October 28, 2025 • 24 mins
Dietitian
In this episode, registered dietitian Ingrid Anderson shares invaluable career insights on making money in the wellness industry and what sets apart a credentialed dietitian from online nutritionists.
Discover how her Hashimoto’s diagnosis became a turning point, leading her to help others regain energy and debunk nutrition myths. She talks about the importance of niching down in your career, which is what anable Ingrid to built a six-figure dietitian business.
This is a must-listen for those curious about job opportunities in wellness field, or wishing to transform passion into purpose. Explore practical job tips and valuable career advice from someone who turned challenges into a thriving career. Join us for insights that could change your career path!
Ingrid Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/hashiwarriornutritionist/?igsh=cDRscGc5NWp6MWJz&utm_source=qr
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Music credit: Kate Pierson & Monica Nation
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ingrid (00:02):
I could actually technically and legally call my
dog a nutritionist, and Iwouldn't get in trouble for that
because it's not a protectedtitle.
But in order to be a dietitian,there's a lot that you have to
do.
Mirav (00:18):
Hi everyone, welcome back to How Much Can I Make?
I'm your host, Miravozeri.
Today we're diving into theworld of diet and wellness with
Ingrid Anderson.
Ingrid has been a dietitian for12 years, and about seven years
ago, she launched her ownprogram, Hashi Warrior
Transformation, helping peoplewith Hashimoto's get their
energy back and finally feellike themselves again.
(00:41):
She built a thriving businessand a community of over 14,000
Instagram followers and 100,000TikTok followers.
She is the living proof thatyou can turn helping others into
a full-time career.
So let's jump right in, andhere is my conversation with
Ingrid Anderson.
First of all, Ingrid, thanks alot for participating.
(01:05):
Thank you for having me.
Ingrid (01:07):
I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.
Mirav (01:09):
Yes, I'm so curious.
So I know you're a dietitian,but you specifically work with
the people with Hoshimoto.
Yes.
Am I pronouncing it?
Hashimoto.
Hashimoto's.
So I want to know briefly whydid you choose Hashimoto?
Then we're gonna talk aboutbeing a dietitian.
Ingrid (01:27):
Yeah, so Hashimoto's is actually the reason I became a
dietitian because I wasdiagnosed with this autoimmune
disease when I was around 17, 18years old.
Hashimoto's is an autoimmuneissue where your immune system
attacks your thyroid gland.
And then that thyroid glandeventually stops producing
(01:50):
thyroid hormone.
When you don't have enough ofthis thyroid hormone, what
happens is pretty mucheverything in your body slows
down.
So your gut slowed down, yourliver slows down, your ability
to metabolize food slows down,and you essentially feel like
what I ref what I say all thetime.
You feel like a walkingdumpster fire.
Mirav (02:10):
Okay, so you discovered you have Hashimoto.
Yes.
And what made you go and learndietition?
Ingrid (02:16):
So when I went to my doctor, my mom brought me to an
endocrinologist.
And at this point, I wasbabysitting for a woman who was
a nurse, she was an RN, and shewas also really interested in
nutrition and did some nutritionwork with the community and
Woodstock.
And so I was already kind ofthe seed was kind of planted in
my head, how important nutritionis for optimizing autoimmune
(02:38):
issues.
And so I went to thisendocrinologist and she
essentially was like, Well,there's nothing really I can do
for you.
You can try to take this umpill.
She gave me levothyroxine,which is a synthetic form of
your thyroid hormone.
And when I asked her, I waslike, well, what about
nutrition?
Like, how can I change mynutrition?
I'm miserable, I'm exhausted, Ihave brain fog, I just gained a
(02:59):
bunch of weight.
What am I supposed to do?
And she just kind of laughed atme.
I knew that there was aconnection in terms of food and
what was happening in my body.
And at that point in time, Iwas a competitive swimmer.
I was working out two hours aday, six days a week, I was
counting calories, I was doingall of the things, and I just
continued to gain weight.
And even after being medicated,I continued to have all the
(03:23):
symptoms I was having.
So when my mom and I sat downto decide what I was going to do
once I graduated high school,she was very encouraging in
terms of kind of pushing metowards nutrition.
And I was like, you know what,this would be great because then
I can learn about what'shappening in my own body and how
to fix it.
What school did you go to tolearn that?
So I ended up going to RussellSage College.
(03:46):
I did do one smart thingthough, before I went to Russell
Sage College for my dietetics.
I got my associate's degreethrough Ulster.
So I went to a communitycollege for two years.
So by the time I got to RussellSage, I ended up only having to
do two and a half years thereversus what most people do,
which is, you know, four fullyears.
To be a dietitian is a program?
(04:07):
So it's a four-year program,and then you have to do a
10-month internship.
Mirav (04:11):
When do you do internship?
Hospital?
Ingrid (04:13):
Yep.
I kind of equate it to hownurses do their clinicals.
So where nurses do clinicalswith their undergrad, we do our
undergrad first.
And our undergrad is composedof pretty much all pre-med
classes.
We have our microbio, we haveour chemistry classes, we have
our macronutrients, we have alldifferent types of classes where
(04:34):
we would be sitting in the sameclasses as nurses and pre-med
physicians.
Once we were done with ourbachelor's degree, then there's
the option to become aregistered dietitian.
So in order to become aregistered dietitian, you have
to choose the school, and thenthe school has to choose you in
order for you to be acceptedinto the internship.
So it's 10 months unpaid withgraduate classes attached to it.
(04:56):
And then you have to sit foryour board exam in order to
become a dietitian.
Mirav (05:00):
So you learned to become a general dietitian.
Ingrid (05:03):
Yeah, so I have always been kind of an autodidact.
I've always learned on my own.
But with college, one of thethings that I was very
intentional about doing wasanytime I had the option of
choosing what I did a projecton, I would choose something
like gut health, which isrelated to Hashimoto's, or I
would choose metabolism, or Iwould choose something that's
(05:24):
related to what I was goingthrough.
