Eat Fit Acadiana

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Ochsner Eat Fit logo for the non-profit organization shows its partners Lafayette General Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana Foundation to introduce the restaurant based food options into menus across the state to promote good health.

Healthy food habits expanding across state

Wouldn’t it be great to have your own nutritionist help you figure out what to eat to stay or become fit as you age? Well, you practically can with the aid of several Louisiana nutritionists, health providers and area restaurants. And the list is growing.

New to the Teche Area is a movement called Eat Fit Acadiana. It started with Eat Fit NOLA. Registered dietitian nutritionist Molly Kimball from New Orleans had been working one-on-one with clients for 15 years through Ochsner’s Elmwood Fitness Center. In 2012 they approached her to do something in the community to help promote wellness. She and her husband ate out a lot and she would make modifications to menu items to suit her dietary preferences. Kimball decided that would be a place to start.

“What if you had a stamp of approval of how you would make restaurant dishes meet Eat Fit criteria,” said Yvette Quantz RDN, CSSD, LDN, the regional Operations and Marketing Dietitian for Ochsner Eat Fit and Eat Fit Acadiana. “It started with a community outreach with ambassadors, student interns volunteering their time. It was grassroots, as we are in Acadiana. We’re just getting started.”

Kimball worked on her own time to develop the program with the student ambassadors. She worked with her clients during the day and for Eat Fit after hours. With the student ambassadors, the outreach started with a handful of restaurants to fine tune the criteria. A year into it special interest from others took it to a new level. An App developer offered to help set up user-friendly access through the App Store.

Most Popular

“There was no money in the budget to grow the program, but (Molly) had community support,” Quantz said. “An App Developer came to her and said I want this to be my testing pilot to make an Eat Fit App. He volunteered until the grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana came through and paid him, which was well deserved. It took very long. A social media girl, Ashley Russo Ellis, came along and wanted to volunteer to help. She said, ‘I want to volunteer, I believe in this.’ So, she volunteered creating social media and started the buzz.”

The App allows the user to view restaurant locations, recipes, nutritional information and even community activities to get out and have fun with friends and family — an important part of living healthy.

With interaction and an audience of eaters growing, the decision was made to hire a full-time dietitian. Now dietitians consult with restaurants and develop recipes along with other nutritionists in Baton Rouge and Lafayette for the surrounding areas. Today’s recipes are from the EatFitAcadiana.com website. Kimball still sees clients, processes grants, meets with the media and a lot of administrative paperwork. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana grant completed during her first year has brought about the statewide Eat Fit initiative rolling out one city, one community at a time starting in the rich food consumer south Louisiana.

“I’m employed by Ochsner but also Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana because of the grant from them,” said Quantz. “It’s awesome that they support this, and they are supporting it to expand across the state.”

As a native of New Orleans, Quantz knew Kimball and after talking about the program, was the natural coordinator for the Acadiana area.

Eat Fit at Restaurants

Testing the program was a challenge. All the food Monday at Blue Dog Café with the new Chef Ryan Trahan menu looked good, but commitment to eating healthy gave me a chance to make a wise decision. I ordered the grilled Breaux Bridge Catfish with jalapeño ginger slaw. The fish was deliciously moist, and I’m not much of a grilled fish eater. The slaw was tasty but not spicy — perfect for me — filling and healthy.

Quantz ordered the Roasted Chicken with grilled vegetables which had a welcomed surprise. Not sure if okra will always be available but she enjoyed the treat. Rather than cooking in butter, olive oil was used. With no special sauce on top the dish was perfect as an Eat Fit substitute for the Cajun rich temptations on the menu. Several other Eat Fit approved items were listed. Our waitress said other customers at her tables were ordering from the Eat Fit menu items as well.

Eating wisely is not just for older people or someone in poor health affirmed by our host as we entered the restaurant.

“What I eat is not high priority for me,” said Austin Menard, 22, an employee at Blue Dog Café. “I was a vegetarian for about two years and just quit it for no reason, but I want to become a vegetarian again because I felt better.”

Menard grew up like most in Acadiana, eating traditional Cajun cuisine.

“My dad is Cajun. My parents are just like normal Cajuns. My dad grew up in Breaux Bridge, my mom’s family is from New Orleans. When I graduated high school, a lot of my friends were vegans and I wanted to take that step and make a positive change in my life. I decided to become vegetarian. Almost my entire self was lighter,” Menard said.

If you think you’re giving up everything you love, think again. Included among the recipes are low sugar recipes for cocktails including Margaritas. The mantra spoken for decades by health care professionals, school nutritionists and parents — not always listened to — is moderation. Changing a food lifestyle is not about denial but about substitutions. Finding something you enjoy as much or more than what you are giving up. This has not become perfection for me, but the journey is leading me to explore new things.

Growing with Eat Fit

Ochsner Health Systems created the non-profit organization Eat Fit and has partnered with Lafayette General Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana for the Acadiana and Louisiana Eat Fit initiative.

Today there is a Dine Out event to support Eat Fit at partner restaurants in Lafayette — and south to New Orleans or east to Baton Rouge. If you are planning to be in these areas this evening, try dining at one of the featured restaurants’ menu items marked with the Ochsner Eat Fit logo. A portion of the proceeds will be donated by participating restaurants to help the Eat Fit program with education for culinary teaching programs, wellness screenings and seminars, expansion of Eat Fit into under-served areas, community cooking classes and increased awareness of Eat Fit throughout Louisiana.

For dining along the U.S. 90 corridor, in Thibodaux or Houma and into New Orleans, check out the website or the App for restaurants that have partnered with Ochsner’s Eat Fit. Download for your phone to use shopping lists at the grocery store or for last minute food decisions while eating out. Don’t worry if your friends or family are not eating with your same food needs. The rest of the menus are traditional fair, so they are free to eat as they normally would, until they see how much better you feel and look by eating fit.

Watch for upcoming information on restaurants joining the project within the Teche Area. For more information visit EatFitAcadiana.com or download the App. To become a partner restaurant, call Yvette Quantz at 739-3539. She is looking forward to your call. As Eat Fit Acadiana expands into the Teche Area, watch for my updates so you, too, can enjoy area Eat Fit restaurants.