Career in Nutrition Dietics

Ever increasing demand for Nutritionists and Dietitians

A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts - some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical nutritionist, and sports nutritionist. Some use the terms "dietitian" and "nutritionist" as basically interchangeable.

Nutrition examines the association between diet and health. Diet plays a vital role in the health and well being of human body. A good quality and balanced diet is vital for good health. Improper eating habits and lack of nutrition causes many diseases. Many of these diseases can be prevented with better nutrition and diet. Nutrition and Dietetics is the field related to this aspect of health.

Dietetics is the science of managing food and nutrition for better health. Dietitians are professionals who focus in this field. Dietitians are trained to provide secure and evidence-based dietary advice.

Employment Facts - Dietitians and Nutritionists:

Dietitians and nutritionists held about 1,50,000 jobs in 2011. More than half of all Dietitians and nutritionists worked in hospitals, nursing homes, and physician's offices and clinics.

The need for Dietitians and nutritionists is increasing every day with sedentary lifestyles, high consumption of fast food and other food related health disorders at an all-time high. Whether in schools, hospitals or communities, Dietitians and nutritionists are sought after allied medical health professionals because of their understanding of healthy eating and nutrition.

If you are interested in working with food and nutrition you may want to consider a career as a dietician or nutritionist. The first step to a career as a dietician or nutritionist is to pursue a proper bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics.

Several collages/universities/institutes in India offer Bachelors Program in Nutrition & Dietetics. Manav Rachna International University provides Bachelor and Master of Science in Nutrition & Dietetics. The university also provides Ph.D. in Nutrition and Dietetics.

The programme at Manav Rachna provides a greater understanding of the scientific basis of nutrition and the influence of good nutrition on health. This course has a multidisciplinary emphasis providing a broad base of knowledge and skills. The characteristic feature that sets this course apart from various other courses is the provision of internship/ field placement for two months in the final year. This provides the student with an opportunity to interact with the community and participate in the development process. The student who leaves the portal of the institution would be an independent and confident person who has acquired knowledge of self, professional and communication skills.

Some of the highlights of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Manav Rachna International University:

·         The 1^st ever 14^th Commonwealth International Sports Science Congress was held at Manav Rachna International University

·         104 Physiotherapy and Nutrition students of MRIU were selected to work as Dope Control Officers at the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi

·         Placement opportunities with renowned groups and hospitals

·         Strategic tie up with Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, England and Lahiti University of Applied Sciences, Lahiti, Finland, International Institute of Health Promotion (IIHP) USA and Australian Institute of Sports.

Through the campus recruitment drive in Manav Rachna students have been placed in VLCC, Renova Health Care, Herbal Life International, British Biological etc. Apart from in campus recruitment drive students of Manav Rachna are also working as Dietitians/ Nutritionist/ consultants with various hospitals/health care centers/organizations like Asian Hospital, Faridabad, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad,  Diabetic Clinic, Rohini, IBM Gurgoan. Internationally, students have worked during CWG 2010 as medical officer. 

Rewarding Career Options in Physiotherapy

Physical therapy (or physiotherapy), often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession primarily concerned with the remediation of impairments and disabilities and the promotion of mobility, functional ability, quality of life and movement potential through examination, evaluation, diagnosis and physical intervention carried out by licensed Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants. In addition to clinical practice, other activities encompassed in the physical therapy profession include research, education, consultation and administration. Normally, patients with problems are referred by medical practitioners to physiotherapists who then take on the responsibility of the patient and get them back to shape. Physiotherapy is a branch of healthcare and very rewarding profession. Physiotherapists recognize and maximize movement potential through health promotion, preventive healthcare, treatment and rehabilitation. Physiotherapists use various skills to treat patients such as manual therapy, therapeutic exercise and the application of electro-physical modalities. The following are just a few of the areas physiotherapists work:

·         Outpatients

·         Intensive Care

·         Womens Health

·         Care of the elderly

·         Stroke patients

·         Orthopaedics

·         Mental illness

·         Learning difficulties

·         Occupational health

·         Terminally ill

·         Pediatrics

The occupation of a physiotherapist, which is preventive, healing and rehabilitative, is challenging but profitable. In medical courses, they have been given training to perform a history and physical examination, conduct assessments to establish a diagnosis process, select appropriate physical therapy interventions to treat the dysfunction, and monitor the effectiveness of treatment. To treat patient, physiotherapists use a variety of therapeutic intervention techniques. These are Manual Therapy, TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve stimulation used to control pain), Ultrasound Technique, Electrical Muscle Stimulation, Manipulation, Acupuncture etc. The job of a physiotherapist is physically very strenuous as it involves physically lifting and supporting patients.

