HAWC dietician spends 25 years educating healthy living lifestyle Published Jan. 19, 2007 By Tech. Sgt. Eric M. Grill 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- For the past 25 years, Amy Nelms has dedicated her life to helping others live healthily. Throughout the years though, the 95th Medical Group registered dietitian and health fitness instructor has seen a dangerous trend in America -- a rapidly growing population of people diagnosed with high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity. Edwards' people are not exempt. That's where Ms. Nelms profession as a registered dietician comes into play -- she's the base's answer to help combat the growing trend of nutritional imbalance. She's charged with providing people with nutrition assessment and counseling, and is considered a major factor in helping military members pass the Air Force Fitness Exams when they have problems. "I do two things here," Ms. Nelms said while talking about her job at the Health and Wellness Center, "I provide medical nutrition therapy; where we teach people how to eat when they're pregnant, or have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, or something like irritable bowel syndrome. The other part of my job is to teach people who have failed or scored poorly in the Air Force Fitness Program, how to eat properly and reduce (negative) factors (so they are) able to pass the test."Ms. Nelms, who has a bachelor's degree in nutritional science and a master's degree in health sciences and dietetics, said she sees many people who have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. People not being active enough and they eat too much are two reasons she said she attributes for the increase. "Because people aren't active enough and they eat too much, we have this non-stop business," she said. "It shouldn't be that way, but it is growing. Now we're getting children, six to twelve years old who have high cholesterol and are obese. Even five years ago, we didn't see that. Unfortunately, the diagnosis has gotten to the younger population. We don't know what that means for the rest of their lives if they don't make changes now." While Ms. Nelms is an expert in her craft, she often travels to conferences to learn more about what other nutritionists are doing to help combat the growing trends. This past October, the American Dietetic Association invited Ms. Nelms to go to China with 60 other U.S. dietitians for a cultural and professional exchange with their Chinese counterparts. The group spent two weeks in Beijing sharing information on nutrition and best practices. During her trip, Ms. Nelms said she learned a lot about the Chinese culture as well as the nutritional differences between the two nations. "In the professional exchanges, we found out China's healthcare system is about 30 years behind us," she said. "The Chinese just don't have the delivery of health care we in the U.S. do. They have a lot, but they don't have everything that we have." For example, Ms. Nelms said, in China, the population of 1.3 billion people only has about 4,000 dieticians compared to the 65,000 U.S. dieticians for a population one-fourth the size. The trip to China gave her an appreciation for working on the base, Ms. Nelms said. "The Air Force and the United States have a program to help people that have health concerns," she said. "I was appreciative of the fact that the U.S. is so proactive. They allocate money, and people want to allocate more because of health concerns, but we do place a priority on healthcare. The Chinese up until this point have not." Summing up her quest for people living healthily, Ms. Nelms said her job here is very satisfying because she's able to see the fruits of her labor. "(This) is a job where I can see people able to make changes and better their lives," she said. "It's a proactive job. I tell people things and if they so desire, they can take that information and make good changes."