NUTRITION & FITNESS

​​​​Nicholas Altieri, RDN, LDN, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist in the state of MA

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist 

and NSCA Certified Personal Trainer

Office:  

470 Washington Street, Suite 22

Norwood, MA 02062


Contact:

781-269-2893

NickTheNutritionist@gmail.com

So you probably landed here after looking through my About Me page to dig a little deeper into my background. 


So how did I get here?  Well, I grew up being a very active kid.  I played competitive baseball, soccer, football, and basketball through my grade school years.  I also learned downhill skiing at the age of 6, and I've kept up with year after year...it's the one sport that I've been consistent with throughout my adulthood.  But what really peaked my interest in fitness was the after-effects of a series of sports-related right shoulder injuries between 7th and 9th grade.  I landed in physical therapy a couple of times, and ultimately underwent ligament and rotator cuff surgery my sophomore year of high school.  I took a liking to the methods of physical therapy, but wanted to study something more athletically focused.  So after graduating from Whitman-Hanson High School I choose to pursue the field of Athletic Training in college.


I was fortunate to be accepted into The University of Connecticut in 2000.  My first year of courses included the basic core classes, but since I also intended on applying for the Athletic Training program I started doing some observation hours around the training rooms and teams to get a feel for the way things worked.  I also got myself into a work-study job as an Student Administrative Specialist, which I maintained for the next 3 years.  It helped me tremendously in being efficient, organized, and learning how to run the back end/office administrative functions of business.  


After my first year, I was accepted into the very competitive Athletic Training program.  My student athletic training rotations began with the basketball teams.  Yes, I started with the UConn basketball teams...while the women's team went undefeated and won the national championship, and the men's team made it to the elite eight of the NCAA tournament.  I'm still amazed that I had up-and-close training room experience with handfuls of elite players who went on to pro men's and women's NBA teams (oh, they're really tall by the way!).  It was also in this same spring semester that I joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity...it was a very busy time! 


That following summer, I got into a couple of temporary fitness jobs back home in MA.  I secured my first job in a gym working as the Customer Service Representative and Nutrition Sales Associate at Gold's Gym (now Club eX) in East Bridgewater, MA.  I also secured a job as a Youth Athletic Coach for the North East Speed Clinics in Plymouth, MA, where I ran outdoor speed and agility camps for children aged 6-16.  These two experiences were instrumental in kick-starting the process of becoming a personal trainer down the road. 


The Fall of 2002 started with my student athletic training assignment with the football team.  This was our first year with the new stadium built in Hartford and the first year being promoted to Division 1A in the Big East, so the demands and expectations were high.  It was a very cool experience being on the sidelines and even on the field for injury assessments...oh and I learned how to tape ankles very fast!  I then rotated in the spring to working with the track & field teams.  One very memorable experience was while working with our men's top decathlete to rehab from an in-season injury, who ultimately went on to win the Big East conference championship and qualified for the Olympics because of it.  


The summer of 2003 brought me some new and interesting work experiences.   I was selected to be the Student Athletic Trainer for the prestigious Geno Auriemma’s Connecticut Girl’s Basketball Camp.  A long 6 weeks of working with over 900 girls aged 8-14 was quite the experience...I definitely learned how to focus and have a lot of patience.  That summer I also secured a food service job (which I kept for 2 years) as an Executive Suites Server at the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center), where I learned catering and concierge food service for the luxury box suites during UConn basketball games and Hartford Wolfpack hockey games. 


My athletic training rotation for the fall of 2003 was with the Men's Soccer team.  This was by far the most intense experience, and ultimately changed my perspective on continuing to pursue a career in athletic training.  In all, I logged over 750 hours of clinical and field experience as a student athletic trainer, and gained high quality skills such as injury assessment, rehabilitation protocols, manual massage and stretching, athletic taping, and first responder responsibilities.  In the end, I decided that I wanted a career that took a different path, with something that had more options for growth and gave me a chance to use my entrepreneurial spirit to have a career I was passionate for and truly enjoyed.  This was really a major turning point in my life that determined 'how I got here'. 