So that way I would essentiallyget credit for looking into the
literature for Hashimoto's.
The whole intention here was tohelp myself.
Mirav (05:35):
You said that uh they start in hospitals, yeah, and
direct and you mentioneddoctors, but I had some
autoimmune problem with Crohn'sdisease.
Oh, yeah.
And the doctors told meliterally, we do not learn about
nutrition.
Ingrid (05:49):
It's true.
It's true.
So most doctors in the UnitedStates get less than I think
it's 25 hours of nutritioneducation throughout their
schooling.
And I actually worked in ateaching hospital that had a
dedicated nutrition program, andI would teach the doctors about
nutrition.
Mirav (06:06):
I looked on your Instagram, you have 14,000,
close to 14,000 followers.
So you must have done a lot ofwork with a lot of people.
Ingrid (06:14):
But how did you get the first one?
My very first person that Iworked with with Hashimoto, she
didn't know she had Hashimoto'sat the time.
She was someone that I met atthe gym, and she knew I was
going to school to become adietitian.
And she was like, Hey, can youwork with me?
I'm having I'm working out allthe time.
I'm having a really hard timelosing weight.
And so we started to talk.
I did a little intake for her,which is essentially asking her
(06:36):
a bunch of questions, like, Whatare you doing?
How are you feeling?
What are your symptoms?
And I was like, you know, Ithink you actually have
Hashimoto's.
You should go get that tested.
And so she did, and lo andbehold, she had Hashimoto's.
So that was even more fire forme to dig deeper into how
Hashimoto is healed throughfood.
Mirav (06:56):
Now just not about Hashimoto for a second, but who
goes to advice from a dietitian?
Ingrid (07:02):
Really, I think everyone should talk to a dietitian at
least once just to make sureyou're covering all your bases.
But in general, dietitians canspecialize in all sorts of
things.
So I actually worked at a teachthe teaching hospital I was
telling you about.
Right.
One of the things that I didwas I worked in the neonatal
ICU, so NICU babies.
Um, I also worked with womenwho are pregnant, right?
(07:25):
Making sure that, you know,they're getting everything they
need for a healthy pregnancy,working with people with
gestational diabetes.
There are people that work withpeople with kidney failure,
renal dietitians.
There are dietitians that workwith people with diabetes and
insulin resistance.
So there's a lot of differentspecialties.
Nutrition really isgame-changing.
Mirav (07:45):
You know about a lot of different areas, but you chose
Hashimoto.
Is it more lucrative to be aspecializing dietist?
Ingrid (07:52):
So it is.
It's always uh more lucrativeto niche down in some way,
right?
Because if you're speaking toeveryone, you're speaking to no
one.
And the route of business thatI took, I am doing all of my own
marketing.
So you saw my Instagram hasalmost 14,000 people.
My TikTok has over 100,000people.
(08:12):
Oh, I didn't look at that,yeah.
So um I have like almost 4,000people on my email list.
So I think this is importantfrom a marketing standpoint, but
also from a practitionerstandpoint that the people that
you're speaking to see thatyou're authentic and also they
resonate with what you'resaying.
If you truly understand theirproblem and you speak to that
(08:37):
problem, then people can relateto you and they're more apt to
not only hire you to help them,but believe that you can help
them.
Though I do a lot of socialmedia marketing, I would say
like 80% of my clients come fromTikTok.
Mirav (08:50):
Unbelievable.
Tell me, what is the differencebetween a nutritionist and a
dietitian?
Ingrid (08:55):
Just a nutritionist, you don't really need to have a
background knowledge in how yourbody works.
You can take a course online,pay a couple hundred bucks, and
then you're a nutritionist.
I could actually technicallyand legally call my dog a
nutritionist, and I wouldn't getin trouble for that because
it's not a protected title.
There's you're allowed to callyourself a nutritionist no
(09:17):
matter what.
But in order to be a dietitian,there's a lot that you have to
do.
You need to make sure that youhave your bachelor's degree, you
need to go through thatinternship, the unpaid
internship, and then you need topass your board exam.
And if you don't pass yourboard exam, you are not a
dietitian.
So that's the last kind ofhurdle that you need to jump
through.
And then you need to stay ontop of your continuing
(09:38):
education, which is incrediblyimportant because things change,
right?
And this is why I'm very muchnot dogmatic in my nutrition.
And I think a lot of peopleare, they hold so tightly onto
these certain ideas, and it'slike, okay, well, we learn new
information about nutrition allof the time.
Mirav (09:54):
Is your job threatened by AI?
Because people can put alltheir symptoms into AI and they
can spew it out the treatment.
Ingrid (10:02):
Yes and no.
I think that there needs to bemore education to the public
about the limitations of AI.
I've caught Chat GPT flying,essentially.
Yeah, I do too.
Um, and and kind of spreadingmisinformation.
So, for example, when it comesto Hashimoto's, there's a lot of
(10:23):
food myths and there's a lot ofinformation that is has been
proven untrue in terms of foodsthat you need to remove from
your nutrition.
So one of those is dairy.
We know from the literature youdo not need to remove dairy
from your nutrition unless youhave lactose intolerance or
unless your gut is reallyinflamed.
But in general, dairy is notgoing to impact your thyroid
(10:43):
antibodies.
And chat GPT says yes.
And when I press it, when I sayI thought that the literature
had been updated and blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, it'll be
like, oh yes, you're correct.
So you have to be reallycareful with ChatGPT.
The other thing that I think isimportant to kind of
distinguish here too is Chat GPTisn't gonna hold you
(11:06):
accountable.
It's not gonna reach out toyou, it's not gonna review your
food logs and give youinformation that's actually
helpful.
It's not going to provide thathuman touch.
