Pooja Patel, MS, RD, CDN, knew she wanted to be a dietitian at 16 years old. She grew up in an Indian household where the female cultural beauty standard was to be thin.

“I was a chubby girl,” Patel said. “A lot of the time, my family members would taunt me and tell me to go on a diet. It’s really common. You’re expected to look a certain way.”

Her self-esteem diminishing, she decided to take ownership of her health for her own benefit. She began eating more fruits and vegetables and started working out. She cut down on the junk food she was eating. She changed her whole lifestyle around, and from there found a new love: nutrition. She was poking around the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website one day and came across careers. She found “registered dietitian” and wanted to learn more.

“I thought, if I can change my life, I can help others,” Patel said. “I just set my mind on it. Now here I am, living the dream.”

Below is the full interview, where Patel talks working in retail, highlights and challenges in this edition of RD Close Up.

Describe your role.

I am the retail dietitian at ShopRite of Hoboken. Hoboken is really great because I get to work in a city environment. It’s a short drive to get to New York City, so I serve a diverse crowd. My role is different every day. I provide free nutrition counseling, which is a great asset to the store. I also go to senior centers, libraries and preschools to give educational workshops and snack classes. I also do a lot of in-store food demonstrations. We are provided with an induction stove. I showcase budget-friendly recipes, in-season food items and demo all of that to the customers, hand out coupons, promote vendors and healthier brands. Each day looks different. It’s a lot of fun. Our ShopRite dietitian team hosts cooking classes in the stores and online. The team also holds meetings once a month to catch up with things going on in the stores and hear from different vendors and their products. It’s a great group!

Why did you want to work in retail?

Before I worked in retail, I worked one year in a long-term care facility. I did like it, but I didn’t love it. I kept track of patients’ weekly weights and assessed if there had been any significant weight loss or gain. I sometimes put in recommendations for tube feeding orders, which proved to be a difficult but meaningful task. I did learn a lot clinically, but I wanted to do more. Caitlin Rulli, who works at ShopRite of Northvale, and with whom I completed my dietetic internship, introduced me to a ShopRite job opening in Hoboken. I wanted to switch to retail because I wanted to work with people of all age groups and prevent them from getting into the hospital in the first place. I wanted to teach people how to eat. I can also help people on a budget consume healthy foods. I get to work on a more personal level with people while catering to their needs. It’s convenient to work in a store as well, because I can help consumers make better shopping decisions from the get-go.

How did you come to work at your retailer?

I’ve always wanted to work at ShopRite because I was a frequent shopper. I would come across the store’s dietitian’s nook when I was an undergraduate student. I thought to myself, I can have my own dietitian’s nook, and one day I will work for ShopRite. I manifested it in a way! During my internship program with ShopRite, I had to accumulate on-site hours. I found my way over to the Shoprite of Hoboken, which is now the store I work at. Then a few years later, Caitlin told me about the full-time position. I applied, interviewed, got the call that I got the job and took it.

What do you like about it?

I like that I get to work with food directly. I’m a big foodie surrounded by food here in the grocery store. One of my favorite things to do is in-store demos, where I demonstrate healthy recipes and customers are able to try a few samples. Some of my favorite recipes I did were lentil soup, pumpkin cinnamon bread and veggie sandwiches, made with hummus and avocados. Each month, there’s a team of 3-4 dietitians who come up with their own social media post. We utilize Facebook as a team. For example, in the month of January, I created a video on tofu scramble in honor of Veganuary. Around Halloween, I posted a picture of healthier sweets and chocolates found in the store.

What has been the biggest challenge for you as a dietitian working in the retail industry?

The biggest challenge is battling the nutrition misinformation out there, especially with influencers and personal trainers who did not go to school for nutrition giving out info. I’m constantly battling these questions I get. A customer will say to me, “I saw on TikTok that carbs are bad for me, so I’m going to give up carbs.” I present scientific evidence-based info to ease their fears. I also make sure to mention to people that if they’re looking for information, go to an RD or health professional. Most of these influencers are just finding things on Google — which isn’t always evidence based all of the time. Getting the correct info to my customers is a big priority.

What is one thing you wish you had known before starting your career in retail?

The retail setting is very different from a clinical setting or a long-term care setting. I wish I had known merchandising. Often times, the store will be promoting summer grilling or back to school, and I can be helping maximize initiatives. I’ve been learning to align my health messaging and collaborating with stores. In the month of January, the stores are having a can can sale, so to support them in that, I demoed a canned chickpea salad, which promoted a healthy recipe and the can can sale, essentially killing two birds with one stone. Working in retail, they’re helping me and I’m helping them. It’s less individual and a team effort. It’s just something very different I was not used to.

Has there been anything specific that helped you move forward in your role?

One of the great things that our company offers is we’re able to go to networking events. I recently went to the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Fresh Produce & Floral Show in Atlanta, Georgia. I met dietitians from across the country, including a dietitian for Wawa. I thought, that’s so cool! I had no idea that was even a thing. I got to pick all their brains and see what’s working in their stores. The conference itself helped me stay current on industry trends and find new ways to enhance the store nutrition program.

Is there a program or initiative that you are most proud of?

Something the entire ShopRite community does is Partners in Caring, which fundraises money for soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters and senior citizen centers to help fight hunger in communities. ;Some of the things I have personally done are make fruit smoothies, sandwiches and iced coffees and sell them for a dollar or two. All of the proceeds are then donated to this program. We also donate nonperishable food items, so in Hoboken we collected food items for the local food shelter. It’s such an inspiring initiative and it’s great to see the community come together, including the customers who help donate! We additionally hosted a mini carnival this summer with a dunk tank, food trucks and DIY games. A lot of the efforts went to fighting hunger. It was a big turnout, and it was a fun day for helping a good cause.

Have any “hot topics” in the dietetics/nutrition industry impacted the way you do things?

A huge buzzword is “plant-based,” so I’ll host plant-based food demos in the store. I’ve also done plant-based cooking classed with other dietitians. I’ve participated in a virtual plant-based cooking class with two other dietitians. I demoed a tofu cream cheese recipe, and another dietitian made tempeh, a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. The purpose was to show customers how different plant-based proteins can be utilized. They look at tofu and think, “What do I do with this?” Plant-based proteins are lower in saturated fats and cholesterol. We are showing them how they can add new things to their diet.

Bio: Pooja Patel, MS, RD, CDN, has been the retail dietitian at ShopRite of Hoboken for almost two years. She received her bachelor’s degree in nutritional sciences from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and master’s degree in nutrition and food science at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. Before working for ShopRite, Patel worked at Complete Care at Fairlawn Edge skilled nursing facility where she performed nutrition-focused physical exams, helped obtain patients’ food preferences and worked alongside an interdisciplinary care team to provide the best patient care. She completed her dietetic internship also at Montclair State University in New Jersey where she researched food waste. Originally from North Bergen, New Jersey, she currently resides in Ridgefield with her younger sister and pet cat. She enjoys working out, practicing breathwork, creating cooking videos and traveling. She recently took a trip to Amsterdam for her 30th birthday where she experienced the Van Gough Museum, took a canal tour and ate so much delicious food she considered starting a second stomach.