• 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.

  • Sign up for email updates here!

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

  • Contact Me

    I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email me.

    You can also follow me on Twitter @MelisaNutrition and my RSS feed.

  • 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.

Guest Post: Carrie and Andrea from Big Y

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 08:17 AM

As part of my job with NuVal, I get to work with registered dietitians at a whole bunch of different supermarkets.  Carrie and Andrea are two amazing ladies with incredible energy and Big Y is very lucky to have them on board!  They are always spreading the word about NuVal – on TV, on the radio, in schools, even on ginormous billboards overlooking the Massachusetts Turnpike.  I am still in my surprise location this week – so Carrie and Andrea jumped in and offered one of their recipes for today’s blog post.

 

Carrie Taylor and Andrea Samson

Have a favorite recipe or a family recipe that has been passed down throughout the generations that you know isn’t quite the healthiest one…but you would love to try a “healthier” version? Join Andrea and I as we collaborate with the Morning Show on Lite 100.5 WRCH for our new program “Trade Up to Smack Down”.

We provide tips on ways to use the NuVal™ Scoring System to trade up to more nutritious ingredients for use in your recipes.

For example, love fajitas?

Trade up that plain wheat tortilla (NuVal™ Score of 3) for a multi grain tortilla (NuVal™ Score of- 47), full fat sour cream (NuVal™ Score- 27) to fat free sour cream (NuVal™ Score- 33), four cheese Mexican cheese (NuVal™ Score- 20) to reduced fat cheddar cheese (NuVal™ Score- 23) and mix up the protein.

iStock image purchased by Big Y

Trade up from beef (average NuVal™ Score- 30) fajitas to boneless, skinless chicken breast (NuVal™ Score- 39), turkey breast (NuVal™ Score- 48), shrimp (NuVal™ Score- 75), tilapia (NuVal™ Score- 82), salmon (NuVal™ Score- 87), tofu (average NuVal™ Score- 49) or fresh vegetables (average NuVal™ Score- 96) and beans (average NuVal™ Score- 55).

Don’t forget to season everything yourself with dried and fresh herbs and a squeeze of lime in lieu of using fajita seasoning mix that is loaded with sodium!

Examples like this and more are discussed on-air on 100.5 FM in the Hartford, CT listening area, as well as online on the WRCH webpage for the Big Y® Trade Up to Smack Down program. The webpage includes tips, videos shot of the Living Well Eating Smart Wellness Team showing examples on ways to trade up breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner as well as customer questions and comments about ways NuVal™ Scores can be used to trade up their favorite recipes and dishes.

Visit the Trade Up to Smack Down  page to learn more!

Authors:

Carrie Taylor and Andrea Samson are the registered dietitians for the Living Well Eating Smart program at Big Y Foods. Have a nutrition question? Visit their webpage at www.bigy.com/lwes or e-mail livingwell@bigy.com.

Living Well Eating Smart

Promote Your Page Too

Yesterday’s Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Commenter #20 Jordan, you’ve won yesterday’s Shelf-Stable Kids’ Snacks giveaway!  Please send Melissa an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address so that she can can mail your prize out to you.  Thanks to everyone who entered.

Posted by: Melissa 1 comment

Posted in: Big Y, Guest Bloggers

Tags: ,

Oh Happy Day!!

Monday, September 13, 2010 at 07:18 AM

I know Mondays can be tough, but I love this Monday September 13th for 3 reasons:

  1. My daughter starts Kindergarten today! 
  2. My husband and I celebrate 13 years of wedded bliss today!
  3. Big Y is officially launched and I can finally shop NuVal scores in a grocery store near my home today!

Oh happy day!  Can you tell that I love my job?  NuVal scores in a grocery store near me rank right up there with my wedding anniversary.  :-)

But seriously, all of us who work at NuVal – our offices are located in Braintree, Massachusetts – are having a blast now that we have Big Y launched.  We’ve worked so hard these last two-and-a-half years to get this brand new concept of NuVal from just a concept to the grocery store shelf and it really is awesome to have it close to home.

Last week, I visited a store in Holden, MA where they were hanging signs in preparation for the Big Launch.

They were beautiful!

The signs in produce looked great too.

And I loved how the NuVal score looked in Seafood.

I’m very happy for Big Y and everyone there who has worked so hard to make their NuVal launch a reality.  Big Y just announced last week that they are acquring seven A&P supermarkets in Connecticut – so there will be even more supermarkets with NuVal scores on shelf.  Woo hoo!

What a happy day this is.  My sister has so graciously offered to babysit tonight.  What will my husband and I do to celebrate our anniversary?  Go grocery shopping at the Walpole Big Y?  :-)

Posted by: Melissa 7 comments

Posted in: Big Y

Tags:

And the Mystery Market is….

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 06:58 AM

Big Y!!! 

Yes, I know.  I’ve been teasing you for far too long.  The newest supermarket to put NuVal scores on their shelves is none other than Big Y, headquartered in Springfield, MA.

I have been just dying to divulge this secret to all of you.  We have been working on this launch for months now, but we had to keep it top secret.  Finally, on Monday, Big Y held a press conference announcing that they will launch NuVal on September 6th.  I headed out to the press conference along with some of my NuVal colleagues. 

When we arrived, the people at Big Y had really decked out their headquarters NuVal-style.  It was amazing to see all of the beautiful signs, pamphlets and marketing pieces the team at Big Y had created.  They have done a super job.

Dr. David Katz gave an outstanding presentation to all of Big Y’s Store Directors.  He always wows the crowd!  Here he is with Big Y’s Registered Dietitians, Andrea Samson and Carrie Taylor.

If you are in the Big Y area, you might see Carrie on TV or hear Carrie, Andrea and Dr. Katz on the radio talking about NuVal.  Very cool!

After the Store Director Presentation, we headed back up the stairs to Big Y’s beautiful atrium to meet members of the press.  Television, radio and newspaper reporters were there to hear Dr. Katz and Big Y’s CEO, Charlie D’Amour announce the big NuVal launch. 

Dr. Katz talked about how thrilled he is to finally have a supermarket close to his home in Connecticut with NuVal scores on shelf.  Me too!  There is a Big Y in Walpole, MA – just about a 15 minute drive from my house – and so worth the trip!

Yesterday’s Giveaway

Congratulations to Commenter #34, Paul W!  While you didn’t guess Big Y, Paul, you are the winner of the Gluten-Free Giveaway.  Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address so that I can send your prize to you.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  I loved reading your guesses!

Posted by: Melissa 8 comments

Posted in: Big Y

Tags: