Meet Kathryn Ostrem

As a senior dietitian at Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley, it's Kathy's passion to improve community health and educate her friends and neighbors about proper nutrition.

In a world filled with fad diets and a seemingly endless flood of, "eat this, not that" studies, Kathy is driven by dispelling myths, providing clear information about nutrition and putting folks on a path to cleaner eating.

"A lot of people just don't have the knowledge," Kathy said. "My passion is to create educational opportunities in the community and arm people with practical information they can understand."

One of Kathy's other passions? Diabetes education.

"There are so many people who have pre-diabetes who don't know they have it," Kathy said.

If more people were tested for pre-diabetes and then educated about how diet could reverse a pre-diabetic state, it could prevent the onset of diabetes for scores of people.

"It could mean a better life for them," Kathy said.

Before joining Adventist Health, Kathy served as a sports nutritionist for the St. Louis Cardinals in the early 2000s, working not only with the likes of home run slugger Mark McGwire, but also AAA players who were champing at the bit for any way they could boost their performance. Nutrition helped, she said.

Although Kathy now works at Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley, it's her mission to keep folks healthy enough so they never have to check into the hospital.

Kathryn Ostrem is a senior dietitian and diabetes educator at Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley. She can be reached at [email protected].