Episode 48
[00:00:00] Welcome to The Be About Being Better podcast, where we help people make evidence based sustainable. Small changes for their health that compounded the huge shifts towards a better, more vibrant life. I'm your host Abbie Stasior, a health and life coach, registered dietician, a master's graduate from Columbia University, and a certified intuitive eating counselor.
And I believe that we can't make lasting or meaningful change single handedly. So I'm so happy that you're here so that together you can see that a diet free, sustainable lifestyle is possible, and you can leverage that to live a better life. And remember my disclaimer, This podcast is meant to give you general information.
And it's not meant to substitute or replace medical advice, a diagnosis or serve as treatment.
Abbie: Hello. Hello, y'all. This is my first recorded podcast episode as an official or registered dietician, like I am so excited. Thank you, thank you, thank you y'all. The amount of messages, the amount of prayers, the amount of encouragement and support that I have gotten on this journey from y'all. I, I truly am speechless and I am so grateful.
I'm like gonna get emotional right now. Um, I. There was just such an outpouring of support. Thank you so much for those that have been there since the beginning. And there are many of you that have been there since the beginning. Like when be about being better. First started and when I first started my master's program, like y'all know, I was trying to be out there avoiding four years of school, not going to medical school.
And here I am now, just ended four years of school. Um, you all know how difficult it has been trying to keep up with. My business, my physical health relationships on top of being in school full-time. It has not been easy and I've learned so much throughout the journey and I realized I'm very good at being busy, but I am very much looking forward to not being in school full-time and just diving headfirst back into be about being better back into my business.
Full-time and to get some of my time back. Ugh. I'm just, I'm so excited and I'm so excited to officially be a registered dietician so that I can fully serve y'all. And that's why I wanted to bring Cassandra Lapore onto the podcast today. She works for All ex dietetics and I'm an ambassador through them, and it's a company that helps future registered dieticians, rds to be.
Really just optimize and be successful on their journey. Every stage of the journey before they apply to programs to get their required courses while they're in graduate school, while they're in their internships, matching for internships and everything with the exam. Like they just, they truly do it all.
So I wanted to bring her on today, and this episode is gonna be applicable for. Rds to be in future registered dieticians or people that are maybe considering this career path. And also y'all that are just in my GE general audience that don't, don't wanna be a registered dietician, but maybe want to work with a registered dietician and feel like you need some health support down the line.
So we're gonna be talking about, okay, what is the difference between a nutritionist and a dietician? In this episode we talk about what are the benefits to seeing a dietician. Um, and then we'll dive into some rd to be specific things you know are best tips for studying for the exam, stuff about the internship and just stuff about the journey and some exciting events coming up.
So definitely check out the show notes 'cause there's gonna be a ton of links, but it's all for your benefit and if you want to work with me, Now that I'm officially a, a registered dietician, it means I can really provide that medical nutrition therapy. And in the episode we'll get into what that is more specifically.
But I can take on, you know, people that have chronic health conditions and I am licensed now to be able to provide you specific nutrition advice for those chronic health conditions. And so we're in the process of doing a huge revamp of the Be About Being Better website. So I'll talk about which conditions I am specifically.
Taking on. Um, but I also have, I am open now to a whole network of different specialists. So if you have something that I don't specialize in, I can connect you with another dietician that can, and we are in the works of. Aligning with different insurance companies. It's a lot of paperwork, a lot of bureaucracy.
But this has been highly requested by so many of you over the years. Can you please take insurance? Can you take it? And I was like, I can't yet, but we are on the way. I am actually filing the paperwork. Um, This afternoon after I get done recording with this, I got my last, uh, piece of paperwork notarized.
It was my first time getting something notarized. I was like, adulting. Love it. Um, oh, so just that just felt so good. So we are in the process of aligning with the insurance companies. So by the end of the year we should be able to do that. It takes forever to hear back from them, but, um, But it'll be worth it.
The end make our programs and my counseling much more accessible and we're revamping what our programs look like. So, so many amazing things will be about being better on the horizon. So I appreciate y'all being here on the journey and, and supporting me and, and not giving up on me and believing in me.
And it's just all the prayers. Thank you all so much. I really. I really felt it. I, I struggled during the RD exam. It was, I'm literally here by the grace of God. Um, so I appreciate your support and your prayers, and let's dive into this episode with Cassandra Labour.
All right, All right,
y'all welcome back
to
the V about
being Better podcast.
I
am
so excited
to
be joined
by
Cassandra Laur.
Cass, Thank
you
so much
for joining
the podcast
today.
Cassandra: Thank
you for having me, Abby. Such a pleasure. I'm a
huge fan
of you. I
loved working with you, and
I just love everything you do.
