This past week we attended the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, an event where dietitians and nutritionists gather to further their education, stay up-to-date on the latest trends and learn about emerging industries. The overall goal is to maximize professional knowledge about what food does to our bodies and for our health. 

Like many of the conferences in the health space, there was a full schedule of workshops and an exhibit of the newest health products. A unique aspect of this exhibit was the cooking demonstrations and discussions at various booths. These demonstrations can really help nutrition professionals with crafting tastier meal plans that cater to dietary restrictions or cultural specifications. For example, these professionals can be employed by hospitals to write meal plans for heart patients, diabetes patients, or those with allergies. 

Let’s take a look at some workshop highlights. 

The Science of Soy

Experts weighed in on misconceptions about soy pertaining to cancer risk and hormonal imbalances. The latest from the Mayo Clinic says that a lifetime of eating soy creates the potential for a longer, healthier life. 

Continuous Glucose Monitoring and Its Place in the Future of Diabetes Care

Seeing how glucose levels rise and fall along with the intake of different food and beverages along with fasting can help dietitians and nutritionists to provide more precisely informed dietary recommendations. 

Participants were shown the newest glucose monitoring systems and their capabilities. 

Mastering Malnutrition Diagnosis: Advanced Body Composition Technical Skills Workshop

Malnutrition is a much more relevant concern than one may think. As an example, the nutritional needs for older individuals can increase or remain constant while appetite decreases. Participants were shown how to use new tools to assess malnutrition including ultrasound technology, computed tomography, soft tape measurements and frailty scores.

Communicate to Motivate: A Workshop on Mastering Behavior Change

Maintaining motivation is one of the most challenging factors in making positive health and lifestyle changes. Nutrition professionals learned the latest ways to effectively steer the behavior of individuals towards healthier eating. 

Entrepreneurship Workshop

Even the most talented individuals can sometimes use a little help under the hood so this session taught the nuts and bolts of running a successful dietitian or nutritionist business. 

Overall, we, along with thousands of nutrition professionals, learned new aspects of food’s role in our overall health.