It's not gonna know what you'regoing through.
It's not gonna know that, oh,your your kid had the flu last
week.
So, you know, here are thingsthat you need to do in order to
support your body better.
So I think that there's a lotof limitations to AI.
(11:28):
I do think that it's a greattool if you use it properly.
But I think it's important tokind of know that Chat GPT is
not the end all be all for sure.
Mirav (11:37):
Do you have a success story that you can tell me?
Anybody that came to you andreally improved tremendously
because of a diet?
Ingrid (11:45):
Oh, yeah.
Pretty much all of my clients.
Anyone who act yes, anyone whoactually follows the steps that
I give them has incrediblesuccess.
I have people who struggle tolose weight.
That's a big thing that kind ofmotivates people to work with
me, is the fact that they gainso much weight and it's
impossible for them to lose.
And so I've had people lose 50pounds, 80 pounds after not
(12:07):
being able, not in three months,of course, but you know, after
not seeing any progress on thescale at all, seeing that weight
come off.
My personal favorite is when Isee people get their energy
back.
And so I'm thinking of aspecific client from a few years
ago.
She is someone who came to me,she was like dragging.
She was a mom of three kids.
(12:28):
She worked full-time, she couldbarely drag herself through the
day.
She was having such a hardtime, so much mom guilt because
she just couldn't function.
She was putting her kids infront of the TV, which there's
no shame in that, but she didn'twant to be doing that.
She wanted to be active withher kids.
She worked with me, and withinsix weeks, she was like, My
(12:49):
husband doesn't know what to dowith me.
I'm like cleaning out thegarage, I'm like doing all these
things that like she's like,I'm running circles around him.
Mirav (12:56):
Amazing.
I when I researched a littlebit for gut health, they say eat
a lot of like pickles andcabbage and stuff, and you build
the bacteria.
Ingrid (13:05):
Is that all it's about?
Those are fermented foods.
And so, what fermented foods dois they replenish the good
bacteria or the probiotics.
So that's the probiotic side,and then there's the prebiotic
side, including whole foodsources of carbohydrates like
the sweet potatoes and bananas.
Those are going to provide foodfor that good bacteria.
(13:27):
So you need both.
Mirav (13:28):
Does any doctor call you for advice for their patients?
Ingrid (13:33):
Not for their patients, but I've had doctors come
through my program because theythought Hashimoto's was no big
deal until they were diagnosedthemselves.
Mirav (13:43):
Oh.
Ingrid (13:43):
And then they were like, oh, this is not it.
Like, you know, the standard ofcare is to do this, but I did
that, and this is not helping meat all.
And it's like, well, now youknow, and and really they've
said to me, like, now like Ifeel so bad because I I've, you
know, kind of dismissed all ofthese people, and now I have
this and I understand like whatit feels like.
(14:06):
Um, so I've had, yeah, I've haddoctors come through my
program.
Mirav (14:09):
Is it healthy for people that do not have Hashimoto to
cut out carbs completely?
Ingrid (14:15):
It's important for them to make sure that they are
getting adequate carbohydratesbecause when you your fiber
lives in your carbohydrates.
And if you cut out carbscompletely, then you cut
yourself off from a lot ofnutrients.
You cut yourself off fromfiber, you cut yourself off from
um prebiotics, which is asubstance that feeds the good
gut microbiome.
(14:36):
It cuts you off from a lot ofantioxidant sources.
So personally, I don'trecommend that anyone completely
cuts carbohydrates from theirnutrition.
Portioning them properly,absolutely.
Pairing them properly,absolutely.
And when I'm talking aboutpairing, what I mean is carbs
digest very quickly.
And so a lot of times what canhappen is say you put a saltine
(15:00):
cracker in your mouth, right?
That immediately dissolves.
That's the enzymes breaking itdown.
So it starts digestion in yourmouth, these carbohydrates.
So by the time it reaches yourstomach and your blood sugar,
you get that blood sugar spike.
But to slow that down a littlebit, you can add a fat or a
protein to it, and it kind ofslows that digestion of the
carbohydrate and allows you tohave a more steady energy flow.
Mirav (15:21):
You mentioned stress before.
Yes.
And I'm curious if somebodythat wow, well, there's a lot of
people with a lot of stresstoday.
Is there something that astressful person should do as
far as the diet?
Ingrid (15:33):
In terms of diet, one of the best things that you can do
is make sure that your bloodsugar stays very regulated.
So making sure you're eatingconsistently throughout the day,
making sure you're notunder-eating carbohydrates, not
making sure you're not skippingmeals.
And I know that there's a lotof hype around intermittent
fasting and keto, but thosethings are very stressful on
your body and it's registered asa stress on your body.
(15:56):
The other thing that can bereally helpful is mineral
supplementation because the morestress your body has to
withstand, the more it kind ofburns through minerals.
So doing things likeelectrolytes in your water once
a day can be really, reallyhelpful.
And then also just from like alifestyle standpoint, making
sure that you're doing some deepbreathing every day that can
(16:16):
help stimulate that vagus nerve.
What is that?
So this is a nerve that runsfrom your brain to your gut.
Okay.
And it's your rest, it's partof your rest and digest nervous
system.
So when you experience a lot ofstress, this can put a lot of
wear and tear and weaken thevagus nerve.
And what that can do is it canlend to a bunch of digestive
(16:38):
issues.
So it's really important tomake sure that you're doing
vagus nerve exercises.
The box breathing, humming,singing in your car.
I like to do box breathingbecause it's very, very short.
It's, you know, intentional.
And essentially what that is isbreathing in four counts, hold
four counts, out four counts,hold four counts.
Mirav (16:56):
And that helps.
Ingrid (16:57):
Yes.
And so this is something thatNavy SEALs use also to help kind
of just bring them down andcenter them.
All of those things strengthenand exercise the vagus nerve.
None of this is a magic wand,right?