I'm so happy
that you
passed your exam and
you're a dietician. Now, I feel like we have to do a little congratulatory
Little intro here for you because you passed your exam
on the first draw.
And I'm so happy
for you.
Abbie: Girl.
Thank
you so much. I
really
appreciate you
saying that. I literally could not have done
it without
All
access.
And I
appreciate you being here
too
because you're
like the face
of all
access
dietetics.
I'm like also
fangirling right now
and I'm happy that
being an ambassador for them has
brought
us closer together
and
yeah,
we actually like,
have a
friendship now versus just, you
know, professional.
So
I appreciate that.
Cassandra: Of course, I'm happy to be here.
Abbie: Oh,
well, for
our audience to get to know you a
little bit too, wanna
dive in with our classic question. What is something
that
you've been through
in your
life?
that now at
the time was really hard, was definitely
an
obstacle. But now
hindsight's 2020,
you're on the other side
of it.
And you're
actually really grateful that you
went through that
experience because it changed
you for the
better. What,
is that something that you've been
through?
Cassandra: Yeah, nothing really.
there
wasn't a specific moment
that happened in my life, but there was
definitely a period
in my early twenties where
I struggled with self-love
and loving myself
and. I put a lot of pressure
on my external relationships, so my family relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships,
and I never
really realized that I had
to
love myself first, and that it
takes an
entire
process
and it takes a long time, and it's a journey to grow into
self-love. So nothing really specific happened, but it was
just the journey to becoming a dietician and a lot of the pressure there and
focusing on my professional career. And I never really just
took time to
invest in
me and
who I am
outside the field of dietetics
and
who I am
outside of my friendships
and family members and everything else going on in my life. Like
who is Cassandra really? And I really
struggled
with
that and
started looking into it more and just working on
me and loving
myself so, I definitely think that was probably the hardest thing that
I had
to go through.
And now on the
other side of it
just turned
25 and I am a lot more, let's say,
experienced in
the self-love
area
than a lot of other 25 year old girls out there that are still struggling.
And of course I'm
still
struggling too,
And I think a lot of people hit that point in their
life where. State aside that they need to start focusing on it, or something
happens and they
realize, you know, I
need to focus on me and figure out who I am
alone
without anybody else. So, I definitely feel like the whole journey of self-love was probably my biggest
obstacle in
Abbie: Oh,
that is so good. I
really appreciate
you
saying that
because
you
know
I
don't know if everyone, especially at,
you
know, 25 has gone through
these huge life-changing
things
or like a whole bunch of trauma, but if
you don't
have
self-love,
like you
are
going to. Struggle and
hit obstacles
later
in
life.
So the sooner that
you can.
Learn that
lesson that
you can't find
happiness and validation in external
things, and it really has to
come from
the inside.
The
sooner that
you can
figure that out, the better your life, the more
successful
and
happier
you're and
more fulfilled you're gonna
be. So
that's honestly an
amazing testimony and.
It
is so
easy to get
consumed in
the field of
dietetics
and to
be
in
our bubble.
And I think most people
in our field are
very
type A
high achieving. You have to be very disciplined
or literally
there's no way you can pass the
exam if you are like,
you
know, not, not dedicated
and passionate.
And I think that
can
be a slippery slope because
if you
are
so high
achieving,
You
can really teeter the line
with perfectionism
and
all or nothing mentality, and
that
can lead to unhealthy
habits and a
lot of negative self-talk.
So
it's
good that
you've been able to embrace
this field, but
also
untie your self-worth from being a dietician
and
the work that you
do.
Cassandra: Absolutely.
It's definitely taking me
a long time to realize that my career never
a hundred percent consumes me, and it
shouldn't be the primary focus in my life.
And there should be so
many other things that you have
going on
that you care
about
and you worry about.
Um, but there's a lot
of career changes in the field of
dietetics. You probably know this, Abby,
I know in undergrad I had 40,
56 year olds
in my lab courses and in my lecture classes coming back, changing careers, wanting to become a dietician
because.
They had
this feeling that they just
wanted to
help people nutritionally and have
that primary focus in their life.
So we know that there are a lot of career changers. Your career should never a hundred percent consume you, consume you. If
you wanna change jobs, if you wanna pivot,
whatever you
wanna do,
you
more than
welcome to and you shouldn't feel like you're a career.
Takes up most of your life.
Abbie: Mm.
Yes. Yes.
And
it's never
too late. I was
just listening to
Gary v. Um,
and,
you know, he's big
in the entrepreneur
space,
and he,
this
woman, there's always people like
asking him
random
questions and then he'll post, you
know, his responses to
it. And
this woman was like, you know, I'm
I'm
40
and I wanna change careers.
I think I wanna be
an entrepreneur,
but I just feel like it, it's too late for me
Cassandra: It's never too late.
Abbie: Right.
