Taylor Bloedon
Associate Professor
Taylor Bloedon, PhD, RD, CSSD, NBC-HWC, is an Associate Professor in Kinesiology with an emphasis on nutrition, exercise, and health promotion. She received her Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Oregon where she worked and completed research projects in the social cognition, stereotyping, and intergroup perceptions lab focusing on body image perceptions in women. She completed her M.S. in Nutrition and Food Management/Dietetics with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology at Oregon State University where she focused on nutrition and exercise interventions aimed at reducing relative risk factors for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease in sedentary, pre-menopausal, pre-metabolic women and received her Ph.D. in Food and Nutrition Sciences with an emphasis in Exercise Science from the University of Maine, focusing her research on the impact of wild blueberries on exercise-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. She is a Registered Dietitian, a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics and a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. Taylor has experience in various community and university settings working to enhance lifestyle behaviors, health, and well-being.
Nutrition, Behavior Change, Health Promotion
Taylor's research interests include examining the integration of nutrition, lifestyle behaviors, and exercise strategies for improving and maintaining mental and physical health, improving sports performance, as well asand preventing and reducing chronic disease. Her current research focuses on a variety of dietary strategies and lifestyle-related behaviors that impact health. Current projects include examining the effects of strawberry consumption on cardiometabolic disease risk factors and changes in the gut microbiome in post-menopausal women, changes in fat oxidation rates during exercise in healthy active males and females following wild blueberry consumption, intuitive eating, eating competency, the impact of sleep on nutrition and sports performance, and the impact of nutrition on mental health.
Taylor's goal as an educator is to get students to think critically, question information, and challenge themselves to understand the mechanism of action, rather than take things at face value. She wants students to feel confident in their ability to find the answers and trust their capabilities, yet recognize when they need assistance, particularly in the field of nutrition as it is a popular topic and misinformation is widely available. Taylor's approach to teaching nutrition is more holistic in nature with the goal to help others improve their relationship with food and eat more intuitively and sustainably. We are all different so there is no one-size-fits-all way of eating and it is important to appreciate and respect where each individual is coming from. Taylor finds great joy in interacting with students and learning from them as well as collaborating with other educators and professionals and sharing information and resources to learn from each other as well as broaden the perspectives brought to students in the classroom. Outside of the classroom (virtual or face-to-face), Taylor loves to read, be outside playing, rock climbing, running and dancing.