None of this is likeearth-shattering stuff.
It's all simple changes thateveryone's ignoring, right?
It's all these simple thingsthat no one is doing.
(17:20):
So it can seem veryoverwhelming when you like look
at the laundry list of thesesimple changes that you have to
do.
How much did it cost you to getto this level?
Just to get my bachelor'sdegree, that was around $55,000
per year.
And then the internship on topof that was around $20,000.
So and that wait, you had topay for the yes, you have to pay
(17:44):
for the internship.
I know that boggled my mindtoo.
And to be a hundred percenthonest with you, I had no idea
the internship was part of thepackage when I signed up to
become a dietitian.
So you have to pay for it andyou don't get paid.
So you essentially work 40hours a week for free and also
take classes on top of that.
Mirav (18:03):
And then that's a travesty.
Yeah.
And the internship was in thehospital.
Ingrid (18:08):
Yep.
But that's also kind of anissue with dietetics in general,
in my humble opinion.
I'm certainly not thespokesperson for all dietitians,
but I worked in a teachinghospital.
So one of the things that wewould have to do on top of our
caseload is mentor youngerdietitians, which we were all
happy to do because we had to bementored as well.
(18:28):
But the dietitians don't getanything from it, the interns
don't get anything from it.
It's just, oh, it's kind oflike a pay it forward thing,
even though we're all paying forit, you know.
So um, it is kind offrustrating, and it is something
that has been a point offrustration with many dietitians
that I have spoken to.
Mirav (18:46):
So, okay, I want to know about the return on investment.
So somebody finished dietitianschool and then started to work
at a hospital.
What roughly can they make?
Ingrid (18:54):
So, granted, this was back 2014, 2015.
When I was hired at thehospital, I was making $23 an
hour, $40 something thousanddollars a year.
Now the the same hospital ispaying around $56,000 a year.
Wow.
Um, which, you know, it's it'smore, but then when you think
(19:16):
about the investment that youneed to make in order to get to
that place, you're talking$55,000 a year times four, and
then you add in the $20,000internship.
If my math adds up, that's$250-ish,000 to become a
dietitian, and then you'regetting paid $56,000 a year.
So I did get my clinicalexperience because I did think
(19:39):
that was an important thing todo just from a professional
standpoint.
I'm very grateful for thatexperience.
I learned how to communicatewith physicians, I learned how
to read charts better, I learnedhow to read labs better.
So there was a lot that Ilearned by getting that clinical
experience.
So I'm very happy that I didthat.
But I'm so grateful that I didtake the leap to go into
(20:01):
business for myself.
I don't have my master'sdegree.
It wasn't required, and I feltlike I had enough student loan
debt, but now it's required.
So now it's even more expensiveto be the dietitian.
Do you feel like you got goodreturn on your investment?
Because I kind of pivoted fromclinical to what I do now, it's
(20:22):
a great return on investment.
I'm making well over sixfigures every single year from
my business.
And what's lovely about what Ido as well is also the time
freedom that comes with it.
And you also just feel betterin life and what you're doing
because you can serve the peoplewho you want to serve.
And then you're also able topay your bills in unlike, you
(20:43):
know, working for a hospital.
Mirav (20:45):
So how much can you charge?
Somebody comes to you foradvice.
Ingrid (20:48):
I actually undercharge, I don't undercharge, but I
charge less than what otherpeople do just because I do want
to make my services asaccessible as possible.
Because you have to exactly.
So I have a couple differentoptions.
So, first of all, for anyonewho is unable to make the
investment, I have a $33masterclass that essentially
(21:08):
goes over the basics ofHashimoto.
So anyone can, you know, cancan do that.
That's really helpful for astarting place.
But for my group program, whichincludes a full nutrition
assessment, chat supportthroughout the week, weekly
group calls, and I call it ahybrid because essentially they
get one-on-one information fromme, but we talk as a group
(21:29):
because I think that communityis important.
So it's a 12-week program andit's $1,500 for the 12-week
program.
Mirav (21:35):
What's the biggest challenge of working with
Hashimoto patients?
Ingrid (21:39):
I think probably one of the biggest challenges is they
just feel so bad in terms oflike brain fog and fatigue that
the idea of eating breakfast inthe morning makes them s want to
spiral out because they arejust so exhausted and so
fatigued that these changes feelreally overwhelming.
And it's also a verycomplicated disease, right?
(22:00):
There's so many possibilitiesof things that are happening
alongside of the Hashimoto'sthat it can get quite
complicated.
What's the biggest reward?
I love when my clients againjust feel like themselves again.
When they get that first winwhen they're like, oh, this is
working.
And I've had so many peoplesay, like, nothing worked for me
(22:21):
before, but just these changes.
And sometimes people thinkthey're like very simple.
Again, this is not magic wand.
This is not like anyearth-shattering stuff, but it's
effective.
For me, the most rewardingthing is when people start to
feel better again.
Mirav (22:37):
Okay, I have some quick quests.
Okay, cool.
What's your quick and easy fleameal?
Ingrid (22:41):
I am a big like bowl person.
I like to do roasted broccoli,I like to do sweet potato,
grilled chicken, and avocado.
That's like my like I'msalivating already.
Yeah, that is my like go-to,like, I don't want to think
about dinner meal.
Mirav (22:55):
Your favorite snack on the go.
Ingrid (22:57):
Oh man.
Probably if if it's like aconvenience thing, I will go for
like a perfect bar or fruit andlike some nuts or like the the
packets of like nut butter orsomething.
Mirav (23:08):
If you could give only one diet advice to a Hashimoto
patient, what would that be?
Ingrid (23:13):
Trial a gluten-free diet.
Oh, because that can be thatcan that can be the difference
between you feeling great in acouple days to a week to you
continuing to feel stuck.
Mirav (23:24):
Alright.
And on that note, thank you somuch.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me.