It's never too late.
and he's like,
woman,
you have like at least another 40 years, people are living longer. It's
easier to be on
social media
now. You don't even
have
to
leave your house. And there are
so many,
they always come up on my for you page, but there are so
many like grandmas that just go viral and are so
famous.
Like you could be one of those people.
Yeah. Like
Cassandra: There's the one grandma
that I have to follow,
that she talks about date. She's single now
and widowed. I, I
forget
her name, but
she's always dancing
and talking about
like,
oh,
something,
something. My ex-boyfriend,
she's just living her
life.
Abbie: Living her
best
life.
I love
it. And
you know
what? I'm sure she's monetized
TikTok because
she gets
Cassandra: Oh, absolutely.
Abbie: followers.
So, hey, it is
truly never too late.
And we'll link up in the show notes
too, cuz I know all Access Diets has that
document
or that download
with all the different
careers
And honestly
that opened my eyes
up
to a lot. I was like,
wow, dieticians
can do
so
much. When I wasn't even
planning on being
a dietician,
I feel
like
people
are
asking me that a lot now. Like, oh, like
how, you know, what was your undergrad like
with dietetics? I
was like,
I,
I didn't,
my undergrad
was not
in dietetics, like I was
planning on
going
to
med school,
and then I
started my business, which
most
listeners, you
know, know my whole
story of
leaving
med school,
pulling my
applications,
and.
Diving into
my business. And
then I wasn't even
planning
on
being a
dietician
at first. Like
I went
back
to
get my
master's
in
nutrition
and
exercise physiology.
Cause
I knew that
my
clients needed that.
And it wasn't
until
I was meeting
with my
director,
I.
In
my master's
program,
going over
my courses
where
she was like, oh, you
know,
it's
just a few extra classes
and like
a little internship
and you
could be a
registered
dietician.
Like
do
you wanna do that?
And
I was
like, alright, sure.
Like
I, I feel like I was
signing blindly on the
dotted
line, like
I had
no idea. And she literally
said, little internship,
Cassandra: she didn't even
mention the
exam.
Abbie: Didn't mention
it was
unpaid, unpaid labor.
Um, no, but the internship really, um, was such an
amazing experience.
Oh,
you
know,
I grew
so much and it really was helpful for the exam
cause I
was
able to pull
from patient experiences
with the questions.
, but I think you have
a different story
when
it comes
to entering dietetics. So what is your journey to getting into this field?
Cassandra: Yeah. So I'll tell you how I first kind of
landed upon dietetics. So in high school,
do you, did you have a Finsta?
Like a
Abbie: Um,
I
did
not, but a
lot
of my friends
did.
Cassandra: It
was like a whole rage
at the time,
and
you would post your mishmash. Um, so I had a fake food Instagram,
so I
would make recipes and put my healthy
snacks and everything I was eating. And I had like over a thousand posts and like 75 followers of
close friends and family. Um, I, at the time I
definitely
should have been public
because probably could have been monetizing
off of that from,
Abbie: yeah,
Cassandra: 10
years ago.
but I was so shy and didn't really believe
in social media then, so I would just post my food
and I was
like, wait,
I enjoy this so much,
let's just
make a career out of it.
So I looked up becoming a
dietician. I actually
knew that I had to go
to an
accredited program and I knew I wanted to go to. School in California from New Jersey. I just , grew up watching
In the OC and I just had
to.
Abbie: I
had to, had to,
Cassandra: I landed on San Diego State University. I did my
D P D and bachelor's there in
Foods nutrition,
and then
matched to
my master's in DI program back in New Jersey.
Um, but like you were talking
about job opportunities. I know you may
hear this a lot
or I.
Have
the
idea
that a dietician
needs to work in healthcare
or a hospital working in
clinical.
And I was always told that by my professors. They were like, you need to go into clinical. That is what you're all going to
do. You have to start
there and then you can do whatever else
after. But I
knew the whole time like, Do I
need to start there?
Because
on social media now I'm
seeing media dieticians and entrepreneur dieticians, private practices, and
they didn't go into clinical first,
but it's
not really what you
hear and it's not really what's
recommended.
So, But I always knew that I loved clinical, but I just, it wasn't long
term for me
and I knew
I wanted to do something
else, so I landed
upon
the media communications and
business side of the field, and
that's
how we work together.
Now, Abby, I'm the Director of Business Development for All Access Dietetics.
I think we kind
of have
the
same RD anniversary date. I took mine RD exam July 8th, and then you were
around the same time.
Abbie: Yeah,
I'm on the 10th.
Cassandra: similar
RD anniversary dates, um,
and I've been an RD now for almost a year, still
working with
all Access
dietetics, and
we are just
a company that helps future dieticians become dieticians.
