During my Foodservice Supervised Experiential Learning (SEL) rotation with the Navy SEALs, I gained hands-on experience developing and implementing performance-focused foodservice strategies tailored to the needs of elite tactical athletes. My primary responsibilities included planning and coordinating individualized meal strategies, integrating medical nutrition considerations, and assisting in the development of Teamworks Nutrition, a foodservice platform, to optimize nutrition delivery across training phases. I collaborated with my Preceptor and the performance kitchen to support individual goals such as muscle-building, fat-loss, recovery, and overall health goals. I developed and refined a 4-week cycle menu, and I worked with the chefs to make practical recommendations for accurate meal portioning. The menu primarily involved scratch-cooking recipes to ensure whole food, nutrient-dense meals while preventing meal fatigue among clientele.
In the kitchen, I assisted in developing and testing recipes. In addition to new recipes, I was tasked with improving the portioning precision while maintaining and/or improving kitchen prep efficiency. One area of particular focus was standardizing breakfast and snack options to meet a sufficient caloric and macronutrient content. I further supported these documented changes on the backend of the Teamworks Nutrition platform. Through my work with Teamworks Nutrition (TWN), I was able to help VHP and TWN representatives troubleshoot the best practices to utilize the platform for batch production and communication with the kitchen through efficient ordering, ticketing, and labeling. Through my front-loaded work, my preceptor, the kitchen, and VHP will save time in meal ordering for clients while improving precision. Allowing them to focus on improving client outcomes in other areas.