Keeping a Healthy Diet After Injury

Nutrition is an essential part of staying healthy for us all; it also plays a vital role in during and after recovery from injury. In a new episode of Picking Our Brain with Shepherd Center, Jill Newsome, clinical nutrition manager at Shepherd Center, and Allison Motter, dietitian at Shepherd Center, join us to discuss what maintaining a healthy diet means during recovery.

“Nutrition plays an integral role in everyone's health from day one, especially in an acute care hospital," Newsome said. 

Download the podcast as an audio file above or access it at shepherd.org/podcasts.

Jill Newsome is the clinical nutrition manager at Shepherd Center. She has more than ten years of experience in working with brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation patients. At Shepherd, her responsibilities include inpatient and outpatient care, dietetic internship lead, and management of the department computer systems. Throughout her career as a registered dietitian, she has focused on patient and family education to aid in optimal patient health after discharge. Jill earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University in 2005 and completed a dietetic internship at the Bay Pines VA in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Allison Motter earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in 2015 and completed Emory University Hospitals Dietetic Internship in 2016. She has been with Shepherd for over five years now and works closely with brain and spinal cord injury patients to optimize their nutrition as part of their recovery. This includes everything from managing patient’s macronutrient, micronutrient and hydration needs while on tube feeding, working closely with speech therapists to help patients transition from enteral nutrition to sufficient and sustainable oral diets, diet education, cooking demonstrations, grocery store tours, tailoring patient’s favorite home recipes for healthier options and restaurant menu reviews. During her time at Shepherd, Allison has worked with the culinary staff to create healthier meal options for patients, helped to bring in new tube feeding formulas and supplements, updated nutrient analyses on patient side menus, create a dietitian journal club and taken an interest in the gut brain axis following brain injury.