This was so fun.
Thank you.
It was amazing information.
That is a wrap for today.
Big thanks to Ingrid forsharing her journey from
dietitian to business ownerwhile helping people feel like
themselves again.
(23:44):
It's a great thing.
You can find Ingrid viaInstagram.
The link is in the show notes.
And until next time, pleasewrite us a review and come back
for more talk about real jobwith real people, real
industries, and real paging.
I could actually technically and legally call my
dog a nutritionist, and Iwouldn't get in trouble for that
because it's not a protectedtitle.
But in order to be a dietitian,there's a lot that you have to
do.
Mirav (00:18):
Hi everyone, welcome back to How Much Can I Make?
I'm your host, Miravozeri.
Today we're diving into theworld of diet and wellness with
Ingrid Anderson.
Ingrid has been a dietitian for12 years, and about seven years
ago, she launched her ownprogram, Hashi Warrior
Transformation, helping peoplewith Hashimoto's get their
energy back and finally feellike themselves again.
(00:41):
She built a thriving businessand a community of over 14,000
Instagram followers and 100,000TikTok followers.
She is the living proof thatyou can turn helping others into
a full-time career.
So let's jump right in, andhere is my conversation with
Ingrid Anderson.
First of all, Ingrid, thanks alot for participating.
(01:05):
Thank you for having me.
Ingrid (01:07):
I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.
Mirav (01:09):
Yes, I'm so curious.
So I know you're a dietitian,but you specifically work with
the people with Hoshimoto.
Yes.
Am I pronouncing it?
Hashimoto.
Hashimoto's.
So I want to know briefly whydid you choose Hashimoto?
Then we're gonna talk aboutbeing a dietitian.
Ingrid (01:27):
Yeah, so Hashimoto's is actually the reason I became a
dietitian because I wasdiagnosed with this autoimmune
disease when I was around 17, 18years old.
Hashimoto's is an autoimmuneissue where your immune system
attacks your thyroid gland.
And then that thyroid glandeventually stops producing
(01:50):
thyroid hormone.
When you don't have enough ofthis thyroid hormone, what
happens is pretty mucheverything in your body slows
down.
So your gut slowed down, yourliver slows down, your ability
to metabolize food slows down,and you essentially feel like
what I ref what I say all thetime.
You feel like a walkingdumpster fire.
Mirav (02:10):
Okay, so you discovered you have Hashimoto.
Yes.
And what made you go and learndietition?
Ingrid (02:16):
So when I went to my doctor, my mom brought me to an
endocrinologist.
And at this point, I wasbabysitting for a woman who was
a nurse, she was an RN, and shewas also really interested in
nutrition and did some nutritionwork with the community and
Woodstock.
And so I was already kind ofthe seed was kind of planted in
my head, how important nutritionis for optimizing autoimmune
(02:38):
issues.
And so I went to thisendocrinologist and she
essentially was like, Well,there's nothing really I can do
for you.
You can try to take this umpill.
She gave me levothyroxine,which is a synthetic form of
your thyroid hormone.
And when I asked her, I waslike, well, what about
nutrition?
Like, how can I change mynutrition?
I'm miserable, I'm exhausted, Ihave brain fog, I just gained a
(02:59):
bunch of weight.
What am I supposed to do?
And she just kind of laughed atme.
I knew that there was aconnection in terms of food and
what was happening in my body.
And at that point in time, Iwas a competitive swimmer.
I was working out two hours aday, six days a week, I was
counting calories, I was doingall of the things, and I just
continued to gain weight.
And even after being medicated,I continued to have all the
(03:23):
symptoms I was having.
So when my mom and I sat downto decide what I was going to do
once I graduated high school,she was very encouraging in
terms of kind of pushing metowards nutrition.
And I was like, you know what,this would be great because then
I can learn about what'shappening in my own body and how
to fix it.
What school did you go to tolearn that?
So I ended up going to RussellSage College.
(03:46):
I did do one smart thingthough, before I went to Russell
Sage College for my dietetics.
I got my associate's degreethrough Ulster.
So I went to a communitycollege for two years.
So by the time I got to RussellSage, I ended up only having to
do two and a half years thereversus what most people do,
which is, you know, four fullyears.
To be a dietitian is a program?
(04:07):
So it's a four-year program,and then you have to do a
10-month internship.
Mirav (04:11):
When do you do internship?
Hospital?
Ingrid (04:13):
Yep.
I kind of equate it to hownurses do their clinicals.
So where nurses do clinicalswith their undergrad, we do our
undergrad first.
And our undergrad is composedof pretty much all pre-med
classes.
We have our microbio, we haveour chemistry classes, we have
our macronutrients, we have alldifferent types of classes where
(04:34):
we would be sitting in the sameclasses as nurses and pre-med
physicians.
Once we were done with ourbachelor's degree, then there's
the option to become aregistered dietitian.
So in order to become aregistered dietitian, you have
to choose the school, and thenthe school has to choose you in
order for you to be acceptedinto the internship.
So it's 10 months unpaid withgraduate classes attached to it.
(04:56):
And then you have to sit foryour board exam in order to
become a dietitian.
Mirav (05:00):
So you learned to become a general dietitian.
Ingrid (05:03):
Yeah, so I have always been kind of an autodidact.
I've always learned on my own.
But with college, one of thethings that I was very
intentional about doing wasanytime I had the option of
choosing what I did a projecton, I would choose something
like gut health, which isrelated to Hashimoto's, or I
would choose metabolism, or Iwould choose something that's
(05:24):
related to what I was goingthrough.
So that way I would essentiallyget credit for looking into the
literature for Hashimoto's.
The whole intention here was tohelp myself.
Mirav (05:35):
You said that uh they start in hospitals, yeah, and
direct and you mentioneddoctors, but I had some
autoimmune problem with Crohn'sdisease.
