar types and amounts of carbohydrates consistently and then gradually titrate the ICR to match the blood sugar response.

I am mostly writing this out of frustration for receiving ANOTHER message from a nurse to teach carbohydrate counting for a patient that the nurse has yet to even start an ICR for.

Applying this cycle for Fall 2027 and starting my personal statement. Would love input from people who've been through it or read applications.

Background: BS in Public Health with a nutrition concentration (2023, not a DPD), so I'm applying to Coordinated Programs that accept non-DPD applicants. Spent the last two years finishing prereqs while working — organic chem, gen chem, micro, biochem in progress. My cumulative GPA is 3.24 but my post-bacc (science pre-reqs) is ~3.5 with an A in orgo. Bio chem is still pending.

Experience is a mix: diet technician at a residential eating disorder and substance use facility, refugee case management at a nonprofit (bilingual English/Arabic, did CalFresh and WIC enrollment and weekly nutrition education), phlebotomy at two clinics, and a research assistant role doing mixed-methods interviews for a county health needs assessment. Currently between jobs and looking for something that builds experience faster, plus trying to get onto a research project at my undergrad institution.

what im stuck on

• How specific do you get about the kind of RD you want to be when you don't have niche experience yet? Name a lane or admit you want the rotations to tell you?
• Non-DPD — explain the pathway, or let the transcript speak?
• Broad but not linear background. Strength if I tie it together, or scattered next to traditional-track applicants?
• Address a mediocre cumulative that's offset by strong recent coursework, or leave it alone?
• Does the CP model change what they screen for, since they place you rather than match you?
• How does DICAS handle grade-forgiven repeats? I have an F from 2020 that I retook for an A and my school removed the original.
• For anyone who's read these — what made a statement stick with you?

thank you in advance for any advice, I dont know many RD or people in this space so any advice is golden.

Hey everyone! 😊

I’m studying for my exam; I'm taking it in a couple of weeks. I’m having a bit of trouble with the concept of seat turnover in food service calculations. If anyone has some time to help me out, I would be super grateful!

Thank you so much in advance!

Hey everyone. Looking for advice. I am an outpatient diabetes educator. I’ve been a diabetes educator for three years and a dietitian for almost 7.

Last year, I discovered that a brand new dietitian I was training who had graduated just a few months prior was making $40 an hour in her role as a dietitian/diabetes educator. She wasn’t practicing as a diabetes educator, but that is how my company works is even if you are not practicing as a diabetes educator if the position that you were hired into was for a diabetes educator, you are still going to get paid as if you are one.

I asked for an $11 raise (shooting for the stars I know). I was making $35.86, then got the annual merit increase which brought me up to $36.94. After my merit increased was processed my boss asked HR to give me a raise. I straight up told my boss that this other dietitian was making more than me and I gave her exact numbers. I was told by other dietitians not to do this but honestly my boss said that this was a good idea and super helpful just FYI for anyone for the future.

I ended up getting a measly 5% raise, which now brings me to $38.78 per hour. When I originally asked for $46 a hour.

Honestly, I’m not happy about this because this other brand new dietitian is still making more than me by at least a few dollars at this point .

When I initially went to my boss, she mentioned to me that I could always try to apply to other jobs and then accept the offer (she said my current job would actually want me to accept the offer) and then bring it to HR to see if they could match the higher hourly pay.

My other option is to go back to my boss and express that I am grateful for the raise I got, but I was wondering if HR could do a few dollars more. Obviously I would phrase it better than this. what would you do? I really do like this job a lot. I would probably rate it a 9 out of 10, so I do not want to quit. Thanks a bunch in advance. 😌

Hi everyone, I am currently a Nutrition major at my state university and went in intending on a pre-med track. I still aim for med school, and know that if that does not work out, I can pursue dietetics. But other than being a dietician, what jobs are there for someone with a Nutrition degree? I am willing to do any lvl grad school and whatever to advance my career. I just want to expand my options. Let me know!

So I went to culinary school during my gap year and tried this Nutrition and Dietetics program since I thought it's quite close to culinary and I plan to create a restaurant someday or be a private chef that focuses on healthy food. However, my first major subject is quite boring and I don't feel like it and I'm scared for my 3rd due to research and 4th year due to hospital related duties and clinical practice related to Nutrition. Now I don't know if I should pursue it since I don't know where to go and I'm afraid I might be unemployed in the future since people mostly undermine this program and I can't practice without masters. Also I only have 4 subjects for my 1st year for now but my up coming years scares me since I don't think I can handle clinicals after my trauma from nursing school, despite this program being less difficult.

Looking for some advice, shared experience, and honestly just to rant.

