By Sheryl Garner
Not only has the bar been raised for missionaries but also for the services provided to the missionaries at the MTC.
In 1998, BYU Dining Services initiated a strategic plan to improve missionary nutrition and better utilize the dining facilities. Research found that the missionaries, in general, were gaining more than a pound a week on average while studying at the MTC and spending an inordinate amount of times standing in lines.
'The MTC cafeteria jokingly used to be known by how much Marshmallow Mateys our missionaries ate,' said Dean Wright, director of BYU Dining Services. 'We needed to change that image.'
The Missionary International Nutrition Committee that meets monthly began to review the nutritional needs of the missionaries. The committee was involved in resolving the nutritional challenges.
In 2001, Dining Services experimented with serving specific food offerings such as sandwiches, pastas and traditional foods in three separate dining rooms.
'We learned that districts like to sit together,' Wright said. 'And when the foods were in different rooms, that was hard for them to do.'
'For example,' Wright said, 'One companionship might want pasta and another a grilled chicken sandwich.'
Next, the MTC displayed nutritional informational guides at each table. While it taught missionaries how they could eat healthier, little to no results came about.
Finally, Wright said dining services tried showing a nutritional video, known as the orange juice video, to all the missionaries. The video gave guidelines to healthy eating.
'Another problem that we found is that missionaries were eating until they felt full,' Wright said. 'By showing the video, we hoped that missionaries could understand that eating too much was also unhealthy.'
None of the ideas worked.
Wright and others met with two MTC districts once a week for four to five weeks to get input on how they could make nutrition more effective.
From that group, dining services discovered several results.
A decision was made to remodel the dining room to serve missionaries better. The MTC became more efficient in feeding more than 4,000 missionaries per meal.
Webb and Associates, an architectural food-consulting group out of Los Angeles, was called in to help.
'The average missionary was waiting an extensive amount of time in line prior to remodeling,' Wright said. 'Now the wait is minimal.'
To help control weight gain, the MTC began to pre-portion serving sizes.
Russell Woolley, a junior from Provo, majoring in chemistry, remembers the six members in his MTC district gained a total of 60 pounds.
Woolley returned home 11 months ago from the Antananarizo, Madagascar Mission.
'I remember the elders of my district would just gorge themselves, and the worst part of it all is that we could do that every meal,' he said.
In the main line, a pre-portion side salad, entr?e with some form of vegetable, protein and starch, along with a light desert can be served.
Now, sister missionaries are leaving the MTC without gaining weight, and elders are gaining about two pounds during their stay.
'To us, the exciting thing is that we''ve been able to stop the weight gain,' Wright said.
BYU Dining Services decided to receive additional help on better eating through sound dietary resources, including the Harvard School of Public Health.
Wright said dining services not only turned to U.S.-based resources but also to international experts.
'We wanted to get international opinions because our missionaries go all over the world,' Wright said.
From the University of Western Ontario, MTC officials learned how students understand proper ways of dining. Nutritional Services Department for the City of London also gave information on better diets and nutrition.
Wright is also a member of the nutrition committee that meets monthly to review the nutrition of the missionaries, and Bruce Woolley, BYU professor of physiology and developmental biology, serves as the committee chairman.
Bruce Wolley said because missionaries have been taught the proper way to eat while in the MTC, they are healthier while serving in developing countries.
Because the missionaries serving in the 143 missions around the world are being taught how to eat properly in the MTC, they are living healthier lives out in the field.
The MTC is coming to the end of the first year of the dining services revision, and great results have come about, Wright said.
When missionaries leave the MTC, their district leader gives them a grade card to evaluate MTC dining services.
'Seven years ago, missionaries gave us C''s,' Wright said. 'Five years ago, we were given B-pluses. Now almost straight A''s.'