• Choosing the Healthiest Foods for Your Family

    Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 8 year old and an adventurous 6 year old. I also happen to work for a great company called NuVal. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that rates foods on a scale of 1-100, based on how nutritious they are. We are implementing NuVal in grocery stores around the country.

    NuVal may not be in your area yet. But I see the scores while they are "hot off the press" and because of that I am able to make better decisions about what to feed my family.

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  • Disclaimer

    I am not a registered dietitian. I am just a mom who happens to work for NuVal. I am also an AFAA-certified Group Exercise Instructor. NuVal is a system designed to lead customers to the most nutritious food choices. It is not a diet or weight-loss plan. Before starting a diet, you should always consult your personal physician. The opinions expressed in this blog are the opinions of the writer and not the opinions of NuVal LLC.

Trade Up Tuesday: I Love NY!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 07:07 AM

I Love New York!  And I love that the lucky people of New York are about to get a whole bunch of grocery stores with NuVal scores on their store shelves!

Yes, today is a special edition of Trade Up Tuesday.  Typically, on Tuesdays I blog about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free.  Since tomorrow, you will all learn who the new retailer is – and, hint hint, it is in the New York Metro area - I thought I would host a New York-themed giveaway.

So, while I will still blog about some trade-ups I will make while in The Big Apple, the winner of this Giveaway will win their very own I ♥ New York t-shirt. 

If you read the “About”  section of this blog, you will see that in a previous “life,” I flew to all sorts of different cities and worked on long-term consulting assignments.  So, in my mid-twenties, I actually spent a year working in Manhattan.  It was one of the best years of my life – what a great experience! 

My favorite food while I was working in New York?  Bagels.  Every Friday my whole project team shared this huge paper bag of ginormous bagels with scrumptious cream cheese.  So, what’s the closest thing I’ve found in a grocery store to a real New York-style bagel?  Ray’s New York Sesame Big Boiled Bagel Shop Bagels.  They score (brace yourself) a 3 on the NuVal scale.  Ugh, I know.  So, what’s in my freezer now?  Much higher scoring bagels, such as Thomas’ Better Start Light with 8G of Fiber Multi Grain.  They score a 42  on the NuVal scale.  Or Lender’s Multi Grain.  They score s 37.  Big difference.

New York is also known for wieners.  I am not a hot dog aficionado – at all. But I include these scores here for the curious among you.  Nathan’s Famous Skinless Franks (so New York) score an 8 on the NuVal scale.  Or, you could get what I get for when my kids eat an occasional hot dog:  Hebrew National 97% Fat Free franks:  NuVal score of 20.  Much better.

So, break out your Sinatra CDs everybody, because it’s New York Week here on A Better Bag of Groceries!  Tomorrow, is the big press conference announcing our latest launch and we are all very excited!

Today’s Giveaway

One lucky commenter will win their very own I ♥ New York t-shirt to commemorate NuVal’s launch into the New York Metro area.  All you need to do is leave a comment below guessing the grocery store chain that we are launching in.  (Don’t know any New York-based supermarket chains?  Try Google for answers!)  Your answer does not need to be correct to win.  I will choose one winner at random at 8 am on Wednesday.  Here are a few more clues:

  • I fly into La Guardia airport when I go to this supermarket chain
  • It is near New York City, but not in New York City
  • They have been in business for over 70 years

Remember, you don’t have to be right to win!  So just have fun!  Good luck!

Posted by: Melissa 13 comments

Posted in: Bagels

Tags: , ,

Happiness is a Bagel and Cream Cheese

Monday, February 15, 2010 at 06:50 AM

Every Christmas morning, I have a bagel and cream cheese – a big, yummy Ray’s New York Style Bagel slathered with cream cheese.  It’s my own way of celebrating that I made it through the Christmas season to Christmas Day.  I know – I live on the wild side!  But a big giant bagel really is a splurge. 

I think that bagels are one of the things that got me in a little trouble – especially in college.  There was a great cafe on campus where I would get an onion bagel with herbed cream cheese – probably about three time a week.  Oy!  Back then, bagels had sort of a health halo around them.  People thought they were healthy because, after all, they weren’t doughnuts.  And this was pre-Atkins, so carbs weren’t of a concern.  Now, we know better.

I must confess, I am a bagel snob.  After living and working in Manhattan back in the mid-1990′s, I came to love true New York
Style bagels.  They’re kind of crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside.  I guess it’s something about how they boil them.  As Tina would say, Holy Yum.  So, when I go for a bagel, I go big and I eat a Ray’s New York Style bagel.  Here’s the bad news:  a Ray’s Everything bagel only scores a 4 on the NuVal scale.  That’s right – a 4.  Ouch!  So that’s why this is a once a year kind of thing for me. 

As for the cream cheese, it does a little bit better on the NuVal scale.  Regular Philadelphia Cream Cheese scores a 20.  1/3 less fat cream cheese scores a 22.  Fat-free cream cheese (of which I’m not a fan) scores a 28. Since this is a splurge thing for me, I go for the Regular cream cheese.

Although, the bagel eating is just a once-a-year splurge for me, having them in the house got my kids on a big bagel kick.  They have quickly become fans.  Who can blame them? 

They like to make them look like smiles.

But I worry that I’m giving them a breakfast of nutritious nothingness.  What is a guilt-ridden Mom to do?  Look to NuVal for a little bit of guidance, of course!  So, I did some research and found that Lender’s Whole Grain Bagels score a 37 on the NuVal scale.  That’s a huge improvement from a 4!  Lender’s bagels may not have that authentic New York kind of taste to them, but my kids have never been to Manhattan, so they won’t know the difference.

Now, all I need is for my beloved Ray’s to come out with a whole grain version.  I wonder how it would score?  Time will tell!

Question of the Day

What is your once a year splurge?

Posted by: Melissa 11 comments

Posted in: Bagels

Tags: ,