Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Akhaphong.
Hi Andrew, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I did not think much of it. Like most children of immigrants, we are tasked to assist our mothers and grandmothers around the house performing domestic duties such as tending to the gardens and animals, cleaning, and preparing meals in the kitchen. My brother and I enjoyed every little bit, from helping our grandmother peel egg roll wrappers from each other to mixing dough for my mother’s homemade noodles for a dish called Khao Piak Sen. Once a week, my maternal grandmother would cook a large spread of food, and invited anyone to come over to feast with friends, family, neighbors, and strangers who needed food, who needed in the community. My maternal grandmother would even give our door-to-door mailman a pack of egg rolls and a cold glass of iced Thai tea to snack on to give him the energy to finish his day’s work. In addition to these, what I would call opportunities instead of chores (as I did not look at them as chores), immigrant parents have their dreams of what they would like their children to achieve – being a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant, for example. Dreams that they did not have an opportunity to dream for themselves. My mother and her family are from Ban That Phanom, Nhakon Phanom, Thailand; my father and his family are from Ban Keng Kabao, Savannakhét, Laos. Unfortunately, for most of their childhood and adolescence, they moved from refugee camps to refugee camps between the two countries when the Vietnam War arrived in Southeast Asia between the mid-1950 and mid-1970. From these events, of course, they would want the best for their children. No one would wish for any child to suffer through the turmoil of war.
Born and raised in Minnesota, my brother and I not only partook in opportunities around the home to support the family but were also invested in by my parents to review science and mathematics. I remember receiving a medical dictionary from my parents for my birthday at a young age. I did not understand much, but the diagrams of human anatomy, diseases, and treatments fascinated me. I became more interested in various parts of science, including space and planets. By the end of the day, however, I always returned to that medical dictionary.
As I got older, I became more curious about my identity. I was wondering why none of my peers understood Thai or Lao. Side story my elementary school thought I did not know English because I kept talking in Thai or Lao to a girl I had a crush on. So they enrolled me in English as Secondary Language courses about why we dress so ornate to go to religious services compared to our Catholic neighbors or that we ate different food from most people. One day I stumbled upon some family albums which contained pictures of my mother and her family and my father and his family in refugee camps. Their faces were narrow and thin in stature, and you could see some of their bones through their skin. I did not think much of it at the time; I thought that was how a normal person looked. At that time, I asked my parents about the pictures, and they did not want to discuss my post-traumatic stress disorder. My maternal grandfather was willing, but even then, he had the courage to share bits and pieces.
When I entered adolescence, I became more invested in my cultural identity. My mother eventually shared how she and her sister used to scavenge for undigested food in animal droppings around the refugee camps. My father mentioned how he and his siblings would try and retrieve coconuts for water in war-stricken land – he has a gunshot wound to show it. Again, I did not think much of it and was just so happy to hear more stories about their childhood and where my family came from. We eventually opened up restaurants around the Twin Cities with friends and family to introduce Minnesota to Thai and Lao food. I had the pleasure of working in them growing up – you know, an Asian restaurant is good if there is always a kid working on homework in the corner of the dining room.
I entered my first year in college in 2010. I thought I wanted to be a nurse the idea of being able to take care of other people, like how my parents and grandparents took care of my brother (even though we did the same back) and me. The first semester I took an introduction to nutrition course. When the professor lectured us on disparities in global nutrition, the pictures he shared of malnutrition and conditions like kwashiorkor sparked something in me. It made me think back to the photos of my parents and their family in refugee camps; I knew they were not healthy or happy at that instant. They were sick and fighting for survival. Late in my first year, a friend told me she was going to school to be a registered dietitian. I was unsure what that meant, but she told me it was a healthcare provider who helps people get better through food, nutrition, and how they relate to medication management and disease. At that instant, I knew the registered dietitian path was right for me, and I declared my major in dietetics.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
My parents were disappointed that I decided not to pursue nursing. Even then, they were disappointed it was not to become a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant (maybe they wanted me to be a pharmacist too). It took them a long time to understand what being a registered dietitian meant. Unfortunately, it helped them realize the beneficial work registered dietitians could do after my maternal grandmother stopped eating, lost weight, and became weak after my maternal grandfather’s passing.
When my maternal grandmother eventually moved into a transitional care unit (a physical rehabilitation unit in a nursing home) from further weakness and heart-related issues, she struggled with her appetite, weight loss, and depression. My parents saw how much I advocated for cultural inclusivity in patient care, especially regarding the choices of food available. Patients will not get stronger if they do not receive the food they like or are familiar with. Something as simple as having rice daily for each meal helped my grandmother regain her appetite, and she was discharged back home within a month after being there for two weeks already with little progress. From this, they finally accepted that I could help people and improve their health as a registered dietitian.
Of course, education was a difficult journey. After completing four years in an ACEND-approved didactic program in dietetics, there still is more schooling. Students who graduate must apply and compete for a spot in a dietetic internship program. It is like a residency. Luckily not many students have to go through this process as some students had the opportunity to their education through an ACEND-approved didactic coordinated program where the internship is included. I applied to programs with a specialty focus on clinical nutrition in Minnesota and Illinois. I thought this was where my heart lay as a specialty practice. I applied, I interviewed several times, and Match Day came in April, and I found out I was not accepted. I ugly cried hard because graduated students cannot be registered dietitians until they complete a dietetic internship required to take the registration exam. Dietetic internship applications only happen once a year, or so I thought. Two weeks before graduation, my adviser forwarded me programs that still had openings. Some were clinical, and some were public health. I decided to switch my plan and applied to a program in Bluffton, Ohio, for a public health specialty area. On my application, I shared the same story I am with you, but I did not have high hopes of being accepted. Graduation day in May 2013 came. I gave my parents my cellphone as the committee would not allow us to have it on our person during the ceremony. When I found my parents after the ceremony, I returned my phone and got a voicemail. I called the number back and found out I got accepted into the program on my graduation day!
