GPC alumna Tracy Kuzava plays with 2-year-old England Hardwick as she teaches her about nutrition. (Photo by Bill Roa)

  by Rebecca Rakoczy  

“What is this? “

Tracy Kuzava holds up an orange vegetable to a toddler, who proudly says “carrot.”  

It may seem a minor victory, but Kuzava, a Georgia Perimeter College alumna, knows it is an important step in teaching families healthy eating habits and lifestyles.

As a registered clinical nutritionist and dietician for the Gwinnett-Newton-Rockdale County Health Department, she has seen childhood obesity grow into a significant health problem for Newton County’s children. Almost a quarter of her young  clients ages 2 to 5 are already classified as obese or overweight; many are at risk for Type 2 diabetes and a host of other health ailments.

To illustrate the problem to her clients, she has a jar of liquid fat on her office desk and a giant plastic blob of fat sitting on her credenza. Heaving the weighty reminder to her chest, she jokes, “Kids come to my office to play with my fat. And their mothers look at the vat of fat and declare, ’I’m never eating French fries again!’ I love to see the shock on people’s faces when they realize how many calories they consume and how long it will take to burn those five pounds of fat off.”  

Although she likes to joke and play with her young clients, the 2007 GPC biology grad takes her job very seriously. It’s the primary reason she left a good job as a pharmacy tech to pursue a degree in nutrition. Working as a pharmacy tech “wasn’t something I could see myself doing forever,” she says. “I didn’t enjoy serving people who wanted to find solutions or quick fixes to their health problems in pills—that led me to the field of nutrition. I wanted to make a permanent difference in someone’s health.”

Kuzava’s first stop in changing her career was to come to Georgia Perimeter.

“GPC had the best schedule and cost less for me,” she says. She juggled classes, work and her life as a newlywed, to receive her associate degree.

After graduating from GPC, Kuzava continued her education at the University of Georgia, where she received her bachelor’s degree in nutrition. Kuzava is certified as both a registered dietician and registered and licensed nutritionist.  

In her job at the health department, Kuzava counsels pregnant women and those with young families (up to age 5) about nutrition, exercise and healthy food choices, as well as conducting classes on diabetes education. Typically, she’ll see between 10 and 25 clients a day; most are part of the federal and state Women, Infant and Children special supplemental nutrition program. (The Gwinnett-Newton-Rockdale health district has the largest number of WIC recipients in the state of Georgia.)  

She encourages parents to model good eating and exercise habits, choosing healthy foods and snacks over fast food. Kuzava, who is a mother of a 6-year-old daughter, knows that children mimic their parents’ behavior instead of listening to what they say.  

“If you think your child is not watching you, just say a bad word,” she says, with her characteristic laugh. “I love working with kids. If parents lie about something, the kids will tell on you in a heartbeat.”  

View Kuzava’s video.