RAF Lakenheath Go for Green Published April 1, 2019 By Airman 1st Class Shanice Williams-Jones 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- The 48th Fighter Wing Knight’s Table dining facility will implement the Department of Defense’s new ‘Go for Green 2.0’ program starting today. The re-designed program is intended to improve the food environment in the dining facility, providing customers healthy food options. Additionally, this nutrition initiative aims to facilitate optimum performance, readiness and health for military personnel. “This is huge for our Airmen. They’ve been asking for more options to eat healthier,” said Master Sgt. Tennille Benton, 48th Force Support Squadron Food Service superintendent. “Our goal is to fuel Airmen to perform their at best and we’re going to do that with Go for Green.” The primary audience for Go for Green is service members. Human Performance Resource Center, a source for military-specific health and fitness information, has found that through education and marketing campaigns, the military community may be better informed about the impact of nutrition on performance, readiness, and health. “As a frequent customer, I am very excited,” said Senior Airman Alexander Hamilton, 48th Medical Group Obstetrics & Gynecology technician. “The taste testing was a hit for most of my fellow Airmen in attendance and I was highly impressed. Starting my day with tasteful, healthy foods has always helped me be more productive.” In addition to a nutritious meal, other components of the program include a color-coding system, food placement, variety and marketing. “The goal is to educate our customers and encourage healthier eating habits,” said Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Gasparetto, 48th Force Support Squadron dining facility manager. “The new Go for Green 2.0 isn’t taking anything away. It’s just adding more healthy options, focusing on educating our customers on how to identify them, and encouraging them to select these foods.” Having a variety of options will provide the installation more food choices and cater to dietary needs, according to Benton. One way the diversity will be seen is through the “Pure Bar,” which will include tofu, roasted sweet potatoes and roasted cauliflower among its selection. “We have a large vegan and vegetarian community here,” Benton said. “A lot of the upcoming options will enhance their dining experience, which will in turn improve their nutritional health,” The stoplight-color labeling system identifies the percentages of calories from both total and saturated fat, to determine cutoffs for coding foods and beverages in categories green, yellow, or red. It has been re-coded with new criteria, which includes a sodium content code of low, moderate, or high. According to Gasparetto, this new two-part coding system provides more nutritional detail to easily promote health improvement efforts in the dining facility. With strategic food placement and adequate marketing, customers may be more actively inclined to choose green coded foods, he said. Pilot testing and research shows that customers are inclined to choose the healthier, Green-coded choices when displayed in more visible places, according to the HPRC. Gasparetto also shared that dining facility staff here had the opportunity to attend training with master chefs at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The Culinary Institute of America master chefs taught the Knight’s Table staff to prepare appealing, flavorful meals while maintaining their optimum nutrition value. “If our products aren’t tasteful, we can’t encourage anyone to eat it,” Gasparetto said. “The Culinary Institute of America have taken the recipes and enhanced them to make sure they accurately match the coding and are appetizing. With these new changes, we can add a variety of meals with better cooking techniques like our new handmade dressings.” G4G 2.0 provides dining facilities and service members the tools they need to produce and choose high-performance foods and beverages to boost their fitness, strength, and health.