We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashlyn Kelleppan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ashlyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
In winter of 2022 when I was completing my final year at Bastyr University to earn my Master of Science in Nutrition/Didactic Program in Dietetics degree, I made the decision to not pursue the typical internship route after graduate school to become a Registered Dietitian. Though I was given the chance and opportunity to accept an internship and begin that journey, I realized that this did not feel like something that I absolutely needed to do, nor wanted to particularly continue in this specific way. Studying at Bastyr provided me not only knowledge in the field of course, but a multitude of experiences that helped build my confidence in the field to be a future nutritionist. After completing 150+ hours of volunteer work during my Master’s degree in clinical nutrition, food service management, and community nutrition, I felt prepared to embark on my own journey as a Certified Nutritionist. Another experience that specifically made me feel confident in my ability to nutritionally counsel patients, is that Bastyr University integrates two courses of Clinical Nutrition Practicum where you practice seeing patients essentially by yourself, under the supervision of professionals in the field already and support of your peers. That being said, after graduation I felt empowered in my ability to see patients on my own with my gained experience, though now came the next step; finding a job.
A short while after graduation, my sister let me know that a fellow practitioner, Dr. Baskota, in her field (Naturopathic Medicine) has been considering opening a new clinic with her and other individuals in the health field who may be interested in joining. I was happy to have the opportunity to tag along with my sister and meet Dr. Baskota and her husband to discuss joining their new clinic, and the rest fell into place. I now work as a Certified Nutritionist at Lotus Integrative Healthcare, owned by Dr. Baskota, and my sister, Dr. Kelleppan. I’m grateful for the opportunity I was given to work alongside supportive people I enjoy being around and am equally learning from. I most of all love being a part of an integrative, inclusive, and diverse clinic that truly cares about our patients.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Ashlyn Kelleppan, MSN, CN, and I work at Lotus Integrative Healthcare as a Certified Nutritionist. I initially started my education in nutrition after developing a long list of food allergies and sensitivities. I wanted to learn about food substitutes and generally everything about nutrition since I was starting to become concerned about my limited food options, overall nutritional health, and did have some digestive issues. Fast forward six years later to receiving my Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nutrition. I now practice in the field and enjoy counseling and educating patients about nutrition to support their health conditions and reach their health goals.
I practice using a holistic approach, meaning I take the whole person into account instead of focusing on just one aspect of a person. I collaborate with them on creating an achievable goal to work towards in regard to their health concerns and/or condition(s). Sometimes a collaboration/intervention portion of the visit may be me educating patients about nutrition important to their health and I may use relevant handouts to provide the patient with for their own reference and knowledge after reviewing it together. Other times it may be the patient and I collaborating on meal ideas or me providing recommendations; it depends on what a patient may be coming in for and what they need support with, and where I can step in to be of aid along their health journey.
I’m proud of my ability to meet patients where they’re at and provide relative nutrition education and recommendations that patients find helpful. I believe in giving patients a rundown of my nutrition intervention plan before providing the patient with any information, to make sure they are okay with receiving this information, are interested in it, and most importantly—if they find it to be something helpful to go over before doing so. I always want to ensure that I am providing patients with knowledge they need to support their health and something they didn’t know they needed, if possible or relevant. I also strive to educate my patients about having foods in moderation, modifying and adding foods into their current diet, eating foods they enjoy and that are nutritionally supportive, and honoring cravings. As a nutritionist, I believe in adding foods and modifying a patient’s current diet, versus cutting foods out and limiting a person’s food options. Of course, this can depend on a person’s health condition(s) and severity, but as a general rule of thumb I prefer to approach my counseling and education this way so that individuals have a healthy and enjoyable relationship to food. Overall, I’m proud of my ability to support patients and be alongside them on their health journey, and am happy to hear from my patients that nutrition counseling has been supportive and beneficial for them.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
Yes! I love what I do because I get to work with individuals toward their health goals in a way that feels achievable to them and watch their improvements along the way. I feel that there can always be more certified nutritionists and dietitians in the field because education about food and our relationship to food is such an important factor in our overall health. It still surprises me how much people are affected by diet culture due to what is advertised in our society about what ‘health’ looks like, when it can truly be different from person to person and there is no one-size-fits-all. Though the topic of nutrition can be a difficult one as it is a lifestyle change, I love to educate patients about it in relation to their health and double as a guide of support. My true passion in my job is meeting my patients where they’re at, practicing using a holistic approach, educating with evidence, and being a supportive nutrition clinician to the best of my ability.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Besides education and experience, I think that being an advocate for my own health is important for succeeding in the field to have a greater level of understanding to aid patients the best I can. I always try to practice what I may recommend to patients or way of thinking about food. For example, I often educate patients about having everything in moderation, every food having a place on your plate (this can vary if someone has severe health conditions of course), ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods not existing, honoring cravings, and aiming to eat a variety of colorful foods. I wouldn’t discuss this with patients if I didn’t practice it myself—but I always believe this to be an important talking point regarding people’s relationship with food, as diet culture has caused many people to have a negative relationship with food.
My main point is to essentially understand where I’m at with my own health and my own relationship to food, so that I can better understand others, meet them where they’re at, their barriers, etc. Being in the nutrition field, I think it is crucial to have a healthy relationship with food before counseling patients, as I would not want to project any of my struggles with food or conceptions about food onto another, as it could lead them down a difficult path around eating.
I believe important pieces of being a nutritionist are helping patients heal negative relationships to food, being understanding, not cutting foods out, being culturally inclusive when it comes to staple foods, and the list may go on. These are all important when seeing a wide array of patients who may likely be at different stages of change, and everyone deserves to be understood and be met at their current stage to move forward and improve their health.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lotusintegrativehealthcare.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lotusintegrativehealthcare/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088885281457
Image Credits
All food/nutrition-related images are from Canva. Lotus Integrative Healthcare logo is created by me. I can’t remember the name of who took my headshot since it was through my university, but we were all given permission to use them for work/school when we paid for it.