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sHop FIt
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eAt FIt
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hink it’s tough to stick to your eating plan? We can surely take a lesson or
two from Eat Fit NOLA chefs who are around food all day — and taste
everything made in their kitchens – and have developed nutritional strategies
that work for them.
For Chef Ben Thibodeaux Executive Chef
of Dickie Brennan’s Tableau
, it
all comes down to making better choices. “If I happen to have a heavy lunch,
or say, spend the day at a friend’s barbecue or tasting cream sauces in the
restaurant, then I’ll make sure to compensate with lighter meals of lean proteins,
vegetables and salads when I get back to my usual routine. And a handful of
pecans or almonds with a big glass of water really helps to curb cravings, which
is especially important for those times that I’m not even really hungry,” he says.
As part of Eat Fit NOLA, our nutrition team at Ochsner’s Elmwood Fitness
Center works with local restaurants to lighten up the food — and drink — that
we all know and love. Our Eat Fit NOLA dishes fit within the American Heart
Association’s restaurant guidelines for sodium and saturated fat, then we take
it even further with no white carbs, and less than a teaspoon of added sugar.
And you just might be surprised by how indulgent some of the Eat Fit NOLA
dishes are — there’s no dry skinless chicken here.
Dickie Brennan’s Tableau, for example, serves up Eat Fit NOLA-style Truffle
Crab Fingers and a mouthwatering Asparagus Seafood Salad, along with filet
of beef with lump crabmeat topping.
There are Eat Fit NOLA options at
Copeland’s
(Salmon Cobb Salad and
Fresh Fish and Crab Claws),
Cheesecake Bistro by Copleand’s
, and
Phil’s
Grill
.
Fury’s
in Metairie has a full Eat Fit NOLA menu ranging from grilled
fish to char-grilled oysters to a center-cut
pork chop, all low in carbs but loaded with
flavor.
Covington-based
Dakota Restaurant
makes a savory lump Louisiana crabmeat
and aged French Brie soup. Chef Kim
Kringlie also uses fresh local and seasonal
ingredients like shrimp, crabmeat and
crawfish to create decadent dishes like
their Eat Fit NOLA Shrimp & Crabmeat
Avocado Salad with Creole Remoulade, and
their Black Lava Sea Salt Seared Yellowfin
with Tuna Avocado Puree.
And
Ye Olde College Inn
makes some of
the best (and most famous) onion rings
on the Gulf Coast, but they also offer an
Eat Fit NOLA-style Broiled Redfish
with Fresh Vegetables and
Marinated
Tomato Vinaigrette that’s not only
incredibly delicious, but also farm-fresh and
locally-sourced.
sHop FIt • eAt FIt
by
Molly Kimball, RD, CSSD, Ochsner Sports & Lifestyle Nutritionist
Copeland’s Fresh Fish & Crab Claws — photo by
Cheryl Gerber
“For the chefs — and for me — it’s
an exciting back-and-forth process,
as we try to make changes that don’t
compromise the integrity of the dish.”
—Molly Kimball
