About the Dietitian:

Our Nutrition Services at Manhattan College are lead by Alexa McDonald, RD.  Alexa is a nationally accredited Registered Dietitian with over 3 years experience as a food and nutrition professional.  She received her B.S. in Dietetics from the University of Maryland, College Park and completed her dietetic internship through ARAMARK Healthcare.

As a dietitian, she has experience in nutrition counseling and assessment within both community and clinical settings, along with a special interest in sports nutrition, food allergies, and wellness.  An avid cook and runner, Alexa enjoys using her skills as a dietitian in her daily life.  She sets priority to set realistic goals so they can continue to enjoy life while eating healthy and living an active lifestyle.   Her belief is that making small but significant changes over time and individualizing counseling sessions to clients’ needs, preferences, and way of life fosters long-term success that sticks.

Future areas of focus will include farther-reaching nutrition support to student athletes and those with special medical needs throughout campus and increasing access to nutrition and allergen information in the dining hall.  Alexa has also developed and ran our Food Allergen Advisory Board and Vegan/Vegetarian Advisory Board to address student’s concerns and special dietary needs and preferences and will continue to provide these services in the future.

Our Mission is to broaden the Manhattan College community’s knowledge of health and nutrition, foster an environment that fuels a healthy diet, and assist students’ in meeting their individual dietary needs and preferences, while expanding palates and expanding food choices.

The Nutrition Services offered by Gourmet Dining are designed to have a broad impact throughout the entire campus community by providing services free of charge to students, student groups, faculty and staff, and teams and athletic directors.  Understanding nutrition and special dietary needs is an integral part of how we craft our services at Gourmet Dining.  Our services, which are lead by nationally accredited Registered Dietitian, Alexa McDonald, are available to assist the college community with a wide-range of nutrition and health-related questions, concerns, and topics by offering a variety of services:

• One on one consultations and counseling
• Yearly weight loss challenge
• Group counseling sessions and dietary advisory boards
• Table events and outreach sessions throughout campus
• Guest classroom and team lectures
• Menu nutrition analysis

Our nutrition services are available to all students.  At Gourmet Dining we understand that equipping students with accurate nutrition and health information is essential in producing healthy adults down the road.   To reap the benefits of our services, we encourage students to speak personally with our dietitian at any of our on campus events or schedule an individual consultation. We highly recommend students with allergies and special dietary needs contact our dietitian.  The counseling services offer a wide variety of focuses:

• Maximizing dining options for students with dietary restrictions
• Assisting students with diabetes in conquering the challenges of ‘carb counting’ in an environment with vast dining options
• Teaching healthy cooking techniques to the inexperienced ‘picky’ eater at our self-operated stations
• Performing tasting and cooking demos

Alexa is located in the Gourmet Dining office (behind Dante’s) in Thomas Hall.  She is available for appointment Monday through Friday from 9:00am-5:00pm.  Appointments are preferred and walk-ins are accepted only if time permits. Students who wish to make an appointment for an individual consultation or to discuss any dietary concerns and questions may do so by emailing Alexa at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or calling (718) 862-8523.