When talking with the clients of the Hunger and Health Coalition, HHC Food is Medicine Coordinator Jonathan Farrior MS, RDN, LDN, said he’s reminded of home as it’s the “same people, just different geography.”
By this, he means that the socioeconomic struggles that some face in Watauga County is not unlike what those in his small hometown in Duplin County along the North Carolina coast may endure.
“I’m coming from a background of people like this," Jonathan said. “I know them very well. I care about them.”
It’s this care that Jonathan has put into his work since being hired at HHC in late June 2023. As the Food is Medicine Coordinator, Jonathan stays on top of the inventory for the agency’s Food is Medicine program to ensure HHC always has healthy food on hand. Additionally, as one of two Registered Dietitians on staff, Jonathan is also available to be a resource to clients to discuss anything food, diet and health related.
Conversations had with clients can run the gamut; he can discuss what a meal might look like if someone has diabetes, what the role of fiber, protein and fats can be to help manage glucose, or even how to prepare certain foods. For example, if someone has never cooked spaghetti squash before, he’s there to talk them through the steps of how to prepare it. He can also help clients to navigate socioeconomic, educational or resource barriers. If a client doesn’t have a working stove but has a microwave, or perhaps they can’t stand long enough to make a full meal — Jonathan is able to talk with people about these situations. If someone is struggling with keeping on a healthy weight, he can screen them to get them signed up for HHC’s malnutrition supplement program.
He said sometimes there’s a misconception that dietitians are the “food police.” He said he isn’t here to judge anyone or tell someone how to live their life. He won’t be advising clients to eat all organic, non-GMO foods or telling them to only eat chicken, rice and broccoli unless that is something they want to do. Rather, he wants to be a resource for questions and help people work on their goals with baby steps.
Jonathan said his favorite food “hands down” is pizza, adding that he particularly enjoys eating at Pie on the Mountain in Lansing — which is currently rebuilding after being impacted by the Sept. 27 flooding. For Jonathan, he approaches his own nutrition on an 80/20 rule.
“That means 80% of the time you’re making good decisions, 20% of the time you have to enjoy life a little bit. If you really enjoy pizza, I’m not going to tell you to never have pizza again. Enjoy life, but maybe just enjoy that pizza with a salad. Now we’ve won in all directions,” Jonathan said.
While Jonathan can talk about nutrition needs for diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, conversations that would be out of the scope of his expertise would be the medication side of health. He wouldn’t be able to talk to a client about taking insulin for diabetes for example but would be happy to help make referrals to other professionals who can. Jonathan added that when it comes to health, he thinks both medications and nutrition both play a part in a person’s overall wellbeing.
“There’s a profound impact on a person’s experience in life to be had from nutrition,” Jonathan said. “It’s so fascinating how little credit nutrition gets but how large of an impact it can be. Dietetics is my way to give back to the world after I was able to reclaim so much life that I wasn’t able to live and enjoy.”
For quite some time, Jonathan said he didn’t have a lot of confidence in himself. He went into the labor force out of high school, working jobs like at a vineyard or stacking boxes in a production facility. He said he was unhappy with his work situation, morbidly obese, in a hypertensive crisis, facing pre-fatty liver disease and had substance abuse issues. He said he finally decided that something in his life had to change.
“I was a ticking time bomb. Family members expressed concern for me. My brother started reaching out and kind of coached me through lifestyle and mindset changes. I was able to get my weight down and work in some healthy lifestyle decisions. My brother convinced me that a little bit of effort could make some significant outcome differences that I couldn’t envision because of the goggles I was wearing at the time.”
After three years of doing some odd jobs, he decided to go back to school to pursue an associate degree whereafter he worked night shift in engineering as a research and development technician. Deciding that third shift was not the life he wanted, he chose to go back to school. It wasn’t until he was halfway through his bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from East Carolina University that he started to gain some confidence in himself.
“My mindset was the only thing broken about me,” Jonathan said. “It wasn’t any defining attributes about me that was broken, despite that being what I thought. It was just the way I thought about myself.”
He attended Appalachian State University to pursue a master's degree in Nutrition. He gained exposure to HHC while volunteering at the agency during his first year of grad school. He completed his dietetics rotations in Wilmington, officially completed his degree in 2023, moved back to the High Country and started working at HHC. Because of his life experiences, he said he’s committed to meeting HHC’s clients where they are in a non-judgmental way.
“If that involves nutrition advice, great. If it doesn’t, I think there’s a lot of benefit in giving positive social interaction whether or not that leads to a better nutritional outcome,” Jonathan said.
Because someone in Jonathan’s life provided a helping hand to having a more positive mindset, he said he felt empowered to change his life for the better. As a dietitian, he hopes to provide that for someone else through conversation, advice or just being a listening ear.
“It’s hard to get yourself out of a rut if you don’t have positivity in your life. I want to bring some degree of positivity.”
While HHC has been operating for 42 years, there is sometimes still stigma around food insecurity and asking for help. Jonathan encourages community members who do not need HHC’s services to take some time to understand the needs of the people that HHC serves, practice giving folks the benefit of the doubt and to do what they can do lift up other people.
“I would ask that people set aside some time to practice empathy,” Jonathan said. “I think we need more empathy in this world.”
To contact Jonathan, email jonathan@hungerandhealthcoalition.com or call (828) 263-7356. For more information on Food is Medicine at HHC, visit www.hungerhealthcoalition.com/our-work.
Comments