We make that journey
a little
bit
easier
and we can talk about what you've used for all access dietetics and how we've been
able
to help you
as well.
Abbie: Honestly, I feel
like
all
access is so great.
Just genuinely.
I, um,
Like,
I
mean, everything with the
exam, but
even before
we even start talking
about exam prep,
knowing how many
different careers were out there and having a
resource
for that, having
the clinical
download,
that was
huge.
Um, I think those were
like the,
the two
main things that I
used before going into
it.
Oh. And
even
like learning
about the
different,
like attending the
different webinars
and knowing the different
types
of.
Starters.
and the studying pitfalls
that you
can fall
into
attending that webinar, like
before going into.
Hardcore
studying
when I was developing my plan
earlier on
in the internship was really
helpful cause I
knew what
to look
out for.
So I feel like all access dietetics wasn't just
giving
me
the
information that I
needed
to know, but it was
teaching me how to study and how to
approach my clinical
rotations with a
better mindset,
more confidence, and
it's nice
to be around.
A
community. I think if you're in a small cohort with your internship class or your D P D
class,
It can
kind of be
isolating. It
can be in
a very
small bubble. So it's nice to meet other people in the
dietician, RD to
B community that are
also supporting you.
Yeah.
Cassandra: Absolutely. I'm so glad that we've been
able to help you.
I know I used All acts of Dietetics all the time.
I seriously
would not have been accepted
into a program without them and
all their free resources and their coaching programs.
So we can talk a little bit
more about
that
as well.
If you are listening and you're
interested in
becoming a registered dietician,
you can head to all access dietetics.com. I'm sure
we'll leave that in the show notes as
well.
We
have expert coaching available. If you're applying
to
dietetic
internships, if you wanna go back
to get your
bachelor's, apply
to coordinated graduate
programs. There are many
different routes that you
can take
to become a dietician now, and it really
doesn't
have to take that long or
cost you
that much money because there
are so
many different opportunities and
routes that you can take.
Abbie: I
know that's
such a gift
cuz
I
paid for my
master's program
separately
and then I had, you know, I had to
pay
for
the internship
and
that was before a lot of
these
coordinated programs
were coming
out. So
it honestly is getting
more and more affordable now,
which
is good
because it'll actually be covered
by.
you know, student loans
and things like that. If you do a combined program, such a
gift and you get it done
in less time,
like
for
me it'll
be four
years
I was out
here trying to avoid
medical
school
and being in school for four years
that I ended up
being
in school
for four
years. But
here we are, we're
we
are where we are, meant
to be. Um,
so in your opinion,
Cass, like,
what,
what do you
feel like are the
biggest differences
between a nutritionist and
dietician?
Because I feel like those are very
interchangeable terms. And in your opinion, the benefits of being a dietician and, and working with one.
Cassandra: Yeah, so
I'm sure you've heard this before.
A registered dietician can be a nutritionist, but nutritionist cannot be considered a registered dietician. So the word registered dietician nutritionist, you'll see the credential as RD or R D N. It's
a
legally protected
title. So
registered dietician nutritionists are legally
allowed to provide medical nutrition therapy, and
there are so many job opportunities as as a registered dietician,
you'll
get licensure if
your state
has licensure.
Some states
do not as of now,
but if there is someone going around calling themselves a nutritionist
and they are not accredited or registered from
the C D R
and have a
registered dietician credential, then they are not legally allowed to provide you M n
T, and
they're likely
just calling themselves that they have no evidence.
Based
practice or
guidelines that
they're recommending to you. That's why it's very important to be up to date and you
know how
to look for the RD credentials when someone is on social
media or trying
to offer you
coaching packages.
Abbie: And
even people in the
fitness space are
providing
meal plans,
but it is only the registered
Dietician RD or R D N.
That can be
prescribing
a
meal
plan. So if someone's giving
you
a macro breakdown
and giving
you, you know,
whole meal
plan of different
recipes,
technically that's illegal.
If they're
not
an
rd.
Cassandra: Exactly.
Abbie: good. So yeah, people listening need, you gotta
be a
critical consumer. Yeah,
definitely not good. And um,
I feel like, just to
clear up for
people too,
like the medical
nutrition therapy is the
nutrition advice
that we
would
be giving you, prescribing you as if it
was a
medication that a
doctor would
be
giving you
for a
specific
health
condition.
Like if
you have
diabetes,
if you have
P
C O S, if
you're at risk
for heart disease, or,
um, if
you have.
Even I
B S I B D,
you know,
uc, Crohn's.
I'm trying
to
think
of like what
my what my clients have anything thyroid like
you need specific
nutrition advice for those conditions.
And a nutritionist is not legally able to provide
that to you.
Cassandra: Yes, and they are not given the correct education or supervised practice learning
from
a dietician in the healthcare setting to be
able to
know how to help you in
those disease states.
