About Food Fitness First

Pam Thompson is a registered and licensed dietitian. As a University of Georgia graduate with a degree in dietetics, the interrelationship with nutrition and wellness is her passion. Almost 30 years ago, she founded Instructional Dietetic Associates, Inc. (IDA), a dietary and nutrition consulting company that provides nutrition services to a full spectrum of health care facilities like Head Start, physician offices, Council on Aging, renal dialysis centers, addiction disease facilities, universities and more.

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Shortly after, she realized a need for a simple, easy to understand wellness program for individuals who are managing and/or preventing a chronic disease(s). Using her professional work experience, input from countless other professionals and computer programmers, Food Fitness First, Inc.®, was created.

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Unlike the current dietary guidelines in place, Pam developed a tool that was easy to put into practice. The FOOD SPIRAL® was created. Her team is now working to develop FOOD SPIRALS® for different diseases across the age spectrum. The FOOD SPIRAL® concept is simple – Green for Go foods, Yellow for Caution foods and Red for Stop foods. The FOOD SPIRAL® makes learning nutrition fun and health goals achievable!

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Not only is Pam dedicated to bringing a new and exciting nutrition program to the healthcare community, but she is dedicated to her local community. She was the first woman president for the Toombs County Chamber of Commerce in Vidalia, Georgia. She has worked closely with the Chamber and local festival to raise money by writing her own cookbook. She was Legislative Liaison for the Georgia Dietetic Association for four years. She is a strong believer in education, and established the Pam McIntyre Thompson Scholarship in Dietetics awarded annually for University of Georgia students. She also worked with the governor to establish a vocational school in her community.

I have been a Registered Dietitian for over 30 years. From the beginning, I have been intrigued with diabetes. As a child, I saw several of my relatives suffer with the disease. My Aunt Lizzie, 100 lbs soaking wet, had diabetes and took insulin. My Uncle Syl had part of his foot amputated and had a bad limp. My grandmother and Aunt Kate both developed diabetes in their late 70’s. About 20 years ago, my brother was diagnosed with diabetes. He was in California, driving a 14 –wheeler. His doctor put him on insulin and his career as a truck-driver was essentially over. His struggles with diet, medication and trying to work have been enormous to cope with. This past year, my mom was diagnosed with diabetes because of steroid use and I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

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"My style of education is called empowerment. It is a model of education that asks people what is important for them to learn, there-by placing the responsibility of their disease and management with them, the patient and me as the person to help them. The educator can then build on this, building trust and communication with each success the patient has."

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I have been a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) for 26 years, and continue to learn about diabetes care from up-to-date literature and also from the patients themselves. Listening to their trials and successes is what makes it all worthwhile for me.

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All that said, Diabetes education is a passion for me and now preventing diabetes has become a life goal.