My name is Kim Guess and I'm a wellness program dietitian.
So today's class, we're going to make um some homemade items
that are lower in sugar and then the pecans are actually more savory.
In an ideal world, we wouldn't really need
dietitians. Everybody would just know what to eat and healthy food would be readily available.
But, unfortunately, that is not the case.
New food products are coming out. New diets are coming out.
When I was in high school, that is when I
first became interested in nutrition because I just started wondering you know what are
the right foods to eat and how they affect your body.
I started kinda doing some research on my own and I realized you know this is something
I actually like learning
and I can't really say that about any other subject that I studied in high school.
I was fortunate enough to go to a pretty big
nutrition lecture and it was called the science of fats. It was all about metabolic nutrition
and bio-chemistry and lots of science. After the lecture, I thought, "WOW! I really
don't want to study nutrition any more." But I ended up doing it anyway in college.
And I took those stuff science classes, joined study groups, just worked really hard
and it all paid off in the end.
We're required to take a couple of food preparation classes in college.
And one of them, was really cool because you learn about the different
reactions in food and why you add certain ingredients to certain types of recipes.
"We'll let it go a little bit longer."
A lot of what I cook isn't really conventional.
I like to do things that are kind of unusual, but also healthy like making pasta out of
zucchini or making blondies out of chickpeas.
A lot of dietitians start of in a clinical setting.
So, usually that is like working at a hospital
as an inpatient dietitian.
You can also work in long term care facilities, food service management.
When I see clients one on one, I try to get
an idea of what they are eating, and then work on one small change at a time.
It makes it really interesting and always challenging.
And I also really like the fact that I get to help people and make a difference in their
health and hopefully help them live a longer, healthier life.