Abbie: That's so true. I mean, everything
that
we
go
through
rds, I
mean, and
y'all listening
that have been in my audience for a while.
I mean, you know, everything. I've been through the bachelor's,
the masters, the
10 month
internship,
my
gosh,
it was like a
medical school
residency. It's
wild. but but
we're getting exposed, we're
getting the clinical
experience, we're
seeing
those those
disease states
and we're
getting out in
the community
and all those different things.
So,
um, we're
able
to see
things
more
holistically, but we
have the hands-on experience
over
the course of years.
And
to even
be able to
apply and match
with these
programs,
we have
to take
all
of. The science courses and,
and all the
nutrition courses.
It's insane.
Truly,
Cassandra: we have definitely seen it all. I
think I have, I have seen everything. During my rotations, I
have gotten a handful of
different
types of scenarios
that I didn't even
know half of these
disease existed because they're just very unknown
and then multiple disease states on top of another, and you're like,
how do I handle this nutritionally with this
patient. So I truly believe,
like we have been
through it all, we know how to handle
everything that comes our way, M N T wise,
and we really do go through a very rigorous process.
Abbie: Yes,
and
we learn
in the process too. If we don't,
if we aren't familiar with
that disease state, we know how to find the evidence-based
knowledge to.
treat that person. And we have access
to.
A network
of practitioners that
are also licensed
to do
so or
maybe
specialize in that
area. And we just know how to be
critical
consumers of the
research to
provide the
best
recommendations.
Where nutritions aren't,
aren't given that knowledge,
they
just
don't
have that
background when
it
comes
to research.
Cassandra: Absolutely.
I really just
look at a
nutritionist,
like someone
just woke up one morning and
said,
Hey, mom and dad, I'm a
nutritionist. I
love food.
Let's people.
Abbie: Yeah. And most of the
time they are
coaching from, and that's
the other difference.
A lot of them are coaching, they're not
counseling.
So I
think that's also
a difference
there too.
Um, like for me,
when I was
in
school,
I really
just had
to stay in my lane for health
coaching.
I
couldn't
be,
you know, doing
nutrition counseling.
Cassandra: There is just lot, a
lot of misinformation out there. I know
in my comment
section all the time, , a lot of my followers love Flav, CityLab City, do you know
Flav
City? He goes into
the grocery stores and basically
picks
up products
and say, says, completely avoid these foods.
And he'll,
he brings his.
Yes. And
he'll say completely avoid seed oils.
So I have
a lot of
misinformation
from my followers coming to me
now, asking me why it's okay
to consume seed oils. So there are a lot of
people out
there,
maybe during
covid, during, during the start of TikTok
that just
decided that they wanted
to be nutrition professionals
and share what works for them, thinking that it's gonna work for everybody
else.
And there's just,
it's really scary.
Abbie: Yeah,
it really
is. Most people are coaching from
their own personal experience. not based on the
evidence-based knowledge, because
they
just
woke up one day
and they're
like,
I'm
gonna
be a
nutrition, or, I, I really like food, or I
had a personal experience,
so now
I feel
Qualified to
go help other people. Yeah. Compelled And they feel like they're qualified
to.
um, to counsel
other people,
but you're
really not.
And I
think, if
I
am remembering correctly, I think that specific account
you
were talking about that was
a food shaming
anything was seed
oils in
it
and a bunch of
other foods
that
people
can
enjoy
and be
totally fine because
all foods fit.
We're also promoting
alcohol
and
they're
like,
have this all natural alcohol
that is a known
toxin.
It's like
you can't
you
can't have it
both ways.
Cassandra: I can't even get
into this, Abby.
It's just
there is way too much crazy stuff online, and I
truly feel like US dieticians are finally coming together and they're like, how can we tackle this
on social media?
How can we get
the credential registered dietician out there so people know who to get their
nutrition advice from?
Abbie: Yes, exactly, because
there's so
much misinformation out there
and
it's very,
it
ultimately
does
the regular person, the consumer, the person
that
isn't
licensed
as an
already, it does
them a
disservice
because they have
to
sift through
all
of this knowledge that's out
there and all
the information, and
they're not sure
what's truly right
for them.
So it
just, ugh.
it's
really sad.
So I
guess some of the benefits of seeing an RD is that you would
get this evidence-based
knowledge.
You could trust that what you're getting is
evidence-based and
you can
trust
that this person has been through
all of their science courses
and truly is
licensed
to give
you that condition.
Specific
Disease, state specific nutrition advice.
Cassandra: Absolutely.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Abbie: Yeah. Do
you feel
like there are any
other benefits
to
seeing an rd?
Or
being one.
