By Kelli Swensen, Dietetics Student, Sargent College

Eight A.M. classes four days a week: the joys of being a junior dietetics student. Although no one likes to hear their alarm going off, I don’t dread the incessant beeping on Wednesdays and Fridays thanks to one very animated professor: Joan Salge Blake. Professor Salge Blake, MS, RD, LDN, is not only a nutrition expert at BU, but she is also an American Dietetic Association Media Spokesperson who has been featured in numerous media outlets, including segments on Fox 25 Boston. To see her more than 500 media appearances, check out her Media Page on her main website.

Whether you’ve been lucky enough to take one of her classes (she teaches nutrition classes for both nutrition majors and non-majors), seen her on TV, or have been in the building when she’s lecturing, you know that she is overflowing with energy. This liveliness is directly related to her passion for nutrition (and a bit to her Italian background). Just as it’d be impossible to be bored in her class, her articles and blog posts with their snappy titles grab you in and make reading about health issues both exciting and relevant.

In addition to her blog Nutrition and You!, Joan has a weekly blog at Boston.com with the same name. Simply click on the Lifestyle Page then click on Health and Wellness. If you scroll down a bit you’ll see Joan’s picture which will lead you to her posts. She’s also been asked to start doing slide shows for the website so keep an eye out for those!

With Thanksgiving less than a week a way, I’m sure many of you will be finalizing your Thanksgiving dinner menus this weekend and some of the more organized  will even get the grocery shopping done. Before you make a trip to the store, be sure to check out Joan’s article “The Price of Thanksgiving on Your Wallet and Your Waist” as well as her slide show How to Cut 1,000 Calories from Thanksgiving.

Picture Source

Did you know that the average cost of Thanksgiving is up by 13% this year? or that the average Thanksgiving meal contains over 1,000 calories? Joan’s article gives great tips on reducing both of these numbers, saving you money (or giving you more money to spend shopping the next day) and warding off those sneaky holiday pounds. For more Thanksgiving tips, be sure to head over to her slide show, which has an eye-opening pop quiz and links to some of her healthy Thanksgiving recipes!

For the rest of the year, Joan has a bunch of great nutrition tools to help make eating healthy not only easier, but also more affordable. One tool that my roommate and I both love is her Virtual Pizza Parlor. This tool allows you to build your own pizza and gives you the nutritional stats for each ingredient, per slice, and per pie.

Because she is the queen of nutrition communication, I asked Joan what other websites are good sources for nutrition information. Her top two recommendations?

1.  EatRight.org, which is the main site for the American Dietetic Association

2. ChooseMyPlate.gov, which she described as “fabulous” and “getting better and better”

For more great websites, be sure to check out Joan’s blogroll on her Boston.com blog!

Joan Salge Blake updates her blog about once a week, so be sure to add her to your Google Reader or bookmark list!