I was able to change my academic major into the individualized major program, but I had to create the curriculum from scratch.  I incorporated my specialized athletic training courses with a plan to take nutritional science and business courses.  My newly created major of Nutrition and Human Performance with a Minor in Business Administration was accepted, and concluded with a capstone project and presentation as a final completion requirement.  For my capstone project, I anticipated that I would continue on to graduate school so I sought out to make a connection with a nutritional sciences professor to come up with a research project.  The amazing Dr Nancy Rodriguez took me up on the idea, and she had me analyze some data from a research project that was just completed.  My project and presentation was the Analysis of Dairy Product Consumption in Healthy/Lean vs. Obese Children.  


Immediately after my undergraduate degree was completed, I applied and was accepted into UConn's graduate school for Nutritional Sciences.  I was awarded a research assistantship with Dr Rodriguez's group of 5 other students on a very in-depth project for the next two and a half years.  To keep it simple, we essentially studied how a high quality versus low quality protein content in foods affected muscle mass while eating a calorie restricted diet and regular running.  Rather than going into the rest of the details, I'll at least explain my key role.  Along with the responsibilities in the research group, I had the sole responsibility of analyzing our human subject's blood samples in a complex machine called High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).  I processed hundreds of samples around the clock, on 10 hour cycles per group of blood samples, for several months to analyze the amino acids found in blood.  


I figured that I didn't have enough stuff to do with all the graduate school classes and the research assistant responsibilities, so I added to my workload (why not!?!).  At this point I had just become a certified personal trainer, so I started marketing myself in the UConn school gym and at the local Mansfield Community Center gym, and began the process of learning how to become an independent trainer.  I also needed just a handful of additional classes specific to the didactic requirements for dietetics, so I included one or two of those classes every semester in graduate school.  At the conclusion of the 2.5 years of grad school, with the research and extra classes, it came time to apply for my Dietetic Internship.  It was finally time for me to leave UConn and start my career in Nutrition and Fitness.  So, I applied to several internships, and was matched with The University of Houston. 


So maybe you're one of the many who wonder "how many dietitians are men"?  Well, I was the only male out of the 16 interns, so there you have it.  The internship was 40 hours a week for 7 months, and I was assigned to various locations with about 4 week rotations each. 

  • My clinical nutrition rotations included Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B Johnson Hospital (Harris County Hospital System), Memorial Herman Southwest Hospital, and Outpatient Cardiac Rehab Counseling at Memorial Herman Hospital - Texas Medical Center.  
  • My Food Service Management rotation was with SYSCO Corporate Headquarters in the Healthcare Marketing division. 
  • My rotation with the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine involved educating Diabetic patients on proper adherence to the DASH Diet
  • My Wellness rotation was with the Houston Fire Department, giving seminars, individual counseling, and digital and print marketing campaigns
  • ​And after my rotations were completed, I really really wanted to supplement the experiences with a Sports Nutrition rotation, so I went the extra mile and contacted Roberta Anding, RD.  She agreed to take me in for an additional 3 weeks to shadow and assist her with her responsibilities as the Sports Dietitian for the Houston Texans Football Team, the Roger Clemens Institute, and the Houston Ballet, and in her clinical practice at the Texas Children's Hospital - Adolescent Medicine.   I mean, really cool and amazing stuff!  I got to work with NFL players during training camp, in their weight room, at their training table lunches, and even advise on individual nutrition counseling.  

​Not only was Houston an awesome learning experience, it was a valuable cultural experience too.  It was strange being called a "Yankee", but it was frequently followed by southern hospitality and charm.  Since my 40 hour a week internship was unfortunately unpaid, I found personal training work at the boutique club, Larry North Fitness (it was worth the experience too...).

Following graduation from the Dietetic Internship, I studied and officially earned the national credential as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) in October 2008.  Soon thereafter, I moved back home and eventually became licensed in the state of Massachusetts as a Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (LDN) in May of 2009.    


The rest of my story, including my professional experiences, can be found in the About Me page of my site.  I hope you will read that section as well, if you haven't already.  And since you made it to the end (and didn't skip to the end!), then I want to thank you for your interest in me.  I am grateful for you taking the time and getting to know me.  I also can't forget to thank the critical people in my life who have truly helped me 'get here', like my amazing wife Alysha, and my mother Susan.  Thank you! 


I hope you'll also look over my Servicespage and ultimately Contact Me with your questions and a bit about your needs.  I look forward to working with you! 


Thank You!