From burgers to salads—Barksdale DFAC focuses on healthier food items

Senior Airman Marie Brown, 2nd Force Support Squadron food operations team member, serves lunch to a patron at the Red River Dining Facility on Barksdale Air Force Base, La. The Red River Dining Facility has recently changed their menu to include even more healthy food options for Airmen. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chad Warren)(RELEASED)

From burgers to salads—Barksdale DFAC focuses on healthier food items

Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Prude, 2nd Force Support Squadron food operations team member, assists a fellow employee while preparing for lunch at the Red River Dining Facility on Barksdale Air Force Base, La. The Red River Dining Facility on Barksdale Air Force Base, La. has recently changed their menu to include even more healthy food options for Airmen. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chad Warren)(RELEASED)

From burgers to salads—Barksdale DFAC focuses on healthier food items

Published June 10, 2011
By Senior Airman Allison M. Boehm
2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- One burger, a serving of French fries, a glass of soda and piece of cake for dessert- yes it sounds enticing, but add condiments and you're looking at a mouth-watering meal of nearly 1,000 calories.

With a focus on fitness, more and more Airmen are saying "no thank you" to high-calorie, high-fat meals, and are instead lining up for healthier food options. The Red River Dining Facility here is on board with the change.

"As Air Force members, being healthy and maintaining fitness is a crucial part of our service," said Airman 1st Class Kayla Dordell, 2nd Force Support Squadron food service specialist. "Staying healthy is more than just regularly working out; eating healthy plays a huge part."

Staff Sgt. Marquish Dixon, 2 FSS food service specialist, agrees with the importance of healthy eating.

"As food specialists, we follow the food nutrition pyramid chart to ensure each food group is available for our Airmen," she said. "We are keeping members fit to fight and providing them with a well-balanced meal with healthy variety choices."

The DFAC is now preparing food with little to no butter or salt, draining oils and grease from cooked meats, using more olive oil to cook with and providing an even larger variety of healthy foods.

When Airmen go through the food line, they can look at small tags with nutritional information containing calories per serving, fat, cholesterol and sodium content. Healthy food items are even asterisked on the nutritional information tag to make it easily recognizable as healthy food.

Of course food options such as burgers and fries are still available--- but why would anyone want to with the surplus of healthy options available. After all, as the old adage says, "you are what you eat."