Cassandra: I
think it's just being able to trust them and know that what they're providing you.
with nutritional
information
and advice is evidence-based. Just to piggyback
off of that and that I think all of
us becoming
registered dieticians care a lot for people and have a lot of , empathy, and we wanted to get into this
space
in order to help people because we
went through it
ourselves. But I think
just knowing that not only
do you have.
an expert on
your side, but you
also have a friend who's in
your corner as a registered dietician.
Whereas maybe someone calling
themselves a nutrition coach
or nutritionist isn't really in it for your best
benefit.
Abbie: Right,
exactly. And a lot
of them are
just very
profit driven. Being in the entrepreneur space, myself, starting
in
the
health coaching space,
it's
very
toxic and a lot of people
don't really care
about the
client.
And
it's really
sad
to see,
but
if
someone
is a
registered
dietician and
they're going
through investing in the
amount
of schooling
that
they need
to get
their
credential,
You,
you have
to have
a stronger
why
than
I just wanna
make
money.
You know what I mean? And most
dieticians don't
even make a lot
of
money.
you
know, which there
are careers where you can make a
lot of money. So you
definitely want to check
out the download that
we have
so
you
can
see the
other careers
that
are available.
But,
Yeah,
you have
to have
a stronger why that is
patient
client, client-centered to make it
through how grueling the
education and exam process
is
to
be an RD
so
you can really trust
that they
are empathetic and do
care.
Cassandra: Yes,
I know in
undergrad all
the time, my professors used to say, you don't come into this career to make money. You come into this field
because
you want
to help
other people. And of course,
like you mentioned,
there are so many
ways that you can make money and have multiple
streams
of income
and
be an
entrepreneur and
do your own business.
And there are so
many ways to make well over six
figures as
a registered Ian. And we talk about that in our Dream Jobs
ebook. That'll be in the show notes.
but, Definitely
you come into this field
because either you went through it yourself, you viewed a family member
that went
through it, you went
through your
own
trial and tribulation with nutrition, and you're truly here to help
other people.
Abbie: Yes, exactly.
Oh,
so good. And I feel like a couple other benefits too, just
because
I'm literally
in the middle of going through all
the paperwork right now,
so it is on
top
of mind. But
with
a registered
dietician,
I.
They could
take insurance
so
it
can be more
affordable. That care
could be
more accessible to you and potentially covered by your
insurance plan, which
nutritionist
is
just not covered,
and it's
easier for dieticians
to connect with
your other care
providers and
your therapists
and your
doctors and everything
else to coordinate
your care
and
make sure that you have that holistic
approach and that your
providers are all in the know about what's
going on.
I just don't think
health coaches
or.
General
nutritionists are really
making
that effort. And I
don't
know
if
like a cardiologist would really take
them
seriously,
but
they
would take a dietician seriously.
Cassandra: Absolutely.
Abbie: Yeah. So
definitely so many benefits to being a dietician and also seeing
one. Oh, So good. Now, when it
came to the exam, uh, this
is like your
one year anniversary, what did you do to study? Like how much time did
you take? I know there are so
many
people in
the audience right
now that
are.
Kind
of
wanting to know our,
our
study
tips, because they're either
taking it too or
they
will be in the next
year or so.
Cassandra: Yeah,
so I studied for about two and a half
to three months.
I started while I was in my internship
just to alleviate a lot of that stress
and pressure as soon as I finished, and I wanted to be able to simultaneously apply the information that I needed to know for the RD exam. To be able to
critically
think through that during my supervised practice
rotations.
So definitely
recommend getting a head start on
that.
And I used All diet as PA past class. And you
used that
as well, Abby,
And we'll talk
about it. But it
is a complete
RD exam prep program. You do not need
to use
any other
outside resources. I did
also use Pocket Prep because it
was very easily
accessible and it was an app on the phone.
So
if I was out with friends, out to
dinner, whatever may have you on
a
Abbie: Run
through a
few questions
Cassandra: Yeah.
Abbie: the appetizers. I
Cassandra: yeah.
I'll be like, can you quiz me
really quick?
Or with my other dietician friends, we would go
out and
like, let's just
do a
couple questions. Um, make it like a little
fun
Abbie: I love that.
That's
so fun.
Cassandra: to be.
completely honest, um, and
I thought it was very helpful. But
pass class contains the
Passi exam prep binder, which is a little over 650 pages,
and it
basically
explains everything that you need to
know.
Instead of just writing everything out in
bullet
points, it really takes you
through all the information as if this
was your
first time
learning it.
And some of that
was our first time learning it
because
Abbie: literally though,
Cassandra: I never learned about fire
extinguishers
before in my, in my life
Until I.
Abbie: either. yes. And what I like about
it is as you're going
through and learning the
material,
there are kind of
like check your knowledge
questions.
Like, Hey, after the last
couple pages
that you read,
did you
retain that?