Several colleges/universities/institutes in India offer BPT/MPT course. Manav Rachna International University provides Bachelor of Physiotherapy and Master of Physiotherapy courses. The Department is recognized by Indian Association of Physiotherapists and the Delhi Council for Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy. The Bachelor course is 4 1/2 years full-time (Regular course included in eight semesters with six months internship). The Master of Physiotherapy program at MRIU offers specialization Musculoskeletal, Sports, Neurology and Cardiopulmonary.

Some of the highlights of the Department of Physiotheraphy at Manav Rachna International University:

·         The 1^st ever 14^th Commonwealth International Sports Science Congress was held at Manav Rachna International University

·         104 Physiotherapy and Nutrition students of MRIU were selected to work as Dope Control Officers at the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi

·         Placement opportunities with renowned groups and hospitals

·         Strategic tie up with Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, England and Lahiti University of Applied Sciences, Lahiti, Finland, International Institute of Health Promotion (IIHP) USA and Australian Institute of Sports.

The department of Physiotherapy at Manav Rachna International University has nurtured active tie-ups with renowned hospitals like VIMHANS Hospital, Batra Hospital & Medical Research Center, Fortis Escorts Hospital, National Stadium, Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports, major sports training camps, National Games, Haryana State Level Games, Sarvodaya Hospital, ESI Hospital, Helpage India, ERC School for Special Children, several Old Age Homes, Handicapped Schools, Metro Heart Institute and many more.

Besides this, the students and faculty of FAS has extensively given Physiotherapy support in various Industrial Health Camps at NCR, Community Health Camps at various Resident Welfare Associations, Handicapped Children Rehabilitation support, Geriatric Rehabilitation camps.

The out patient department of Physiotherapy is very well equipped with sophisticated instruments like KINCOM ISOKINETIC DYNAMOMETER, EMG Biofeedback, MWD, SWD, US Therapy and many more to render customized physiotherapy treatment and rehabilitation for physical ailments like arthritis, spondylitis, back ache, shoulder injuries, sports injuries and many more physical treatable medical conditions in the Neurological and Cardio-respiratory medical conditions. The department conducts variety of patient rehabilitation oriented sessions like arthritis rehabilitation program, back ache care program, shoulder rehabilitation program, stroke rehabilitation program, cerebral palsy treatment program, parkinson’s rehabilitation program, exercise programs, aerobics, core strengthening program , ante-natal and post-natal pregnancy exercises program, sports training program, and nutritional counseling for all age groups.

A tribute to Steve Jobs

Steve Job's quest for spiritual enlightenment brought him to India in the summer of 1974. Jobs came to India with one of his best friends from Reed College, Dan Kottke. Jobs started Apple with a fellow college dropout Steve Wozniak in his family garage in Los Altos, California in April 1976.  Jobs, then 21, was the 'sales' guy, while Wozniak worked as an engineer. Wozniak said about Jobs during an Intel Corp conference in August 2008, "Every time I designed something great from when we were very young, he would say, "let's sell it." "It was always his idea to sell it."

Their first creation was the Apple I - essentially, the guts of a computer without a case, keyboard or monitor. The Apple II, which hit the market in 1977, was their first machine for the masses. It became so popular that Jobs was worth $100 million by age 25. Time magazine put him on its cover for the first time in 1982.

During a 1979 visit to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Jobs again spotted mass

potential in a niche invention: a computer that allowed people to access files and control programs with the click of a mouse, not typed commands. He returned to Apple and ordered the team to copy what he had seen. This showed his nature of taking other people’s concepts, improve on them and make them completely different and amazing new products! "We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas," Jobs said in an interview for the 1996 PBS series "Triumph of the Nerds."

Steve Jobs, a visionary, a re-inventor and the Silicon Valley icon who shared his ‘apple’ with the world! He gave the world iPod, iPad, iPhone, Mac and changed the way people live or use technology.

This visionary died of liver cancer on 5 October 2011 at the age of 56 years creating a void in all of our hearts! But before he died he made Apple the biggest technology corporation in the world and then resigned as the CEO and gave the reigns to Tim Cook who very well deserved it.

During his career, Steve Jobs has been named as primary inventor and co-inventor of more than 230 awarded patents or patent applications on a range of technologies including computer and portable devices to user interfaces, speakers, keyboards, power adapters and staircases.

