By Isaac Bonnell
Mixing Bowl Studio
Owner: Jan Kincaid Rystrom
Opening date: Sept. 1
Address: 1100 Larrabee Ave. Suite B2
Square footage: 400
Phone: (360) 734-2612
Web site: www.mixingbowlstudio.com
Most people would consider Jan Kincaid Rystrom a foodie because she is always talking about food and cooking. But Rystrom just sees that as part of her job — granted, it’s one of the things she enjoys most about being a dietitian.
Rystrom launched her own nutrition therapy business in September with a focus on answering a question that comes up every day: What’s for dinner? Many people struggle with this because they don’t know how to plan a menu, she said.
“We’ve lost these skills in our society, so I spend a lot of time just talking about food and how to shop for groceries,” she said. “In our culture, we’ve been taught that everything has to be fast and easy.”
Changing your diet isn’t always fast an easy, but it is incredibly important if you have diabetes, kidney problems or food allergies, Rystrom said. As a certified diabetes instructor and registered dietitian, Rystrom spends a lot of her time creating custom “nutrition prescriptions” for people with medical conditions.
First she examines a patient’s lab results and medical history, then she helps him or her craft a weekly meal pattern. She also takes it one step further and makes sure that the patient knows what to buy for each meal and how to cook it.
“If people don’t know what to put in their grocery basket, you haven’t done one bit of good,” she said. “All of the science does a great job of isolating the individual physiological elements, but it doesn’t help people understand what to cook. I try to give people enough science to know that there is method to the madness, but apply that to planning a menu and shopping for groceries.”
For those who may not have medical conditions but are still interested in creating a healthier diet, Rystrom also offers one-on-one nutrition and lifestyle counseling and free monthly classes.
On Nov. 7, she is hosting a class about healthy snacking for children and their parents. Then on Dec. 1, Rystrom is teaching a class on menu planning during the holidays.
Throughout her career, Rystrom has spread the good news of healthy lifestyles. She helped develop a series of nutrition and cooking classes at Haggen called the WellAware Program. And most recently, she was a clinical trainer for an insulin pump company.
One of the reasons Rystrom decided to start her own clinic was to help people understand the importance of a healthy diet.
“This is really a good way to help people change their lives,” she said.
