Welcome to “Paying it Forward,” a monthly interview series made possible by Piedmont Health. In this series, we hear from the folks at Piedmont about the importance of community health centers – and why they chose a career in community health.
This month, Aaron welcomes Aubrey Womack, a dietitian with Piedmont’s nutrition team. Womack got her start with Piedmont’s WIC department after receiving a master’s degree from Appalachian State; now with the nutrition team, she splits her time between two sites in Chatham County, seeing about ten patients every day.
“I love the staff, I love the community, (and) I love seeing patients multiple times and getting to know them on a daily basis,” she says. “(And) I love nutrition.”
As a dietitian, it’s Womack’s job to encourage her patients to eat healthy. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all menu: Womack says she tailors her advice to each individual, based on their health needs, their cultural traditions, and which foods they like to eat in the first place.
“Typically you can keep eating whatever you want – it just has to be in moderation,” she says. “If you want a piece of cake, you’re allowed to have a piece of cake. I love cake, I’m not going to tell somebody else they can’t have cake.”
Womack tailors her advice to each individual, but she says there are some universal truths: for the most part, it’s always good advice to eat in moderation, limit your portion sizes, and focus on proteins and vegetables while limiting carbohydrates.
“Portion size is the biggest thing,” she says. “(And) I tell my patients (to) make sure your carb is not the biggest thing on your plate. It needs to be the smallest thing.”
And what about that other eternal struggle – getting your kids to eat healthy? Womack says it’s about making it fun – and it’s about persistence.
“It takes about ten times for a kid to be introduced to something before they’ll actually want to eat it,” she says. “So if it’s on the plate and they don’t touch it for a couple days, that’s fine – you just have to expose them. If you want it make it fun, (try) cooking it different ways, cutting it into different shapes, adding spices to it – or let them watch you eat it, and then maybe they’ll be more interested in it.”
97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.
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