Born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco Steven Paul Jobs was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs, a middle-class American couple. He saw his first computer terminal at NASA's Ames Research Center when he was around 11 and landed a summer job at Hewlett-Packard before he had finished high school.

Not many people know that Steve Jobs is a college dropout. In 1972, Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. One semester later he dropped out. "All of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it," he said at a Stanford University commencement address in 2005. "I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out." Meanwhile, Microsoft copied the Mac approach and introduced Windows, outmaneuvering Apple by licensing its software to slews of computer makers while Apple insisted on making its own machines. Software developers wrote programs first for Windows because it had millions more computers. A Mac version didn't come for months, if at all.

In 1985, Jobs was ousted from Apple by John Sculley after a disagreement on how to run the company. Incidentally, Jobs had brought Sculley from Pepsi. "What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating," Jobs said in his Stanford speech. "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life." 

On March 18, 1991, Jobs got married to Laurence Powell in a ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park with a Zen Buddhist monk presiding. They have three children, Reed Paul, Erin Sienna and Eve.

He started two other companies: Next, a computer maker, and Pixar, a computer-animation studio that he bought from George Lucas for $10 million. In 1996 Apple bought Next so Steve again started working for Apple. Soon in 1997 he became the interim CEO of Apple. The company was in big loss financially so he stepped in. He slashed unprofitable projects, narrowed the company's focus and presided over a new marketing push to set the Mac apart from Windows, starting with a campaign encouraging computer users to "Think different." In his first phase with Apple before getting fired ‘he took charge of every detail and was a control freak’. But in the second phase after getting back to Apple ‘he was clearly much more soft and mature’! This change in him made it possible to make Apple the largest technology company it is today!

In 2003 Apple launched iTunes, which gave people a convenient way to buy music online. Furthermore new versions of iPod kept on launching, getting better with each version keeping the fans interested. By 2007 Apple had become a brand cult. This was visible on the day iPhone was to be launched as faithful followers slept on sidewalks outside posh Apple stores for the chance to buy one. This way of waiting outside shops day(s) before the launch became a tradition and was seen at almost every launch of a new version of iPhone and soon the iPad. This is how strong the cult was and it never faded!

According to a regulatory filing, Jobs took a salary of $1 in 2010. However, he owns some 5.5 million shares in the company, which are worth some $1.8 billion at the current price of around $333 a share, a rise of more than 50 per cent on the year.

Few know that Steve Jobs is a Buddhist and a vegetarian. Jobs has also never named a successor. He told shareholders in March 2008 that the board would have a variety of executives to choose from when he steps down due to any reason. He singled out two potential leaders: COO Timothy Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer. In 2004 he had been diagnosed with – and "cured" of - a rare form of operable pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. The company had sat on the news of his diagnosis for nine months while Jobs tried trumping the disease with a special diet, Fortune magazine reported in 2008. “This was the closest I got to death”, is how Steve Jobs described it in his Stanford speech in 2005. Then Jobs took a half-year medical leave of absence starting in January 2009, during which he had a liver transplant. In January 2011, Jobs announced another medical leave, his third, with no set duration. Still battling his cancer he stepped down from CEO to Chairman and appointed Tim Cook as the new CEO. Soon about a month later on 5 October 2011 he breathed his last!

-       Shrisha S. Bhat, B.Tech CS-B, FET MRIU

Welcome Freshers To The Manav Rachna International University

We are waiting to introduce you to a new threshold in your lives.The orientation programmes will brief you about all the facilities that you can avail of in your journey of pursuit towards excellence. Besides the sound academic  foundation supported with a strong faculty , with years of experience and knowledge, we would encourage you  to participate in all our extracurricular activities.The Shooting Range, the top of the line gym, the squash court,  billiards: you can find it all in your own University campus.

While the new academic session of the Faculty of Engineering & Technology for 2011-12 has been admitted, other courses will follow suit. The orientation programme for all B.Tech and Int.B.tech students was held between July 18-21, 2011. Vaibhav Jain is looking forward to playing squash and enhancing his badminton skills which allowed him to represent his school at different championships. This fresher in the Computer Science course is keen to harness his sports skills. Shradul Gupta who has opted for the Mechanical course and is looking forward to a good academic session will be travelling from Rohini to be a student at the MRIU. Sumit Narang from PaschimVihar is excited to start his classes and Abhinav Kakkar is also looking forward to interact with a good ‘crowd’.