Like write down,
you know, what
you recall,
or go back and look
to
make sure
that you really understand
these concepts.
And at the
end
of each chapter, there
are study questions
with
really great
explanations
of all the
answers. So I
felt
like I
wasn't
just
reading
a textbook, but it was
very active learning
as I was going through it.
Cassandra: Exactly. So once
you're going through the information, there will be
worksheets
and questions throughout to be able
to test your knowledge and see if you're active, actively applying that
information to
similar
types of questions that you'll get on the RD
exam. So it's
not just giving you the information
and saying, Hey,
you know, good luck
with this information.
It's making sure
that you're retaining
it as well.
Abbie: Yes, and I thought
I found
it very helpful
to also have the lectures. I, I did pay for the upgrade
for that,
so,
Worth it.
I think that,
was huge to
not just be reading the
information, but to
be listening
to it
as well. To
have the pneumonics to, like
Susie
just brings
all
of the information together
with different tables and I'm like, oh, I
didn't even think
about,
I'm writing
everything.
Separately,
but to have like all
of
the onset times for
foodborne illnesses
in one table,
all
the vitamin
RAL deficiencies
in one table, I'm
like,
why
didn't I think
to do this on
my
own? It's okay.
You don't have to. It's right
there for
you.
Um, and I found all of
those lectures to
be really helpful
because, you
know, you
go through m and
t, you go through your
lifestyle,
your
lifecycle nutrition classes in,
you
know, your master's program
or your D
P D program
undergrad,
but.
To have
it boiled
down to,
okay, here's what you need to know
for the
exam
specifically,
and like what most
commonly shows up.
I found to be really, really helpful.
Cassandra: I
owe
my life to those review
sessions. They were the most helpful for me because I'm a visual learner
and I'm not
really an just an audio learner or just a. Being able
to look at information. I need that
visual component, so it has
the visual, it has all the information on
the slides, and it has the audio
component as well.
So it was like
the trifecta for
me when learning,
and I truly, truly
believe that that is what helped me the most when sitting for the exam,
especially based on the type of learner
and
studier that I am.
Abbie: Yeah, absolutely.
I'm a
visual
person too,
so I needed that and I
appreciated
all the visuals throughout,
even in the
booklet portion of it,
because
as
part of
my dietetic
internship, we were
given the
Inman guide,
so I
had that
to
compare
it to. I
opened
it up,
closed it, right.
Never opened it again. Like I
did not
use
the Inman
guide. And at first I
was
getting kinda nervous cause a
couple of my
friends did and they
had passed
before, but they
didn't,
you
know, use all
diet texts. Like they only
had
the Inman
guide.
so
I was getting nervous, like,
oh, should I have
done that?
No, I was
totally fine with
all
dietetics resources
and
the
Inman guy
was stressing
me out
because the way
that it was formatted,
I just, I, I.
I
literally
couldn't read it. It was just a
bunch of bullet points. It wasn't
complete sentences.
and I
don't, I don't,
know. I
just,
I didn't, and
personally
I was like, I don't know if I
can trust
the information on there. Like,
is
this the
right
protein range? Like, I don't know. I just, I really could
trust everything all
dietetics
was doing, and
I liked how everything
was explained.
I felt
supported in
the process.
Like
the first
whole part
of the booklet
teaches you how to study
and
how to approach
the questions and how
to
develop
your own
study plan
based on are you
working full-time, part-time,
How long
do you have until you
take the exam?
Is
it your first time taking
it? Is
it your
second time or your repeat test taker?
All those things. So I just
felt
so
supported in the process. It
was
awesome.
Cassandra: We also have the past class community component, so
you'll be able to be in an online
community with everyone else
using past class to
study with,
So you'll have the opportunity
to locate
a study buddy virtually and be able to
meet people that way. There's also one of our expert tutors in the community giving lessons every week, and you
can ask questions in there. We get so many daily questions
From people studying
with pass class, just
what's the answer to this
question and
how
did you get this answer? And can somebody
help me with
all the
different assembly lines and. Whatever
may have
you. We get questions all the time and our tutors in
there and he will help answer
them for you. So you definitely have that supportive community of everyone else using pass class and everyone else going
through
the same exact
studying
process as you.
Abbie: Oh,
So good. So good. Ugh. I
found it to be
really
helpful in going
to the study halls.
I thought were
also helpful and
it's nice to
have that
community
so
you
don't feel
alone. And sometimes in your internship program or you're, maybe
you're in a
combined master's
program
it
can,
I
don't
know if people intend it to be this
way,
but
because we're all colleagues in
the, in the field, but I think
sometimes
it can
get competitive and
especially if you
want to
stay
In
your
area or at
your
hospital and
get jobs.