Oh, yeah.
And the doctors told meliterally, we do not learn about
nutrition.
Ingrid (05:49):
It's true.
It's true.
So most doctors in the UnitedStates get less than I think
it's 25 hours of nutritioneducation throughout their
schooling.
And I actually worked in ateaching hospital that had a
dedicated nutrition program, andI would teach the doctors about
nutrition.
Mirav (06:06):
I looked on your Instagram, you have 14,000,
close to 14,000 followers.
So you must have done a lot ofwork with a lot of people.
Ingrid (06:14):
But how did you get the first one?
My very first person that Iworked with with Hashimoto, she
didn't know she had Hashimoto'sat the time.
She was someone that I met atthe gym, and she knew I was
going to school to become adietitian.
And she was like, Hey, can youwork with me?
I'm having I'm working out allthe time.
I'm having a really hard timelosing weight.
And so we started to talk.
I did a little intake for her,which is essentially asking her
(06:36):
a bunch of questions, like, Whatare you doing?
How are you feeling?
What are your symptoms?
And I was like, you know, Ithink you actually have
Hashimoto's.
You should go get that tested.
And so she did, and lo andbehold, she had Hashimoto's.
So that was even more fire forme to dig deeper into how
Hashimoto is healed throughfood.
Mirav (06:56):
Now just not about Hashimoto for a second, but who
goes to advice from a dietitian?
Ingrid (07:02):
Really, I think everyone should talk to a dietitian at
least once just to make sureyou're covering all your bases.
But in general, dietitians canspecialize in all sorts of
things.
So I actually worked at a teachthe teaching hospital I was
telling you about.
Right.
One of the things that I didwas I worked in the neonatal
ICU, so NICU babies.
Um, I also worked with womenwho are pregnant, right?
(07:25):
Making sure that, you know,they're getting everything they
need for a healthy pregnancy,working with people with
gestational diabetes.
There are people that work withpeople with kidney failure,
renal dietitians.
There are dietitians that workwith people with diabetes and
insulin resistance.
So there's a lot of differentspecialties.
Nutrition really isgame-changing.
Mirav (07:45):
You know about a lot of different areas, but you chose
Hashimoto.
Is it more lucrative to be aspecializing dietist?
Ingrid (07:52):
So it is.
It's always uh more lucrativeto niche down in some way,
right?
Because if you're speaking toeveryone, you're speaking to no
one.
And the route of business thatI took, I am doing all of my own
marketing.
So you saw my Instagram hasalmost 14,000 people.
My TikTok has over 100,000people.
(08:12):
Oh, I didn't look at that,yeah.
So um I have like almost 4,000people on my email list.
So I think this is importantfrom a marketing standpoint, but
also from a practitionerstandpoint that the people that
you're speaking to see thatyou're authentic and also they
resonate with what you'resaying.
If you truly understand theirproblem and you speak to that
(08:37):
problem, then people can relateto you and they're more apt to
not only hire you to help them,but believe that you can help
them.
Though I do a lot of socialmedia marketing, I would say
like 80% of my clients come fromTikTok.
Mirav (08:50):
Unbelievable.
Tell me, what is the differencebetween a nutritionist and a
dietitian?
Ingrid (08:55):
Just a nutritionist, you don't really need to have a
background knowledge in how yourbody works.
You can take a course online,pay a couple hundred bucks, and
then you're a nutritionist.
I could actually technicallyand legally call my dog a
nutritionist, and I wouldn't getin trouble for that because
it's not a protected title.
There's you're allowed to callyourself a nutritionist no
(09:17):
matter what.
But in order to be a dietitian,there's a lot that you have to
do.
You need to make sure that youhave your bachelor's degree, you
need to go through thatinternship, the unpaid
internship, and then you need topass your board exam.
And if you don't pass yourboard exam, you are not a
dietitian.
So that's the last kind ofhurdle that you need to jump
through.
And then you need to stay ontop of your continuing
(09:38):
education, which is incrediblyimportant because things change,
right?
And this is why I'm very muchnot dogmatic in my nutrition.
And I think a lot of peopleare, they hold so tightly onto
these certain ideas, and it'slike, okay, well, we learn new
information about nutrition allof the time.
Mirav (09:54):
Is your job threatened by AI?
Because people can put alltheir symptoms into AI and they
can spew it out the treatment.
Ingrid (10:02):
Yes and no.
I think that there needs to bemore education to the public
about the limitations of AI.
I've caught Chat GPT flying,essentially.
Yeah, I do too.
Um, and and kind of spreadingmisinformation.
So, for example, when it comesto Hashimoto's, there's a lot of
(10:23):
food myths and there's a lot ofinformation that is has been
proven untrue in terms of foodsthat you need to remove from
your nutrition.
So one of those is dairy.
We know from the literature youdo not need to remove dairy
from your nutrition unless youhave lactose intolerance or
unless your gut is reallyinflamed.
But in general, dairy is notgoing to impact your thyroid
(10:43):
antibodies.
And chat GPT says yes.
And when I press it, when I sayI thought that the literature
had been updated and blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, it'll be
like, oh yes, you're correct.
So you have to be reallycareful with ChatGPT.
The other thing that I think isimportant to kind of
distinguish here too is Chat GPTisn't gonna hold you
(11:06):
accountable.
It's not gonna reach out toyou, it's not gonna review your
food logs and give youinformation that's actually
helpful.
It's not going to provide thathuman touch.
It's not gonna know what you'regoing through.
It's not gonna know that, oh,your your kid had the flu last
week.
So, you know, here are thingsthat you need to do in order to
support your body better.
So I think that there's a lotof limitations to AI.
(11:28):
I do think that it's a greattool if you use it properly.
But I think it's important tokind of know that Chat GPT is
not the end all be all for sure.
Mirav (11:37):
Do you have a success story that you can tell me?