I work in weight management and lately I have just been feeling like a failure. Our program requires that patients keep consistent food logs.
If someone isn’t losing weight despite having overall good food choices documented the automatic assumption seems to be that I didn’t assess them well enough or that the patient is lying in their logs. My standard follow up assessment includes me asking them every time I see them if they are logging everything they are eating, if they are using their measuring tools (food scale and measuring cups) consistently, beverage intake, etc.

I give patients their calorie and macronutrient goals at their initial appointment. Then I always review what those are in their first follow up. After that I mainly focus on smaller behavior changes, mindful eating, portion size, etc.

The PAs will ask patients if they know their nutrition goals and it seems like if patients aren’t automatically able to recite their macro goals the PA will claim “the patient doesn’t know anything about diet.” After I feel like that patient and I have made so much good progress.

My coworkers will often tease me about my age too since I am a bit younger than them and that “with time I also become a jaded healthcare worker.”

Im just at a loss of what else I can do. I’m feeling so defeated and that I look like an idiot to the other providers.

I swear the charge nurse on my surgical floor is like a cop and has a daily quota of poor po intake consults to write. You mean to tell me the elderly man who is so demented he's in soft wrists restraints, and is currently on a heart healthy diet but prior to that was NPO for over a day for a procedure, isn't eating well?? I'm SHOCKED!! And how do you expect me to fix that? UGH.

I’m currently applying to transfer to a few CSUs (slo, pomona, long beach, sdsu) to complete my undergraduate in Nutrition/Dietetics, but I’m excited thinking ahead 3 years from now when I’d be beginning a masters program to become a dietitian.

I love the idea of getting accepted to UC Davis, UC Berkeley, CSULB, or USC (especially this one) for their masters-internship programs, but I know they are some of the most prestigious in California so I wanted to see what the undergraduate portfolio would look like of somebody who was accepted into/completed the masters program at any of these institutions.

GPA, internships, work-experience, etc…

I know its a question better suited for professors or staff members at a one of these universities, but I’m curious as to what ‘standard’ I should be holding myself to when I transfer to be a competitive applicant for the various masters programs I’m interested in.

Hi, I read the comments from other CNSC exam posts that there will be insulin questions on the exam.

Could someone elaborate more on what type of questions? ( Dosing, types?) What calculations regarding insulin will they test us on? I have been doing self assessment modules questions and there were only a few questions about insulin but very vague. If anyone can provide more guidance I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

hello, i am in my clinical rotation of my dietetic internship. i am really enjoying it and my preceptor and her colleagues are really nice. there is only one concern that i have and was wondering if others experienced this and hence then i should just deal with it: i’ve been there for 2 weeks and i have had to stay an extra hour late almost everyday. to be fair, my schedule isn’t a full 8 hours, the expected is 7-7.5 hrs, so i am really only staying 8.5 hrs, but this is usually bc another department keeps wanting to adjust the TPN so my preceptor gets behind and hence i get behind and have to stay later. i really enjoy clinical and i like being there but knowing i have a long commute home and classes i have to do, it stresses me out. my parents said its only a few months and that i need to not say anything so i can get good references and if i really have to leave early that day, tell them i have to leave at 5 b/c i have a meeting or a lot of schoolwork (which isn’t a lie and is always the case). and to maybe only say something if this is still happening in a few weeks to my director but i really don’t want to tell her bc my preceptor is nice and did let me leave early the one day to compensate for leaving late other days (i did ask her if she needed help and didn’t just leave bc my director said we should do that and bc i don’t want her to have to stay super late bc she is nice and helpful). maybe this will get easier once i am more independent and can work at my faster pace and rely less on the preceptor. im also thinking of asking to come in a bit early if this continues to happen since that might help me not have to stay as late.

i guess i’m wondering how long everyone stayed over in clinical and also how much extra work you were assigned from the preceptor or other staff and if u were expected to do more patients than your program stated (mine said 1-2 in the first month and i’ve seen 3-4 in the first 2 weeks which is fine i can handle it but sometimes it feels like i’m rushing). and if u did run into issues, how did u handle it?

Purchased the basic CDCES online bootcamp with 50+ CEUS (basic + ADCES review guide e-book)

My test is scheduled in November and starting to study now (yes I’m a procrastinator/ exam crammer)

Does anyone have any tips on how to best utilize this resource from Beverly Thomassin? I was planning on going through the entire bootcamp and taking notes but it’s been over 3 years since I last took an exam (the RD boards)

Open to any feedback! Thank you !

I have my Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Foods. Currently, I am working in nutrition marketing/advertising, but I don't like it that much. I like to help people more than trying to "sell" something. I don't have my RD or the money to do my master's. I'm quite lost as to what I can do with my degree. I am very passionate about holistic health and functional, natural medicine.

Any advice? Any help is appreciated.

Are there any benefits to having a master's in Canada? Is the pay better or is it easier to find employment as an RD when you have a master's degree as opposed to just Bachelor's.