The Orientation Programme also had a ‘Talent Hunt’ and we found talent which had a huge horizon. From a street magician to debaters to one who could sketch a canvas in a few minutes and ofcourse music lovers and players.Are'nt you excited to meet the talented crowd? There will be many more to join them -- the hunt has just begun!

We look forward to meeting you all and interacting with you.

Genuine in your approach to life

Nandini Awasthi Pillai, Early Co-ordinator, MRIS-21

Whenever I draft out a circular, invitation or even a lesson for my toddler kids, I first read it as a parent and then as a teacher, says Nandini Awasty Pillai, the Co-ordinator for EarlyYears at the MRIS Sector 21 C. Being a mother of a young child, she realizes the anxiety that parents often have to face when there are tall demands from school. “At the Manav Rachna Schools our first concern is how we can work in close co-ordination with the parents. The triangular concept of the parent, teacher and child is what our Principal Maam always focuses on, ” says the teacher who wears such a gentle appearance that any parent would be put at ease if they come to school with a problem. 

Issues of all kinds must be tackled. “I firmly believe that ‘It’ s not done, till it is done, ” says the Co-ordinator who is all praises for her Principal.“Action to any concern is immediately taken care of. There is no delay and when the ‘Head authority’ is strong nothing really can fall out of line, ” says Nandiniwith conviction. Teaching is her passion and she feels strongly for children.“At a tender age it is so very important to create an environment where the child wants to come to school, be comfortable with the teachers and the teaching environment.And to be able to do this one has to be genuine and imbibe good values to toddlers in the early years,” she says.

“As a Co-ordinator it is important to be a good listener. I give my teachers a chance to explain themselves. Whether it is new ideas or suggestions, when you are working in a team, each one must be given a chance to express, ” says the teacher who has been a great motivating source for her teachers. Having done her english Honours from LSR, New Delhi, Nandini is fond of reading books and listening to music. “Music is such a stress-buster, ” says the lady who likes to listen to soothing music but adds,“Even Rock music is welcome.Music in any form is so relaxing and takes you to a  threshold where there is peace and serenity .” 

“Never hesitate to say that you have made a mistake. But that mistake can be rectified  only when there is acceptance, ” says the soft  spoken lady .“It is the attitude of concern and  your desire to help out in complicated  situations which makes the difference, ” says  Nandini. Hard work, determination to do better and better and being genuine in whatever you do are some of the qualities which makes Nandini our mentor teacher for this issue of  REPORTER.

Success is measured only by satisfaction in what you do. And there are no shortcuts to success. You have to be genuine in your approach in just whatever you do. It is this motto which Nandini from MRIS Sector 21 C  has been following.

My Visit to God's Own Country

Sanya Bhalla, MRIS, Sec-21C

During my summer vacation I visited Kerala, a unique web of countless lagoons, lakes, canals and deltas of forty four rivers. I visited Kerala with my friends and family .We were twenty four people in all. I enjoyed every bit of it and came back rejuvenated.

Kerala is located on the Malabar Coast. We reached Munnar Airport at around 10.30 in the morning and then stayed at a Tea Garden Estate. It was sheer poetry imbibed with beauty and was like heaven visible to human eyes. The view of the tea gardens was simply mesmerizing. I could smell the freshness in the air. All around our cottages there were beautiful and lush green tea gardens and spices like cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms were also grown .

Next morning we visited a tea factory. I was amazed to see the process of making tea. My mother and her friends bought tea and spices. I clicked many pictures. It is indeed God’ s own country. On day three early in the morning we left for Kumarakom. It is a popular tourist destination located near the city of Kottayam. It is famous for its backwaters. It is set in the backdrop of theVembanad Lake in the state.

On reaching Kumarakom we checked into Taj Kumarakom.My room was next to the swimming pool. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with my friends.We played many water games in the pool like volley ball, throw ball.

On day four we took a day cruise in a houseboat. It was indeed a breathtakingly beautiful experience.The pulsating palms, the shoals of fish, waves of water, cool breeze all these together made my trip very exciting. My father caught fish and prawns and then we got them cooked and enjoyed the tasty dish. The houseboat was very comfortable and it made our vacation a dream holiday . In the evening we came back to our hotel and witnessed enthralling performances by the classical dancers of Kerala. The natural backdrop made the performances more beautiful, the stage was set by the side of the lake, it was like a fairy tale.

