Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Krieg.
Hi Katie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
While I was growing up, my parents started several of their own businesses. This led my sister and I to also catch the entrepreneurial bug from an early age. Her and I started with lemonade stands and eventually started our own babysitting and pet-sitting business called “Two Sisters Sitting Services.” We gained traction driving around in a golf cart and posting flyers and door hangers around our neighborhood. Soon we had monopolized the babysitting and pet-sitting market in our neighborhood. When I left for college, I no longer played a large role in “Two Sisters Sitting Services” but knew I would like to start another business one day after I graduated.
The importance of nutrition always had an emphasis in our household. Our family would go on frequent walks together. The kids helped both mom and dad cook in the kitchen, and we were all introduced to a variety of foods. We grew up playing sports and recognized that food was important for fueling our bodies with the nutrients they needed.
Starting in high school, I grew interesting in the medical field and knew I wanted to do something to help benefit others’ health. Entering college at Texas Christian University, I decided to major in nutritional sciences so I could have a holistic approach to medicine. I fell in love with my classes and learned that TCU is one of the few schools in the nation that has a coordinated program in dietetics. Typically, students have to apply to internships and graduate programs after finishing their undergraduate degrees and spend an additional 2 years at minimum, completing their supervised practice and additional degree before they can become a dietitian. TCU’s coordinated program allowed me to complete my supervised practice during my undergraduate. This seemed like an incredible opportunity, so I decided to apply to the program and was accepted!
Upon graduating and completing my 1200+ supervised practice hours, I took my exam and passed the first time! I started my dietetic career in child nutrition working as the dietitian for Boerne ISD, a small hill country town outside of San Antonio. I spent about a year there developing menus, teaching kids cooking classes, and hosting farmer’s markets for the students to try new fresh fruits and vegetables. From there, I transitioned into a new position with the company that allowed me to oversee many districts across the state of Texas and travel across the US helping schools improve their child nutrition programs. Additionally, over the span of this past year, I worked alongside other dietitians at my company to develop nutrition education materials to share with our 300+ school districts. My intention for entering into child nutrition was to plant seeds with the students and get more nutrition education into our schools!
Having fulfilled my dream of getting more nutrition education into schools, I felt it was time for me to take my next steps and pivot the area of dietetics I was practicing in.
I obtained my LLC for my business this June and have officially opened the doors to my nutrition coaching practice, “The Expedition Dietitian.” “The Expedition Dietitian” was born out of my love for sharing nutrition education and traveling around the states and the world! I’ve found that there are many misconceptions surrounding both the nutrition and the travel worlds.
Diet culture is everywhere and has sunk its roots into many people’s lives. Many people feel they need to have a certain body shape prior to certain seasons or before they go on trips, so they deprive themselves and exercise in excess. Once on their trip, they tend to overindulge, due to depriving themselves previously and feel guilty about doing so. This inhibits them from being about to fully appreciate their time on vacation, the cultural foods they’re consuming, and the enjoyable experience of food bringing people together. Once they return back home from their trip, they deprive themselves once more and over-exercise. This same scenario cycles over and over again an average of 120 times throughout many people’s lives.
My goal is to free people of this loop and provide them with sustainable nutrition information and practices so they can feel empowered when it comes to their relationship with food and their bodies. This will also allow them to enjoy their travels to a fuller extent because they can enjoy their food and other experiences guilt-free.
Additionally, many people don’t feel comfortable with travel because the have different food allergies or special diets that make traveling difficult for them. They aren’t sure what the airport, airplane, or their destination is going to have in store for them and if they are going to be able to meet their dietary needs. This is where I come in! My nutrition expertise, combined with my love for local foods and restaurants, allows me to create a plan for you while on vacation so you have one less thing to worry about and can just sit back, relax, and enjoy your time visiting your dream destinations.
Shifting gears into the travel space, many people have the idea engraved in them that travel is too expensive. I often hear, “I would like to go to _____, but it’s just too expensive!” or “Oh, I wish I had the time for that kind of trip.” Because of my love for travel, I’ve dove into the thick of the travel planning and budget travel industries and have learned an extensive amount about travel hacking and how to maximize your PTO days. Additionally, as of July, I am now a Travel Agent and can make the booking and planning process even easier for the people I help serve!
Ultimately, the goal for my business is to help people enjoy food and travel to their dream destinations!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My greatest struggle so far has been growing awareness of my business. I know there are so many people out there that my expertise, nutrition coaching, and travel planning services can help, it’s just a matter of people actually knowing that my business exists.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My business is called The Expedition Dietitian. I’m a registered dietitian, travel agent, and a certified foodie. I help people enjoy food and travel to their dream destinations! To my knowledge, there are no other dietitians that serve people the way I am. I offer nutrition coaching services that empower you to make small sustainable changes that add up to great differences in your life and help you enjoy trying new foods while traveling, guilt-free! I also offer travel agent services to make travel more attainable for you and alleviate the stress of planning an entire trip. Additionally, if you want a dietitian’s recommendation for what food to pack on your trips, which restaurants to eat at, or what the top local dishes are, my signature program, “Good Bites & Beautiful Sights,” offers a combination of nutrition coaching and travel planning services to make your travels worry-free and ensure you get to fully enjoy all the best food on your trip!
What do you think about happiness?
Connecting with others and helping improve their lives. I love seeing the light bulbs go off when I talk to people about nutrition and travel. I also feel so overjoyed when spending time in nature, having a good cup of coffee, visiting a new place, enjoying a good meal (my favorites include tacos or sushi), especially when surrounded by good company.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theexpeditiondietitian.com
- Instagram: @theexpeditiondietitian
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-krieg-ms-rd-ld-413822135/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@theexpeditiondietitian
