NEW ORLEANS – DTB’s chef/owner Carl Schaubhut was named Chef Ambassador of Ochsner’s Eat Fit program, a healthy eating restaurant initiative launched in 2013.
As Chef Ambassador, Schaubhut and his team at DTB, 8201 Oak St., will be promoting and participating in the annual Eat Fit Dine Out on Wednesday, Sept. 6. On that day, participating Eat Fit restaurants and partners will donate a portion of the day’s proceeds to the Eat Fit | Live Fit fund, which supports a variety of initiatives to encourage balanced, healthful lifestyles. Some of the key projects include collaboration with local restaurants to provide healthy options on menus, as well as community nutrition workshops, cooking demos, wellness screenings, high school culinary teaching programs and more.
Eat Fit was designed specifically to provide nutritious options at restaurants while allowing diners to indulge without the guilt. The program allows guests to eat out yet still eat clean and live an overall healthy lifestyle.
Schaubhut said he felt personally connected with this program through his battle with cancer. He has spent two days a week over the past three years at Ochsner Medical Center receiving treatment. “From the oncologists to nurses to physician assistants and dietitians, it’s just an incredible place to have in our backyard,” he said. “They have become my second family.
“The cool part about this partnership is that it happened very organically,” said Schaubhut. “As a chef, I worked with Molly Kimball, registered dietician and lifestyle nutritionist, through Ochsner’s Eat Fit NOLA program, and shortly after that, I was diagnosed with cancer. I reached out to Molly to help with nutrition – who else better to assist as a resource for the fight of my life? A lot of things needed to change – and it’s not a temporary thing; this has been a lifestyle change for me.”
Eat Fit connects Ochsner with local restaurants and the New Orleans community – encouraging and helping everyone to all work toward one common goal of a healthier city, a stronger community and an even better place to live, reps said. The beauty of Eat Fit is that it takes the burden off of the guest who wants to order healthfully – they don’t feel like they’re imposing, like they’re being “that diner” who’s special-ordering everything. Eat Fit essentially does the work for you and you can check out the menu ahead of time on the Eat Fit smartphone app to see the dishes and the full nutrition stats before you even walk in the door, reps said.
“The Eat Fit seal on restaurant menus is just one component of what Ochsner’s Eat Fit initiative is all about,” says Kimball. “Connecting with and educating our community, and having the opportunity to work closely with many of our chefs and restaurant teams to support them as they deal with their own health challenges, like chef Carl, has been far more rewarding than I ever could have expected.”
“As someone who’s battling cancer, I understand first-hand that the more funds, support and awareness that this type of community-wide wellness initiative can raise means that we can have even more resources available to help us live our strongest, healthiest lives,” said Schaubhut. “This is a very rewarding experience for me and I am looking forward to continuing working with the Ochsner’s Eat Fit program.”
Ochsner Eat Fit now has more than 125 unique partners, with more than 230 different locations – plenty of ways to find Eat Fit options any time any place, including restaurants spanning from high-end fine dining to neighborhood favorites like DTB and BacoBar, to the airport, the zoo and even Danny & Clyde’s gas stations.
Ochsner Eat Fit is free to all restaurants and foodservice providers. The Eat Fit nutrition team reviews the menu to determine what items might fit into the Eat Fit criteria. They then do the nutritional analysis of recipes to see what fits, and often work with restaurants to develop new menu items that fit; they also help with collecting the recipe information as needed. Participating restaurants identify the Eat Fit items on the menu with the Eat Fit seal.
Click here for a complete list of Eat Fit Dine Out participants and more information