Anybody that came to you andreally improved tremendously
because of a diet?
Ingrid (11:45):
Oh, yeah.
Pretty much all of my clients.
Anyone who act yes, anyone whoactually follows the steps that
I give them has incrediblesuccess.
I have people who struggle tolose weight.
That's a big thing that kind ofmotivates people to work with
me, is the fact that they gainso much weight and it's
impossible for them to lose.
And so I've had people lose 50pounds, 80 pounds after not
(12:07):
being able, not in three months,of course, but you know, after
not seeing any progress on thescale at all, seeing that weight
come off.
My personal favorite is when Isee people get their energy
back.
And so I'm thinking of aspecific client from a few years
ago.
She is someone who came to me,she was like dragging.
She was a mom of three kids.
(12:28):
She worked full-time, she couldbarely drag herself through the
day.
She was having such a hardtime, so much mom guilt because
she just couldn't function.
She was putting her kids infront of the TV, which there's
no shame in that, but she didn'twant to be doing that.
She wanted to be active withher kids.
She worked with me, and withinsix weeks, she was like, My
(12:49):
husband doesn't know what to dowith me.
I'm like cleaning out thegarage, I'm like doing all these
things that like she's like,I'm running circles around him.
Mirav (12:56):
Amazing.
I when I researched a littlebit for gut health, they say eat
a lot of like pickles andcabbage and stuff, and you build
the bacteria.
Ingrid (13:05):
Is that all it's about?
Those are fermented foods.
And so, what fermented foods dois they replenish the good
bacteria or the probiotics.
So that's the probiotic side,and then there's the prebiotic
side, including whole foodsources of carbohydrates like
the sweet potatoes and bananas.
Those are going to provide foodfor that good bacteria.
(13:27):
So you need both.
Mirav (13:28):
Does any doctor call you for advice for their patients?
Ingrid (13:33):
Not for their patients, but I've had doctors come
through my program because theythought Hashimoto's was no big
deal until they were diagnosedthemselves.
Mirav (13:43):
Oh.
Ingrid (13:43):
And then they were like, oh, this is not it.
Like, you know, the standard ofcare is to do this, but I did
that, and this is not helping meat all.
And it's like, well, now youknow, and and really they've
said to me, like, now like Ifeel so bad because I I've, you
know, kind of dismissed all ofthese people, and now I have
this and I understand like whatit feels like.
(14:06):
Um, so I've had, yeah, I've haddoctors come through my
program.
Mirav (14:09):
Is it healthy for people that do not have Hashimoto to
cut out carbs completely?
Ingrid (14:15):
It's important for them to make sure that they are
getting adequate carbohydratesbecause when you your fiber
lives in your carbohydrates.
And if you cut out carbscompletely, then you cut
yourself off from a lot ofnutrients.
You cut yourself off fromfiber, you cut yourself off from
um prebiotics, which is asubstance that feeds the good
gut microbiome.
(14:36):
It cuts you off from a lot ofantioxidant sources.
So personally, I don'trecommend that anyone completely
cuts carbohydrates from theirnutrition.
Portioning them properly,absolutely.
Pairing them properly,absolutely.
And when I'm talking aboutpairing, what I mean is carbs
digest very quickly.
And so a lot of times what canhappen is say you put a saltine
(15:00):
cracker in your mouth, right?
That immediately dissolves.
That's the enzymes breaking itdown.
So it starts digestion in yourmouth, these carbohydrates.
So by the time it reaches yourstomach and your blood sugar,
you get that blood sugar spike.
But to slow that down a littlebit, you can add a fat or a
protein to it, and it kind ofslows that digestion of the
carbohydrate and allows you tohave a more steady energy flow.
Mirav (15:21):
You mentioned stress before.
Yes.
And I'm curious if somebodythat wow, well, there's a lot of
people with a lot of stresstoday.
Is there something that astressful person should do as
far as the diet?
Ingrid (15:33):
In terms of diet, one of the best things that you can do
is make sure that your bloodsugar stays very regulated.
So making sure you're eatingconsistently throughout the day,
making sure you're notunder-eating carbohydrates, not
making sure you're not skippingmeals.
And I know that there's a lotof hype around intermittent
fasting and keto, but thosethings are very stressful on
your body and it's registered asa stress on your body.
(15:56):
The other thing that can bereally helpful is mineral
supplementation because the morestress your body has to
withstand, the more it kind ofburns through minerals.
So doing things likeelectrolytes in your water once
a day can be really, reallyhelpful.
And then also just from like alifestyle standpoint, making
sure that you're doing some deepbreathing every day that can
(16:16):
help stimulate that vagus nerve.
What is that?
So this is a nerve that runsfrom your brain to your gut.
Okay.
And it's your rest, it's partof your rest and digest nervous
system.
So when you experience a lot ofstress, this can put a lot of
wear and tear and weaken thevagus nerve.
And what that can do is it canlend to a bunch of digestive
(16:38):
issues.
So it's really important tomake sure that you're doing
vagus nerve exercises.
The box breathing, humming,singing in your car.
I like to do box breathingbecause it's very, very short.
It's, you know, intentional.
And essentially what that is isbreathing in four counts, hold
four counts, out four counts,hold four counts.
Mirav (16:56):
And that helps.
Ingrid (16:57):
Yes.
And so this is something thatNavy SEALs use also to help kind
of just bring them down andcenter them.
All of those things strengthenand exercise the vagus nerve.
None of this is a magic wand,right?
None of this is likeearth-shattering stuff.
It's all simple changes thateveryone's ignoring, right?
It's all these simple thingsthat no one is doing.
(17:20):
So it can seem veryoverwhelming when you like look
at the laundry list of thesesimple changes that you have to
do.
How much did it cost you to getto this level?
Just to get my bachelor'sdegree, that was around $55,000
per year.
And then the internship on topof that was around $20,000.
