Healthy Eating

You have probably just finished saying your long good-byes to your students as they head back to Gonzaga for their second semester. You have nourished them, comforted them (and fed them!) for the past four weeks and we know it’s hard to let them return to campus. We want to reassure you that they are in safe hands. Of course our cooking can never live up to your home-cooking, but we do our best to provide our customers with a healthy, sustainable, delicious food program where they can be sure to be fully nourished in order to live their very active college years.

January is all about resolutions and we are committed to our resolution which is to better inform our customers about nutrition, exercise and sustainability.  We hear too often that we do not offer enough healthy, nutritious options when that simply is not the case.  It is our fault for not advertising enough what those options are. We’d like to ask you, as a caring parent and or family member, to share some of this great information with your student so that they know we are here for them and looking out for their best interests.

Tips for Eating Healthy with Zag Dining:

• In the COG, we always have our nutrition facts posted in frames next to each item. Also, all of our signage utilizes the icons below to assist in spotting the best choice.

• In addition to our nutrition facts being posted in the dining room, our menus are also posted online a week in advance with nutrition facts. That way our customers can plan ahead of time what they are going to eat. Customers can also go to our Sustainability website in order search any of our recipes at any time.
• One of our most exciting innovations is that Sodexo has teamed up with MyFitnessPal, a popular food and exercise tracker app available for iPhones and Androids. The app now includes most Sodexo recipes and our menus will now print out with a barcode that can be scanned to automatically add the nutrition information into the user’s application. Our Simply-to-Go meals in Retail are also bar coded for easy scanning!
• Our food is always labeled with allergens in bold and an ingredient list in order to ensure that our customers with allergies are safe in our restaurants.
• At EVERY meal, we offer a tossed to order salad bar and a fresh raw crudite bar with local and organic produce. Both areas are vegan and vegetarian friendly.
• Every breakfast and brunch, we offer a fresh healthy oatmeal bar with homemade granola and fruit toppings. We also always offer and made to order omelet bar where egg whites are available and can be made with or without oil.  The omelets also feature fresh veggies. During the weekend, we also offer a vegan scramble bar as well.
• At every meal, two of our hot entrée stations are always Gluten Free.  In addition, we offer a separate Gluten Free fridge that is filled with breads, pizza dough, muffins, tortillas and sweets that are baked daily. Our customers are welcome to grab bread or pizza dough from that fridge and bring it to any of our chefs to add any meats or cheeses to it. We also have a designated gluten free toaster.
• We cook from scratch using fresh ingredients so that our food so our food is as healthy and chemical free. We even have an in house baker who bakes all of our breads and treats from scratch using local, sustainable Shepherd’s Grain Wheat.
• We have a Saucier on staff who makes soups from scratch every day to ensure they are Gluten Free by using cornstarch and Gluten Free noodles. This also makes the soups low in sodium and much healthier.
• We also make all of our dressings from scratch so that they are also Gluten Free, low in sodium and low in fat.
• We recognize Mainly Meatless Monday where we encourage our customers to go meatless just once a week which studies show promotes health and reduces our carbon footprint.
• We always have a Vegetarian/Vegan hot entrée action station at every meal.
• We have a Registered Dietician on our Staff.
• Our Certified Executive Chef also specializes in special diets and allergies and will work closely with our customers and dietician to ensure they are getting the nutrition they need.
• Lactose intolerant? Not a problem…we carry Soy Milk in Vanilla and Chocolate in a bulk dispenser. All of our coffee shops offer all these milks as well. We also have a fridge full of soy cheeses, almond and coconut milk as well as other soy proteins.
• Our Iggy’s Pizza Program is the only delivery pizza in Spokane that carries Gluten Free Crust. We also hand-make our Gluten pizza dough using Shepherd’s Grain.
• Our LoCro Market offers a variety of healthy soups, sandwiches, salads, snacks, and special diet products like gluten free pasta, lactose free items and soy items. We can also special order in anything our customer may need.
• Freshens offers healthy, low calorie smoothies in Spikes and Rudolf Fitness Center.
• We offer free Saturday Cooking Classes which focus on healthy cooking on a budget.
• We host a weekly Farmer’s Market every Wednesday in the Fall and Spring featuring fresh and local produce and recipes.
• We have a blog and Pinterest page that helps lead our customers to healthy living.
• Our kitchen is always stocked with hard to find items or can usually get that item in for a customer. We encourage our customers to “just ask” for what they are looking for and we can find a solution!

This list just scratches the surface of all we do in terms of healthy eating on campus.  We encourage our customers to come speak with us if they have any issue finding the right food for them. We know how important nutrition is and we hope we can help keep your student healthy this winter. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact sarah.clifford@sodexo.com.