The following August, I moved to Ohio, where I spent a stressful year living with strangers to work for free: living on bank loans and learning how to work as a registered dietitian in various disciplines food service management, inpatient clinical nutrition, child and maternal health, outpatient care, and of course lots of hours into public health as it was the program’s specialty emphasis. Of course, I was homesick and flew home twice a month for the weekend. I was especially homesick for my maternal grandmother. She would cook my favorite food, watch movies together (we watched a Saw movie, and she told me it was boring), and share stories with me from her childhood. Graduation day from my dietetic internship arrived in May 2014. My parents arrived the previous day for graduation on a long road trip from Minnesota. On graduation day, my parents took me out for lunch. My mother got a phone call from her brother, which caused her to leave the restaurant and cry outside. I knew what that meant grandmother had passed away. My parents packed up their things and went back to Minnesota, and I was alone in Ohio on my graduation day. Despite how sad and upset I was, I stayed strong for my family and the path I chose because of their experiences during their childhood and adolescence. Within a month of graduating from my dietetic internship, I passed my exam and became the first registered dietitian in my graduating class.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I started working as a registered dietitian in long-term care facilities in 2014 to help provide and support our aging community, as my maternal grandmother did for me during my youth. I loved the challenging environment, but I had a hard time dealing with death, staffing challenges, and seeing the same patients from the transitional care unit continue to readmit for the same issues as last. I thought to myself, what am I doing wrong as a provider? As I dug deeper into my practice, I discovered I craved the tools necessary to provide individualized education and resources to support patient success. I remember the struggles I endured trying to provide diabetes education and care to an Ethiopian family; there is no way I am providing them diabetes education using the typical American diet. The family needed materials in Amharic and handouts using Ethiopian food to help them understand its implications on diabetes management. This brought me back to the issues when I was just a student advocating the importance of having rice for my maternal grandmother each day for each meal when she was in transitional care herself. This desire for cultural inclusivity, individualized care, and education is where it got me today, and I ended my era of working in healthcare in 2018.
I currently work as a registered corporate dietitian for Mackenthun’s Fine Foods. A grocery retail chain with its headquarters housed in Waconia, Minnesota. Working as a registered dietitian for a grocery retailer is non-traditional; most registered dietitians work in healthcare as I did prior. My goal is to transform the grocery retail setting into a non-traditional outpatient stop; what better way to provide nutrition education and nutrition care than in a grocery store? I can learn about what social determinants of health influence my patient’s food choices and health-related behaviors. Do they only buy frozen meals because they are widowers and their late wife was the primary cook? Does the child who needs a high dose of multivitamins not like vegetables because their parent does not like vegetables; thus, vegetables are never on the menu or shopping list? I help a variety of patients (or customers in this setting) navigate their diabetes, congestive heart failure recommendations, and side effects from chemotherapy for cancer on how to live their best life with individualized, realistic nutrition interventions that fit their lifestyle. I will not recommend to a person to eat whole grains (even though whole grains are great for bowel health) if they do not like them. Instead, I will meet them halfway and figure out how else they can get their fiber to reduce cholesterol and minerals like phosphorous to support bone health (bones do not just need calcium and Vitamin D!).
In addition to supporting my customers in their well-being, I do many responsibilities outside the traditional registered dietitian role. I partner with brands to promote products through cooking classes and create marketing materials with key nutrition messages. And how they could fit the shopper’s needs, appear on the media to promote their product through a live cooking segment or conduct market studies on what shoppers think about the quality and price of said product.
My favorite part of my position is partnering with members of the communities from chiropractors, after-school programs, food shelves, and non-profits to support a common goal – a healthy, happy, thriving community. One example is my partnership with a program called More Than Pink for young girls from grades three through six that empowers them on topics including body image, self-esteem, relationships, and nutrition. The program’s ultimate goal is for the children to complete a 5k. Thus, my duty as a registered dietitian is to teach the girls how to pre-fuel and post-fuel for training to protect their bodies from exercise-induced injuries, support growth, and sustain enough energy to beat 5k time each year. Fun tip chocolate milk is the best post-workout drink; high in protein and slow-digesting carbs and has all the essential minerals to support bone and muscle development and electrolytes to prevent muscle cramping. As a provider, I experienced many concerns over the years patients and peers have about accessibility to healthcare – the cost, the time, and the stress in understanding their situation with all the big medical terms. I keep my prices low, so all persons with different situations have access to me. I keep my availability flexible because people seek me for help. I want to be there for people like how my maternal grandmother was for our door-to-door mailman to refuel him with delicious food to finish his day’s work.
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is something that requires hardship and challenges. For me, it is the history of my family and what they have been through. It influences who I am today and how I can help people succeed and look beyond their challenges. Sometimes they need something so simple to see a big change, like skipping cheese every time they get a fast-food burger to lose weight. Success is also measured by happiness and satisfaction in what I (we) do. No matter how often we fail, if we continue with enthusiasm, we know we are there. I was nominated as a Runner-Up for Retail Dietitian of the Year in 2021; that is something I thought I would have never achieved, and that is success for me alone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mack-dietitian-nutrition-services.practicebetter.io/#/628baee7a8789084697382ad/profile
- Instagram: instagram.com/kin.di_rd
