Week 9!

This week has been pretty crazy so I've only been in the office half of the week. On Monday I had class day with the other OUHSC interns in Tulsa. We learned more about eating disorders from a Dietitian who works at the Laureate Eating Disorder Center. We also had the chance to tour the facility which was pretty neat.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I spent most of my time in the office working on projects and finishing up my Management Review Assignment. I also helped get things ready for the BIG Made In Oklahoma Event. I was bummed that I had to miss that event because I heard it was super fun. I spent that day at a Dietetic Conference at the OU Children's Hospital. I learned more about tube feedings and hospital protocols sounds boring, but it was actually pretty interesting. The rest of the day I spent driving to Enid, OK to get set up for my clinical rotation next week. I'll be working at the hospital there and I'm really excited for that experience!

I can't believe that today, is my last day here!! I've enjoyed my time in the many dining facilities across campus. It gave me a new perspective to what food service managers do and the many small projects they take on throughout the day. It was also fun to help out with the booths and events that Dot was a part of during the 9 weeks I was here. I liked being able to talk to the college students and make a difference. I've made good friends here at OU Housing and Food and will be sad to leave.

Week 8

I can't believe week 8 is already over! On Tuesday I went over to Headington Hall and worked with Curtis. He showed me what he has been working on with recipes on CBORD and gave me insight into how the hiring process goes. On CBORD he is trying to make all the portion sizes uniform on all vegetable recipes and make the yield into pans instead of oz. It seems like a lot of the problems in food service stem from not having the correct yield or portioning things out incorrectly.

I spent Wednesday preparing for the Food Allergy Awareness Fair. Thursday we set up for the Fair in the Cate Rock Garden. It was a little chilly, but thankfully it wasn't raining. All the food Dot ordered for the event was really delicious. There was Gluten Free flat bread with hummus, a Mexican Quinoa Casserole, Grilled Vegetables, and a Fruit Salad. We had a lot of people stop by for lunch and ask questions about food allergies. Overall I felt like the event was successful!    

 

                              

On Friday I spent the day with Fran learning about what she does as a Dietitian.We went over to Crossroads to work with Danny on serving sizes so the nutritional information can be more accurate. It's amazing to see how an increase in serving size or portions can make a huge difference on not only nutrition but also food cost. They are trying to figure out how to use measured scoops (or really anything that can measure volume) with things like avocado spread, salts, sauces, cheese...etc. The biggest challenge is to get employees to follow through and understand that there needs to be consistency and accuracy in measuring out ingredients. The nutritional information will be completely inaccurate if the portion size is off. The same goes for recipe development and nutritional information because CBORD uses weights to figure out the nutritional component of recipes. I definitely learned a lot just by seeing how things are measured out and prepared by food service employees.

Fran also gave me useful information and tips on becoming a Registered Dietitian which I really appreciated. I still feel like I'm not exactly sure where I want to go with it yet. I learned however, there are plenty of resources out there and plenty of job opportunities. It was interesting to see what Fran does and how she constantly keeps up to date on federal regulations and food labeling among other things. She truly is passionate about her work and that made it fun to spend the day with her!