Meet Jen!

Hello! I am Jen Schmidt, a nutrition therapist and the newest addition to the Positive Nutrition team. I am a nutrition practitioner who has never followed a linear path and someone who really makes life about the journey rather than the end goal. I was born and raised in the Salt Lake Valley and graduated from college with a degree in psychology. I moved to San Diego, CA, immediately after college thinking I wanted to learn how to surf. I didn’t know a single person there, didn’t have a job, and I couldn’t actually swim. Thankfully, I didn’t drown and it all worked out. That move turned out to be one of the most pivotal things in my life. I got a job in a group home for foster kids where I was randomly assigned to plan the menus, even though I had no idea about food or nutrition at all. I found it interesting and started reading nutrition books and learning as much as I could about feeding children. That is where my passion for food and nutrition was born.

I quickly realized that I couldn’t afford to continue living in San Diego and also go back to school. Since my psychology degree and a nutrition degree are very different (hello, chemistry!) I knew I had a lot of undergrad coursework I would need to complete in order to even think about graduate school. Since I was now an adult and supporting myself, I could only afford to take 1-2 classes at a time and took a lot of breaks from school. I made a few more moves, got married, went through a number of job changes, and finally completed a graduate degree in Nutrition - 10 years after finishing my undergrad degree.

It was while I was practicing as a clinical dietitian that I was exposed to the concepts of Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size. These ideas rang so true for me. They felt like the missing piece between what I had learned about nutrition science and what I knew to be true about being a being in this world. I have spent the past ten years learning how to blend my psychology background and love of mental health with nutritional science. I now also have two amazing children who have reinforced and taught me so much more about Intuitive Eating and how I can preserve those instincts in them. I am so excited to be part of the Positive Nutrition team and continue to learn and teach these concepts!

I will begin taking clients in early January 2022. You can make an appointment by clicking here or reach out to me directly by email: Jen@positive-nutrition.com.