RUTH ANN CLAYTON Southern Arkansas roots provide guiding principles for career
By Josh Dooley Photos by Kevin Pieper
uth Ann Clayton really didn’t know it at the time, but her upbringing on a southern Arkansas farm was the start of a lifetime with nutrition as a guiding principle. And the homespun wisdom of that time and place color her
that’s what helped her go to college, and in 1970, get a degree in foods and nutrition from the University of Arkan- sas at Fayetteville. From there, she moved on to get her license as a regis- tered dietitian in 1971. “Nutrition at that time was consid-
A nutritious life R
speech today, with phrases like this one. “If your great-grandmother wouldn’t
recognize it as food, you probably don’t need to be eating it,” Clayton said, when asked for a simple piece of advice on improving one’s diet. Clayton’s father started a farm in the
southern Arkansas town of Hampton. While growing up there, she ate a steady diet of grass-fed beef and food grown in the family’s (pesticide-free) garden. “Little did I know then, but my
parents were feeding me the best food possible,” Clayton said. “What was nor- mal then was actually very good for us.” Both of her parents were firm believers in education, and Clayton says
ered low-salt diets and diabetic diets,” Clayton said of the early 1970’s. “It was clinical. The natural side of things I’m in now didn’t exist then. Or, if it did, it was considered a ‘flower child’ type thing.” When she began her career, Clayton
said dietitians had two career paths — working in a dietary kitchen as an ad- ministrator or purchasing agent, or as a clinical dietitian writing diets for patients. “We were wearing white dresses,
white hose, white lab coats,” Clayton said, smiling at the memory. “That was what dietetics was at that time.” Research has changed things, of
course, as has a greater understanding by medical professionals of the value of nutrition in prevention and treat- ment of patients. As the impor- tance of nutrition has become more widely understood, the general public has taken a greater interest in the subject, Clayton noted. Clayton’s continuing
education has led her to become a recognized expert in the field
Registered Dietitian Ruth Ann Clayton grew up eating garden-fresh produce, leading her to pursue a career as a nutritionist.
12 Living Well i February/March 2015
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