Some Food for Thought

Mary Reynolds was enjoying a relaxing evening out with friends, waiting for dinner to arrive. No sooner had the plates met the table than the husband of one friend turned to Reynolds, pointed at his meal and asked the oh-so-familiar questions:

“So, what do you think?”

“How did I do?”

Reynolds is often called upon in restaurants and other off-duty locales for instant nutritional analysis. Forks in hand, people wait with baited breath to see if she will give their food choices a nod of approval or a gasp of dismay.

When you’re a registered dietitian, the food-cop reputation is hard to shake.

“It’s like I am supposed to assess the whole meal,” says Reynolds, 38, of Altadena, with a laugh. She’s learned to handle the situation diplomatically. “Maybe we could talk about it at a different time,” she often says. Besides, she gently says, 15 minutes of Nutrition 101 at the dinner table doesn’t quite cut it.

It is a good sign, though, that the diners are at least thinking about how to eat healthfully. After all, that’s the life’s work of Reynolds and more than 60,000 other registered dietitians across the country.

Like many of her peers, Reynolds works at a hospital. She is one of four clinical dietitians on staff at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, a 450-bed facility. She also maintains a private practice in Glendale.

During a typical 40- or 50-hour week at her hospital job, Reynolds is likely to complete 60 or more patient or outpatient nutritional assessments. The needs of the patients run the gamut: cardiac rehab patients learning to cut the fat; in-patients too sick to eat except via tube feedings; patients hospitalized for relatively minor problems who don’t find anything appetizing on the hospital menu.

“Sometimes I’ll call [the hospital kitchen] and ask for something special if the patient’s not eating,” Reynolds says.

During a typical week, she’s also likely to give lectures to outpatients who may be pregnant, recovering from drug addiction or have other special nutritional needs.

At her private practice, she puts in eight or 10 more hours, focusing on clients with eating disorders or weight problems.

These days, Reynolds says, consultations with a registered dietitian are less about calories and more about the abstract: how to eat healthfully and still meet hectic work and family obligations, and how to improve one’s relationship with food.

“We realize eating is a struggle,” she says, “and people use food for a lot of reasons other than for feeding themselves.”

Taking a simple food history can unearth a lot of information about a person’s marital and job satisfaction, family background, social life, commuting habits and other data. “When you talk about food,” she says, “you talk about your life.”

Reynolds tells clients and patients about the new view that foods aren’t “good” or “bad”--she has been known to eat cookies or ice cream occasionally.

What does she wish the public knew about dietitians?

“We obviously love food or we wouldn’t be in the occupation we are.”