Who is Stacie Ellis, PhD, RDN, LD

 

Stacie Ellis has a passion for helping others reach their health potential. She is an expert in performance nutrition in athletes, with specialties in weight management, eating disorders, and performance nutrition in women and men.  As an athlete and ballet dancer she knows first hand the effects of nutrition on performance. Since 2015, Stacie has worked with many athletes with various nutrition goals, including improving performance, building muscle, reducing/gaining weight, managing eating disorders, and improving various medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and many more.  

 

Stacie grew up as a military brat which allowed her to experience many cultures and environments.  She feels comfortable around people  with different backgrounds and experiences.   Being bi-racial herself, she understands that being different sometimes can affect patient/client relationship and hopes to help her clients feel comfortable around her. 

 

Stacie is currently the Registered Dietitian at the University of Texas at Arlington where she provides nutrition consultations and education for the students and staff on campus.  She currently contracts with Wellness Concepts, Health Fairs Direct, and American Health Assessments. 

 

Stacie received her PhD from Texas Woman's University in Nutrition with a minor in Kinesiology.  Her dissertation involved comparing a high carbohydrate, low fat diet to a low carbohydrate, high fat diet on performance in dancers.  While at Texas Woman's University, she was a Graduate Teaching assistant where she taught the Food Preparation Principles lecture and lab and  Nutrition for Family and Child lecture.  She also assisted and lead the Firefighter study which involved doing physical and health assessments on Denton Firefighters.  

 

Stacie has previously served as a consulting dietitian for a number of companies.  She served as the Chief Nutrition Officer for Vitafive, a gummy vitamin company, where she provides her nutritional expertise regarding their products.  She developed and taught several nutrition series to the employees at Elbit Systems of America.  She has partnered with Clinipro Staff, Just Train, and with Honeymoon Body, a vendor for Brides of North Texas by providing her nutritional expertise. 

 

Stacie previously worked as the Clinical Dietitian at Texas Health Hospital   in Carrollton TX and worked PRN at Texas General Hospital. in Grand Prairie, TX.  She was responsible for seeing all patients in need of Medical Nutrition Therapy including diabetics, renal patients, gastrointestinal issues, malnutrition, bariatric surgeries, and cardiac patients, and worked in a managerial role in both the clinical and food service departments.  She currently works with American Health Assessments, a company that provides Medical Nutrition Therapy to home health Medicare patients.  She provided diabetic and/or renal education to these clients, and nutritional assessments and interventions. For more on other nutrition experience, including speaking engagements, publications, and awards, click here.

 

Stacie attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas receiving her Bachelors of Science in Science Composite with an emphasis in Geology and a minor in Secondary Education.  After graduation she went to Brooklyn, New York  for an internship with Metro Ministries, an organization that works with youth in lower income areas by sharing the gospel message. 

 

After her internship she became a high school science teacher at Shoemaker High School in Killeen, TX.  During her time there she taught Chemistry, Integrated Physics and Chemistry, and Earth and Space Science to grades 9th-12th.  This school was also unique because most students came from military families.  She taught at the school during the time many of the parents were deployed to Iraq, making it critical for all the teachers to be a support for the students.  During her time teaching she emphasized the importance of education, and even told her students that one day she too would return to school to further her education.   Which she did, just a few years later! 

 

She attended Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with her Post Baccalaureate degree in Nutrition and Dietetics,  She continued there to complete her Dietetic Internship, her Master of Science Degree. Her thesis was on Using Athlete’s Plate for Easy Training/ Weight Management with Dancers.  Stacie completed the Certificate of Training in Adult Weight Management Program on June 4-6, 2015.

 

Outside of nutrition Stacie is very passionate about dance and physical fitness.  Stacie's research and work has focused on dance in order to move the arts to a more healthy and accepting community.  She previously danced as a Demi Soloist with the First Wing Company with the Ballet Foundation in Carrollton, TX and Ballet Renee Company/Newcomb School of Ballet in Killeen, Texas where she received the bulk of ballet training under Margaret Newcomb and Renee Gillenwater.  She currently trains at Contemporary Ballet Dallas and previously trained with Sam Houston State University Dance Department,  Texas Ballet Theater, and the Dance Institute of Dallas.  Stacie also previously danced professionally with with the Festival Ballet of North Texas and Hans Dance Art, and was the hip hop and step choreographer for the GC Crew Dance Team.  Outside of dance. Stacie also enjoys running in the great outdoors,  lifting weights, and art.