It’s Registered Dietitian Week on the AltogetherGreat blog! We’ll be featuring interviews with some of our RDs across Compass all week!

“Always be mindful of what you are eating and drinking” – Wendy Phillips, Division Director of Clinical Nutrition at Morrison Healthcare.

Wendy is a Registered Dietitian that joined Compass Group in 2009. She’s spent a good portion of her career specializing in adult nutrition support and NICU/Pediatrics. Her experience has prepared her well for her current role in which she works with RDs and healthcare professionals at hospitals around the US to ensure regulatory compliance and drive performance improvement initiatives.

1. What originally sparked your interest in nutrition?

As a dedicated high school athlete I became very interested in the nourishment needed for athletes to perform their best and stay healthy.

2. What is your favorite part of being a dietitian?

Being able to see people experience a positive change based on the work that I have done is very rewarding.

3. Which unhealthy eating habit do you see most?

People drinking sugary drinks without knowing the amount of sugar and calories they are consuming.

4. How do you deal with patients that are unwilling to improve their diet?

I find their personal motivation and focus on what they can eat to achieve that goal instead of laying all the focus on what they can’t eat.

5. As an RD, what advice do you have for people to make a healthy lifestyle change?

1. Eat slowly!
2. Don’t take the frequent media reports on what is “healthy” and “unhealthy” too seriously. Often times, these reports are funded by big companies that are profiting from them. Instead there are sites like eatright.org that feature research that has been vetted through RDs. Ultimately, the best source to get information, especially personalized to one’s personal needs, comes from dietitians.

Learn more about Wendy and nutrition by visiting her blog!