A day in the life: a Dietitian at GCMH

I’m not sure how many people know this, but my mom is a dietitian, which probably leads you to your next question: shouldn’t you be skinnier? You’re right, I should be, and I was once. I also shouldn’t drink two or three Mountain Dews a day, but I do because I’ve never been a coffee guy—and this is America, after all.
           
For the latest installment of A Day in the Life, I was lucky enough to spend my Friday morning with Grundy County Memorial Hospital Dietitian and Health Promotions Manager Crystal Petersen, and I’ve got to say, her energy is infectious, especially for a decidedly anti-morning person such as myself. I learned that she actually met my mom at a conference a few years back, and she told Crystal that she was nervous about me transitioning into the real world, being an adult out on my own and all that jazz. I guess some things never change, so thanks, mom.
 
We started our day at the hospital at around 6:45, and Crystal was already preparing for a Diabetes Prevention session with a pair of women (I won’t use their names) as well as a health counseling session with an employee immediately following. It’s safe to say that she’s almost always busy.
           
“I don’t teach dieting. I teach a healthier lifestyle,” she says.
           
The night before, a group of women had gathered at the new PT Grillers event center for an annual gala and heard from a nationally-renowned speaker, and Crystal, who lives west of Lincoln with her husband and has three grown children, was still riding high. As I listened to the Diabetes Prevention session, I thought a lot of myself: in the last six years, I’ve weighed as little as 175 and as many as 240 pounds, and I’m currently somewhere in the middle (but still closer to the high number, unfortunately). Since I stepped on the scale while I was there, I might as well just tell you. It was 219.  
 
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