Blog Brûlée + A Love Letter To Blogging

Disclosure: My attendance at the Blog Brûlée is partially funded by Sponsors of the Blog Brûlée, and I received a discounted registration to the event in exchange for writing this post. Opinions expressed are my own. I was not compensated for my time.

As many of you know, I made a life changing decision six years ago to quit my job and go back to school to study nutrition. I’m always asked why I chose the field of nutrition and the answer is simple– I love to cook, create healthy recipes, and I’m a huge fitness buff.  Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, right? That’s what I thought when I decided to turn my hobbies into a career. But, in grad school it became evident that nutrition is not just about cooking and enjoying healthy food.  Nutrition is a very clinically driven and scientific focused field. I quickly learned that many Dietitians work in hospitals or in the medical profession. Nervous that my career might lead me away from the things that I loved about nutrition, I created Nutrition à la Natalie.

This blog began as a simple platform to share what I love– healthy recipes and practical nutrition advice.  I didn’t know it at the time, but starting Nutrition à la Natalie was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Because I’m a blogger, I’m extremely fortunate to be able to participate in some amazing events, like Blog Brûlée. This once in a lifetime event is an invitation-only, blogging conference that provides education on a number of topics, such as blogging and social media best practices, fundamentals of food photography, communication and marketing strategies, brand identity and monetization. Blog Brûlée was created by the amazing Registered Dietitians that created the Recipe ReDux, and I was invited to the event because of my active participtation in The Recipe ReDux community. All of the attendees “have demonstrated leadership and participation in the healthy food blogging community and exhibit potential for growth and development in areas of social media outreach, photography, brand identity, etc.” 

Needless to say, I’m beyond excited to attend and I’m thrilled with the progression of my blogging journey. So, in the spirit of blogging, I put together a list of all things I love about being a blogger. For anyone who is thinking of starting a blog, here are some reasons why you should take the plunge.

1. First and foremost, I get to attend incredible events–Blog Brûlée.
2. I’ve developed a nutrition personality. My blog has taught (or forced) me to take a nutrition stance and develop a food philosophy. It’s not always easy to determine my thoughts on controversial topics, like sports drinks, being a vegetarian, whether or not coffee is healthy and body image, but writing about these things forces me to state my opinion. 
3. I can share reliable information with a large audience. This blog is a place where I can share reliable and evidence based sports nutrition information with the masses. I try to present complicated topics in a way that is interesting and fun to read. 
4. I’ve grown my writing skills and expanded my writing portfolio. As I mentioned earlier, nutrition is a very scientific field, and writing is not a big part of what you learn in school. This blog has taught me that I write  pretty well, and other nutrition publications are actually looking for Dietitian writers. Because of this blog, I now write for Women’s Running Magazine, FitnessMagazine.com, Eating Well, Shape.com and Food & Nutrition Magazine.  
5. I’m able to connect with many of you! So many people have reached out to me from this blog, and I love being able to help and answer questions about nutrition and career changes. Keep the emails coming!
6. I connect with many brands. I’m very excited to say that I might be a brand ambassador for some of my favorite food companies soon, so stay tuned on that. There will also be many awesome healthy living brands sponsoring Blog Brûlée, including Siggi’s, Aldi, Davidson’s, National Peanut Board, Mars Food of North America, Pom Wonderful, Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition (General Mills) and Nestlé.
7. I’m part of a blogging community. I’ve met so many other awesome blogging Dietitian’s through social media, and I’m excited to meet many of them in person at Blog Brûlée. Here’s a list of the other bloggers who will be joining me at the conference.  I highly recommend you check out their awesome blogs.

Stephanie McKercher, MS, RD | The Grateful Grazer

Ginger Hultin, MS RDN CSO | Champagne Nutrition

Brittany Poulson, MDA, RDN, CD, CDE | Your Choice Nutrition

Tawnie Kroll, RDN | Krolls Korner

Jodi Danen RD |  The Average RD

Christy Brissette, MS, RD | 80 Twenty Nutrition – Healthy Eating Made Simple

Liz Shaw, MS, RDN, CLT | Shaw’s Simple Swaps

Annemarie Rossi | Real Food Real Deals

Kristy Hegner, MPH, RD | Chocolate Slopes

Lauren Sharifi, RD LDN | Bite of Health Nutrition

Jessica DeGore RD LDN | Dietitian Jess

Bailey Sissom | Simply Sissom

Rebecca Clyde RD, CD | Nourish Nutrition Co.

Kelli Shallal MPH, RD, CPT | Hungry Hobby

Amber Ketchum, MDS, RD | Homemade Nutrition

Dianna Sinni, RDN, LD | Chard In Charge

Emily Cope-Kyle, MS, RDN | Emily Kyle Nutrition

Kristen Smith, MS, RDN, LD | 360 Family Nutrition

If you’re thinking of starting a blog, don’t waste another second! Just know that it’s a labor of love and something that should give you enjoyment. Stay tuned for more info on Blog Brûlée.  And follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see pictures from the event.