As I had mentioned a couple of months ago, I signed on with Sodexo USA who are the catering company responsible for the dining halls and retail shops here at the RPI campus. I felt I wanted to leave my mark on this school and hopefully assist the future students in living a healthier life.

One of my main goals was to try and provide suggestions for change that the company would find reasonable and that the students wouldn’t totally reject (after being used to the huge array of fast food style items being available on the menu).

I wanted to shift them towards making healthier choices by having more healthy options, and also emphasised the use of low glycemic index carbohydrates, lean protein and healthier fats to assist with concentration and mood elevation among the students.

I am very pleased to say that after my final meeting today with the head chef, Sodexo has agreed to making a number of brilliant changes and modifications that will see more healthy options being served to the students, as well as education around portion sizes, and creating a more balanced plate being promoted.

Here are just a few of the key additions to the menu that the students can expect to see in the coming months:

  • Switched white short grain rice dishes over to wild rice and long grain brown rice.
  • Having a pasta bar where there is a variety of lean protein sources (vegetarian included), whole meal pasta and low fat or vegetable based sauces that can be made up on the spot for the students.
  • Natural greek style yoghurt and cut up fresh fruit offered at each meal for dessert.
  • Baked, grilled or steamed fish at least once a week.
  • More wholegrain varieties of breads, english muffins and bagels.
  • Increased protein sources at breakfast e.g. more varieties of eggs, bean mixes, cottage cheese and natural peanut butter.
  • More low glycemic index products instead of high GI grains e.g. quinoa, freekah, legumes, lentils and sweet potato.

There was an array of other changes that will be made, the above are just a few to highlight the success of the mission I was on.

It appears they were so happy with the outcomes that should I be interested in linking up with other colleges (if I stay in the USA a bit longer…) they are happy to recommend my services. I may just have a few more colleges to overhaul up my sleeve! (Jamie Oliver meet your match? …Maybe thats taking it a bit far, who knows!)

Anyway just a quick note given I hadn’t written too much from the dietary side over the last few weeks.

Down to NYC again this weekend for some more adventures so will be sure to write a post next week on all the excitement!

Until then,

The Travelling Dietitian x

About The Author

Kara Landau aka "Travelling Dietitian" is an Australian Accredited Practicing Dietitian based in New York City. She is a world explorer, healthy foodie, social butterfly, and barre class lover. When she isn't trying new cuisines, researching new product innovations in the health food space, or speaking to the media on behalf of her food industry clients, she can be found quietly conjuring up her next idea in how to make this world a healthier and better place.

5 Responses

  1. Heidi - Apples Under My Bed

    This is fantastic, karz!! Well done. The food looks great. Question, have you been able to find many nut butters that don’t use palm oil? When in the states I had a quick look & bought some nut butters (as the variety is soooo good!) but most use palm oil. I’m obsessed with nut butters, clearly.
    Heidi xo

    • Travelling Dietitian

      Thanks Heids! I haven’t gone looking in depth at the nut butters given I have been eating on campus most of the time. I have seen a lot of varieties at the stores though when I have strolled though. I know you love your nut butter! I can have a look for you this weekend in wholefoods if you like 🙂

    • Kimberly Kirby Buchholz

      Hello to Heidi – Apples Under My Bed…Have you tried Justin’s Maple Almond Butter? (I found this at Target in USA) I don’t work with a food company–I just like this. Plus, I believe it really does contain maple syrup (not a whole lot), and I’d rather eat the sucrose from maple syrup instead of the fructose from other sweeteners. Seems like a small amount of sucrose is much easier to tolerate than some of the monosaccharides. If you try it, I’d enjoy your comments.

Leave a Reply