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People who come to New Orleans as visitors often spend most of their time in the French Quarter and pack their stay with excessive indulgence.\\xa0They start drinking way earlier in the day than they do at home. They stay out way later at night than they do at home. And they eat meal after meal of New Orleans\\u2019 specialty dishes, laden with cream, butter, and fried everything.

If you talk to any of these folks on their way out of town, they\\u2019ll typically look at you with the kind of reverence normally reserved for endurance sports champions, and say something like, \\u201cMan, I don\\u2019t know how you live here.\\u201d

We who live here tend to respond with the explanation that the French Quarter is filled tourists. Locals don\\u2019t eat, drink and party like that.\\xa0

Have you been to Arnaud\\u2019s restaurant in the French Quarter? They\\u2019ve been there since 1918 and built their reputation on serving a vast menu of French Creole fine dining - including 9 different oyster appetizers, 51 seafood entrees, 40 different vegetable sides, including 16 different types of potatoes.

Arnaud\\u2019s is massive. It\\u2019s an amalgamation of what was originally 13 different buildings. There\\u2019s a jazz bistro, two bars, and the main dining room seats 950 people. Yes, 950.

And here\\u2019s the kicker. The place is typically packed. With locals.\\xa0Don\\u2019t tell your tourist friends who you\\u2019re trying to impress that you live an upright, healthy lifestyle, but there\\u2019s more than a good chance you or someone you know has plans to go to Arnaud\\u2019s - for a rehearsal dinner, a wedding, or just because it\\u2019s Friday.

Since 1918 Arnaud\\u2019s has been owned and run by two families. First the family of the founder and namesake, Arnaud Cazenave, and since 1978 by members of the Casbarian family.\\xa0The current Casbarians are brother and sister Archie Jr and Katie, and their mom Jane.

French Creole fine dining is all well and good, but you can\\u2019t eat like that every day.\\xa0And especially if you\\u2019re an athlete. Not just a professional athlete. Anyone who takes fitness seriously also takes their diet seriously.

If you\\u2019re a professional athlete, you have access to dietitians and nutritionists who craft specific meal plans for you - to maximize your strengths, and help bolster any deficiencies you might naturally have. For the rest of us, here\\u2019s some good news. You no longer have to figure out your sports diet on Google. You can download an app called Eat 2 Win, the product of a company called My Sports Dietitian.

My Sports Dietitian is set up to give everyone in sports \\u2013 from high school coaches to individual amateur athletes \\u2013 the same access to specialized dietary and nutrition advice the pros get.

The co-founder of My Sports Dietitian and the Eat 2 Win app is Ronnie Harper.

We hear a lot these days about work/life balance. The acknowledgement that there\\u2019s more to life than work and money. The point being, if you want to be happy, you need to prioritize happiness.

Apparently, the rest of the country just figured out what we\\u2019ve known for generations in New Orleans. It\\u2019s part of the reason living here is so attractive. And so different from anywhere else in the US.\\xa0We don\\u2019t think there\\u2019s anything strange about wearing a costume, or going to work on Monday morning and partying with our boss and colleagues at The Maple Leaf on Monday night.

Similarly, we accept as matter of fact that we can live a healthy life, subscribe to a sports diet from My Sports Dietitian, and occasionally indulge ourselves with dinner and drinks at Arnaud\\u2019s without having a melt-down guilt trip about it.

Because, in New Orleans, that\\u2019s life.\\xa0In any other city Archie Casbarian Jr, and Ronnie Harper might be regarded as being at opposite ends of the spectrum. In New Orleans, they\\u2019re two sides of a coin. Probably a doubloon.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at\\xa0NOLA Pizza\\xa0in the\\xa0NOLA Brewing Taproom. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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