On day five we left Kumarakom for Kovalam by bus. Kovalam is a suburb and a beach town on the Arabian Sea in Thiruvanathapuram.We stayed at Leela in Kovalam. I enjoyed every bit of my stay in Kovalam. We played beach volleyball and made sand castles. I enjoyed the scenic beauty of the beaches. Kovalam has three crescent shaped beaches separated by rocky outcroppings.

Then it was time for us to pack our bags. We did not want to come back but every good thing has to come to an end, so we took a flight from Kochi to New Delhi and reached Delhi at around 12 o’clock. I thanked my parents for organizing such a wonderful trip. Thinking about of Kerala reminds me of beautiful lines by Keats – “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. It’ s loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness.. ”

India Innovates!

Read on or jump to the last para to know it firsthand.

India stands for innovation.  

Ask any teenager, any at all, particularly the ones preparing for the Engineering Institutes or just in your campus you could ask the young Manav Rachna technocrats who have been regularly bring laurels to the institute. Ask them the reason for choosing to get into those hallowed portals and pat would come the reply, “I wanna do something different. Something new, you know.” Ask them another question about how they would go on doing something different and you would be surprised like they are about loss of words to come up with innovative ways about doing something remarkable. 

Ever since Mr. Narayana Murthy, the poster boy of Indian IT, shocked his illustrious academic counterparts by choosing to open shop rather than work in one little did he realise that his single act would inspire thousands of entrepreneurs who started similar outsourcing companies. Numerous small, mid-sized and large IT outsourcing companies dot the corporate landscape of India today.

In the process, however, millions of people found another option for secure servitude: working for those outsourcing firms, earning big salaries, doing mediocre work. This has had a remarkably damaging impact on several generations of Indian talent over the past 20 years.

Today even when the world continues to stare and applaud at the daring and defiant act of Mr Murthy, the younger lot continues to look upto his labour of love, Infosys Technologies, whether they would come to their respective campus with lucrative job offers. 

So the big question is where is the Indian innovation? Where is the entrepreneurship? 

Unlike the young techie brigade of India who are more contented with secure a job in some MNCs in India or abroad, their western counterparts who start off in their garages are seen as the coolest kid in the block. At times even as geeks who would someday rule their desktops or laptops.  This lack of enthusiasm among the gen X brigade is due to a lot of factors. Lack of mentors, abysmal success rates of new start ups, lack of good incubator programs, lack of quality tech talent in India, etc, etc. 

But then the big question is, ‘are we really short of innovation and entrepreneurship?’

Not really, the country has never been short of innovation. Innovation has been running deep down in our veins since a long time. The scientific community has made the country proud with its endless number of discoveries and innovations.

Take examples of our own students who made it big in the one of the most prestigious technology innovation competition in the world. Team ‘Supersonic Tortoises’ consisting of 4 final year B.Tech students namely Tushar Chugh & Adeel Kidwai (Manav Rachna College of Engineering) and Madhav Malhotra & Anchal Arora (Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Manav Rachna International University) won the second prize in the Microsoft Imagine Cup for their project titled ‘PregnaCare System’. Another team consisting of Aman Jain, B.Tech Electronics & Communication Engineering 1st year and Rishabh Goyal, B.Tech Electronics & Communication Engineering 2nd year from Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Manav Rachna International University won the Third Prize for their project named ‘Tractrobot’.  Both ‘PregnaCare System’ and ‘Tractrobot’ are innovations for the society in large.

Pradeep Gupta, CEO of Cybermedia and president of TiE Delhi, concurs: "I have been talking on entrepreneurship at various colleges for the last two decades. I always ask a question: How many of you want to be entrepreneurs?" he says. "Earlier, maybe 5% [of] hands went up; today a quarter of the class raises their hands."

Prashant Bhalla, Senior Vice President, Manav Rachna International University, said, "At MRIU our endeavor is to promote the holistic growth of Science and Technology amongst our students so that they could apply their knowledge and produce path breaking innovations that would help the society and the country in large. Our students have been involved in lot of path breaking innovation. The need of the hour is to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship along with innovation."

Kunal Thadani, a venture capitalist returned to India after a successful track record in Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur. He understands the innovation process and acknowledges that the eco-system is stalling. "To build a product, you need to have either easy access to customers or many members in the team who all have deep shared knowledge of the customer pain," Kunal Thadani For now, neither is in place.

Meanwhile till such innovative entrepreneurs figure out how to turn their dreams into success stories, India continues to innovate. On A4 sheets, that is.