So and that wait, you had topay for the yes, you have to pay
(17:44):
for the internship.
I know that boggled my mindtoo.
And to be a hundred percenthonest with you, I had no idea
the internship was part of thepackage when I signed up to
become a dietitian.
So you have to pay for it andyou don't get paid.
So you essentially work 40hours a week for free and also
take classes on top of that.
Mirav (18:03):
And then that's a travesty.
Yeah.
And the internship was in thehospital.
Ingrid (18:08):
Yep.
But that's also kind of anissue with dietetics in general,
in my humble opinion.
I'm certainly not thespokesperson for all dietitians,
but I worked in a teachinghospital.
So one of the things that wewould have to do on top of our
caseload is mentor youngerdietitians, which we were all
happy to do because we had to bementored as well.
(18:28):
But the dietitians don't getanything from it, the interns
don't get anything from it.
It's just, oh, it's kind oflike a pay it forward thing,
even though we're all paying forit, you know.
So um, it is kind offrustrating, and it is something
that has been a point offrustration with many dietitians
that I have spoken to.
Mirav (18:46):
So, okay, I want to know about the return on investment.
So somebody finished dietitianschool and then started to work
at a hospital.
What roughly can they make?
Ingrid (18:54):
So, granted, this was back 2014, 2015.
When I was hired at thehospital, I was making $23 an
hour, $40 something thousanddollars a year.
Now the the same hospital ispaying around $56,000 a year.
Wow.
Um, which, you know, it's it'smore, but then when you think
(19:16):
about the investment that youneed to make in order to get to
that place, you're talking$55,000 a year times four, and
then you add in the $20,000internship.
If my math adds up, that's$250-ish,000 to become a
dietitian, and then you'regetting paid $56,000 a year.
So I did get my clinicalexperience because I did think
(19:39):
that was an important thing todo just from a professional
standpoint.
I'm very grateful for thatexperience.
I learned how to communicatewith physicians, I learned how
to read charts better, I learnedhow to read labs better.
So there was a lot that Ilearned by getting that clinical
experience.
So I'm very happy that I didthat.
But I'm so grateful that I didtake the leap to go into
(20:01):
business for myself.
I don't have my master'sdegree.
It wasn't required, and I feltlike I had enough student loan
debt, but now it's required.
So now it's even more expensiveto be the dietitian.
Do you feel like you got goodreturn on your investment?
Because I kind of pivoted fromclinical to what I do now, it's
(20:22):
a great return on investment.
I'm making well over sixfigures every single year from
my business.
And what's lovely about what Ido as well is also the time
freedom that comes with it.
And you also just feel betterin life and what you're doing
because you can serve the peoplewho you want to serve.
And then you're also able topay your bills in unlike, you
(20:43):
know, working for a hospital.
Mirav (20:45):
So how much can you charge?
Somebody comes to you foradvice.
Ingrid (20:48):
I actually undercharge, I don't undercharge, but I
charge less than what otherpeople do just because I do want
to make my services asaccessible as possible.
Because you have to exactly.
So I have a couple differentoptions.
So, first of all, for anyonewho is unable to make the
investment, I have a $33masterclass that essentially
(21:08):
goes over the basics ofHashimoto.
So anyone can, you know, cancan do that.
That's really helpful for astarting place.
But for my group program, whichincludes a full nutrition
assessment, chat supportthroughout the week, weekly
group calls, and I call it ahybrid because essentially they
get one-on-one information fromme, but we talk as a group
(21:29):
because I think that communityis important.
So it's a 12-week program andit's $1,500 for the 12-week
program.
Mirav (21:35):
What's the biggest challenge of working with
Hashimoto patients?
Ingrid (21:39):
I think probably one of the biggest challenges is they
just feel so bad in terms oflike brain fog and fatigue that
the idea of eating breakfast inthe morning makes them s want to
spiral out because they arejust so exhausted and so
fatigued that these changes feelreally overwhelming.
And it's also a verycomplicated disease, right?
(22:00):
There's so many possibilitiesof things that are happening
alongside of the Hashimoto'sthat it can get quite
complicated.
What's the biggest reward?
I love when my clients againjust feel like themselves again.
When they get that first winwhen they're like, oh, this is
working.
And I've had so many peoplesay, like, nothing worked for me
(22:21):
before, but just these changes.
And sometimes people thinkthey're like very simple.
Again, this is not magic wand.
This is not like anyearth-shattering stuff, but it's
effective.
For me, the most rewardingthing is when people start to
feel better again.
Mirav (22:37):
Okay, I have some quick quests.
Okay, cool.
What's your quick and easy fleameal?
Ingrid (22:41):
I am a big like bowl person.
I like to do roasted broccoli,I like to do sweet potato,
grilled chicken, and avocado.
That's like my like I'msalivating already.
Yeah, that is my like go-to,like, I don't want to think
about dinner meal.
Mirav (22:55):
Your favorite snack on the go.
Ingrid (22:57):
Oh man.
Probably if if it's like aconvenience thing, I will go for
like a perfect bar or fruit andlike some nuts or like the the
packets of like nut butter orsomething.
Mirav (23:08):
If you could give only one diet advice to a Hashimoto
patient, what would that be?
Ingrid (23:13):
Trial a gluten-free diet.
Oh, because that can be thatcan that can be the difference
between you feeling great in acouple days to a week to you
continuing to feel stuck.
Mirav (23:24):
Alright.
And on that note, thank you somuch.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me.
This was so fun.
Thank you.
It was amazing information.
That is a wrap for today.
Big thanks to Ingrid forsharing her journey from
dietitian to business ownerwhile helping people feel like
themselves again.
(23:44):
It's a great thing.
You can find Ingrid viaInstagram.
The link is in the show notes.
And until next time, pleasewrite us a review and come back
for more talk about real jobwith real people, real
industries, and real paging.
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