Clinical Nutritionist: Berkshire Healthcare’s Pilgrim Rehab and Skilled Nursing Facility
Co-founder: Nutriage
Jaisingh is a Health & Lifestyle coach. She combines the best of nutrition science and holistic nutrition to help people get to the root of their imbalances and find optimum health. Her personal interest being in coaching younger generations helping them make better food choices. She conducts in-person and virtual health workshops which are very popular among the South Asian community. In addition, she takes detox, or detoxification, very seriously. “Detox is big these days. Everybody’s talking about it and trying it—juicing, fasting, cleansing, raw diet, colonics, and more,” Jaisingh once told INDIA New England News. She says that thanks to the trillion dollar food industry, we have been hooked on to one of the deadliest drug on the planet, SUGAR. And often times our hardworking organs are over-capacitated and can’t cope with this toxic built up, leading to: hormonal imbalance, impaired immune function, nutritional deficiency, inefficient metabolism and inflammation.
QUESTION: Can you tell the readers about your work and what you enjoy most about it?
JAISINGH: I have been working in the field of Diet and Nutrition for the past 17 years. Currently I work as a Clinical Nutritionist at Pilgrim SNiF where I oversee a state of the art kitchen, assess patients’ nutritional needs (often with multiple clinical complications) and plan personalized therapeutic diets for them. Then comes periodic reassessments and continuous support to help achieve their desired/recommend nutritional goals. What I find challenging and exciting is customizing diet plans not only to address a medical condition but to fit patients’ long term health goals and their varying palates due to their ethnic origins and cultural influences. Over the last few years my specialty has become Enteral Nutrition (Tube feeds). Nothing is more rewarding to me than to see patients who come in being on tube feed due to various medical conditions like stroke, cancer, etc. graduate to consuming regular textured food with the help of interdisciplinary interventions.
About 10 years ago I co-founded NutriAge (an online community website), which has now transformed into a Facebook community that is followed by many around the globe. This page is shaping up to be a “go to” place for health enthusiasts for sharing latest findings, ideas, recipes, seek and provide support. Through this I also conduct virtual health workshops, the most popular of which is NutriAge’s detox program.
Q: To which charitable, community and professional groups do you belong and why?
J: Through my developmental years I was always taught the importance of giving back to the community in whichever form that one can. I personally believe that all the charitable organizations out there are doing an awesome job and positively impacting the world in their own way. I try to do my bit whenever and wherever I am able to. Be it in the form of donating my time, donating money to a cause or offering my skills. A few fundraising events where I have been able to contribute are Snehalaya, Snakara Cancer Foundation, Sankara Eye foundation, Project Bread, Umass medicine cancer walks, March of Dimes, Alzheimer’s foundation and Leukemia and Lymphoma society (LLS). LLS being very close to my heart.
My ultimate satisfaction comes from watching people not only make healthy changes in their life but influence those around them causing a ripple effect. My vision is to create “health warriors” who will carry this torch forward and impact those who they meet in their journey. Other organizations that I have been associated with are Sahlei and Hindi Manch, which allowed me to expand my creative and organizational self. Professionally, I am a member of Indian and American dietetic associations.
Q: What are your hobbies and interests?
J: I love to travel and write mini travelogues. I love doing fun family activities like biking, kayaking, hiking, etc. during warmer months. I took a liking to martial arts when my son enrolled and it morphed into a family activity where I reached half way in the journey towards my black belt. An injury forced me to take a sabbatical; hoping to go back and get my black belt some day.
As for my interests, there’s been an insatiable quest within me to keep learning, with my special interest in exploring the relationship between food and its influence on mind, body and spirit. And MUSIC is my fuel that helps me get through, especially my long commute.
Q: In what way you feel you have most positively influenced the local community and your company and professional field?
J: In my professional field, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a work environment where we encourage each other to implement “out-of-the-box” (natural and holistic remedies) ideas for managing our patients’ medical conditions. In the past few years, I’ve also been able to influence the Kitchen department to implement more natural and healthier food options compared to package and frozen foods.
Speaking of the community, we all inspire and influence each other in our own ways. My passion towards improving my own health and wellness lead me to research and implement lifestyle changes for me and my family. My inner need to give back to the community lead me to share my experiences with those around and as they reaped the benefits of those changes they in turn influenced their loved ones. This caught on and the NutriAge community of health enthusiasts grew to what it is today.
Q: What is your rare talent?
J: To take the initiative and make things happen. I believe in getting the ball rolling than over analyzing things and possibly ending up procrastinating. “There is no need to be perfect to inspire others, let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.”
Q: Your favorite book?
J: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Q: Your favorite quote?
J: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about dancing in the rain.”
Q: Your core value you try to live by?
J: Forgiveness and Perseverance. Forgiveness is the first step towards healing yourself and Perseverance will make sure you get there.