And as
you're
studying for the exam, you're
also like applying for
some of the same jobs. Like
it
can,
it can
get a little contentious, um, to
towards the
end of
things. So I think
to be in
a
community
that was totally separate from my internship
class
and totally separate
from my master's program,
dietician, friends
it
was just totally
neutral and I was able to make
friends in the community
and it
was Really nice
cuz people weren't,
we were not like competing against
each other.
It was how
can we all best support each other and rally around one another that have to take this feat of an exam.
Cassandra: Yes, I love the past
class community. I'm still in there, so I see everything
going on all the time. And even when I was using it, it was just nice to
know
that there was a place where I could
ask anything
to and not
feel judged by my question from other people studying for the exam.
And
everyone's always helping each other
in there
as well.
So they'll get in there and they'll chime in and they'll give you an acronym that
they came up with to help remember something that they study for. So everyone is really just all
in it together.
Abbie: I love it.
Yeah, it really is
so
good. Like I
cannot talk about it more highly.
And I also think
the Instagram account
for all the society attacks
has,
was really helpful too. Like to be scrolling on Instagram and then to have a
practice question pop
up. I'm like, all
right,
well this is my cue
to
get off
scrolling and start
studying again.
But
it, I don't know, it's
kind of
nice like,
oh,
do,
do
do
I know these
things? And those questions did
come up for me,
which was. Which was awesome, like
those
topics were really
helpful.
So
yeah.
Is there
anything else
that
you
feel
like
we should know about
all
dietetics or
things that y'all offer?
Cassandra: Really,
we offer everything and anything. If you are deciding
to become
a registered
dietician, Abby, you know how much we offer.
We have
free resources, so.
free toolkits. If you are applying to
programs, if you're studying for
the r d exam, we
have our
Dream Jobs ebook. We have events
and live webinars
that
are all
free throughout the year, so we have all that
support for you.
And of
course you can follow us
on social,
on Instagram and TikTok at
all Access Dietetics. We provide practice questions, screenshot and save
information for the r d exam
and a bunch of other stuff that
you'll need to know
on your journey to
becoming a dietician.
Abbie: I
love
it.
I love
it.
And I
think coming up most recently is
the next RD to be Summit,
I think this is
the
third annual
right?
Cassandra: It is
our third
annual.
Abbie: Yay. So
exciting. All right,
so
what, who is this
meant for? Like what
part of their journey is this best for, or just all rds to be Any
like
keynote speakers
coming
up.
Cassandra: Yeah, so it's
designed for a
future dietician.
So really, if you're
thinking about
becoming a dietician, if you're still
in high
school,
you're a career changer international student.
It's really for anyone who is that future dietician or thinking
of becoming a dietician.
as well as new dieticians. So if you're newly
in the space for over
a year or more, and you wanna learn from very well
known and reputable dieticians in the space
and be able to network with them, this is also the event for
you.
Abbie: Awesome.
Gonna be
so
good. We'll hop the
signup
link in the show notes, so
definitely
take advantage
of that.
Y'all
and I was
one of the speakers last year and got to
attend the sessions. It
was
so
valuable and really great way to
connect with all
other rds to be and
kind of dip your toes into
the community.
So
good.
Cassandra: it'll be happening on Monday,
August
7th, and Tuesday, August
8th this year. So we'll leave the link to
R SV
P and grab your seat.
Abbie: Yay.
Awesome. And to
close this
out,
Cass, what
is something that you're gonna personally do for your health this week
to
make your
week better?
Cassandra: Ooh.
So
I'm going on a girls
trip
this weekend for my
birthday in Scottsdale, and
I have
trouble with my screen time. So I've been trying to tell myself,
let's put the phone away,
minimize our screen
time for our health, and just hang out and have
quality time with friends this
weekend. So I think that's gonna be
my smart goal, to minimize my screen time by two hours every
day for the next weekend.
Abbie: I
love
it. Gotta
be a
smart
goal.
So
good.
Yes. Awesome. Well, Cass, thank you
so
much for
joining us today.
I really appreciate your
time and,
all of your
information and, uh,
for RDS to be in
the show notes.
We'll have a
bunch of resources
and we will
see y'all in the next episode.
Cassandra: Thank you for having me.
Hey y'all. Thanks again for listening to the Be About Being Better podcast. I so appreciate you. If this episode made you laugh, smile, think about yourself or your life differently, in any way, making your life better, I empower you to share the show with three people who just like you, need to hear this message and have this type of transformation in their lives.
I personally read all the reviews the show and see the Instagram story shares. It honestly gives me so much joy to see that our mission is making people's lives better, and the reviews really do help in increasing our impact. So thank you so much for taking the time to do that. If you need personalized support with anything discussed in today's episode or need help creating a sustainable diet free lifestyle, take my quiz.
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