Susan Mitchell Dietitian / Nutritionist PhD, RDN, LDN, FAND

My love for nutrition went from passion to a mission when the rug was pulled out from under me and I lost my Mom, Dad and brother within 2 1/2 years….

When I was in college looking for that right major, my Dad went to the doctor and found his cholesterol was high. He saw a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) to find out how to eat smart to bring that number down. In his excitement, he shared what he learned with me and then asked me if I knew that The University of Tennessee had a top rated nutrition/dietetics program. I said I didn’t know that Dad. But I looked into it as health and medicine were always an interest. I started their program and my passion for nutrition was born.

Fast forward a few years after I became a RDN and got my doctorate in nutrition and food. The rug was pulled out from under me and catapulted me from a passion for nutrition to a mission. During an intensely stressful and horribly sad 2.5 year battle, I lost my Mom to the autoimmune disease lupus, my Dad and my brother to cancer. My Dad, brothers and I were grieving the loss of my Mom when he found out that he had lung cancer which took his life. My brother had just celebrated his 40 birthday when he was told he had incurable melanoma and he was dead in 8 weeks. I didn’t even have time to accept that he had cancer before we were having his funeral. First my Mom, then my Dad and now my brother.

Their deaths were a game changer for me. Stress and emotional eating…I get it. Anger, sadness, situational depression, I get that too. I understand the role that food plays in emotions. Food becomes our best friend, our comforter, the place we often turn when we’re stressed. The result is often not pretty and our weight and health pay for it.

I had gone to school eight years, studied nutrition and couldn’t make them better. No matter what I did, I couldn’t make them well. Did you know that over 1/3 of all cancer can be affected by diet? The power of food is incredible. My family didn’t survive. But if I can share nutrition information that helps you and your family then I feel like I’ve done something for my family.

You don’t have to change your entire life and be stressed to the max. You can take a small and simple step every day to make a change in the way you eat, the way you live, the way you sleep and the way you play. That’s why I founded the website BreakingDownNutrition and the podcast Bariatric Surgery Success.

ObesityHelp Contributing Author

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