4 things I’ve Learned about Health and Aging as a Dietetic Intern

I’ve been studying to be a dietitian for eight years–nights, weekends, all while navigating a 40 plus hour work week as a teacher and senior level administrator–and everything has led up to this final moment. The Dietetic Internship.

This internship consists of 1200 hours in a variety of settings to allow future dietitians to see, understand, and experience the range of our field. 

So far, it has also really solidified my passion for preventative care.

I’ve spent the last few months working at food banks and school cafeterias, learning the role nutrition plays in feeding our communities and our kids. This month, however, I found myself interning at the hospital for inpatient clinical and, while I knew the science, I was unprepared.

• I was unprepared for the emotional labor that is required when working in healthcare.  

• I was unprepared for the sound of the wound vac removing dead tissue from a patient whose uncontrolled diabetes was preventing their healing. 

• I was unprepared for the gasping of a congestive heart failure patient as they tried to get air after walking across the room.

• I was unprepared for the jaundice and swelling that accompany alcohol related cirrhosis.

I knew about all of these things from textbooks and lectures…but I had never experienced them. 

To be honest, my only real experiences with aging have been with mostly active grandparents. I mean, my grandfather is in his 90s and still walks every day, works out, and is fully independent. 

These last few weeks I had the opportunity to look at a very different side of aging and it scared me. With the internship, a part time job, online classes, and studying for the CDR exam in order to obtain my credential, the one thing I have been consistently putting on the backburner is my health…and no, the irony is not lost on me as someone choosing to become a health professional.

So it is time to make a change. Here are a few things I have learned that will be defining my next steps.

1. The time to start taking care of yourself is now. Not tomorrow, not Monday, not New Year’s–NOW. Healthy aging truly starts in your 20s and 30s with preventative care, a healthy diet, and regular movement. Seeing the end results of a lifetime of choices has been truly eye opening. You can start by going to your regular check ups and catching things early. These tests help you identify things like hypertension, prediabetes, and blood lipid levels that may cause problems down the road. Trust me, you want to do whatever you can now to prevent the “Four Horsemen”, also known as Heart Disease, Cancer, Neurodegenerative Disease, and Type 2 Diabetes.

2. Exercise and movement define how you age. We naturally lose muscle as we age and, according to Harvard, after age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% per decade, and while I am a tad salty that “aging” and “30” are in the same sentence, this really puts things into perspective. Many of the elderly patients in the emergency room or ICU are arriving after a fall. Some recover and, sadly, some do not. The National Institute of Health includes strength and balance exercises in their “Six Tips to Prevent Falls” for a reason. Regular exercise, especially strength training, is imperative to aging healthily and independently. 

3. Find your people. The rooms that I find easiest to walk into are filled with loved ones–friends, family, and partners holding cups to mouths and making the patient laugh (some even despite the pain of a few broken ribs). Even when a patient is not fully aware of their surroundings, I truly believe that there is healing in something as simple as holding a hand. Build your community. Show up for others. Create a life where someone will want to hold your hand. 

4. Do not ride a motorcycle (and if you still choose to, please wear a helmet). I have only interned in the ICU for a week, receiving only 3 patients a day, and each day there has been a patient who was in a motorcycle crash…and some do not make it. These patients are often young men between the ages of 18 and 35 with so much life ahead of them and it is heartbreaking to watch their families fear-filled eyes every time someone new walks into the room to take vitals. I am in the camp that we have to take some calculated risks to live a big life, but, after seeing what I’ve seen, getting on a motorcycle is not it.

I hope this helps put the importance of your health into perspective and, if you want more insights, nutrition tips, and delicious recipes from someone who loves using nutrition as prevention, feel free to follow along. I’d love to have you!

The teacher in me also loves questions–so please leave yours in the comments! 

Disclaimer: Bodies are weird and sometimes bad things just happen. Additionally, people make choices for a variety of reasons that may be dictated by their current socioeconomic status, mental health, education on certain topics, and more–in other words, I am not blaming the patient for their disease/illness or ending up in the hospital. I just wanted to highlight some anecdotal trends and the things I’ve observed since spending time in a clinical setting.