Monday, March 28, 2011 at 07:21 AM
This week, I am in a surpise location. It’s sort of like Where in the World is Matt Lauer – and stay tuned because you will find out just where I am by the end of the week. Not to worry – the blog will keep going. There is still a Trade-Up Tuesday Giveaway tomorrow and I’ve recruited some friends to help me out. Today, I am honored to bring you the esteemed Miss Alicia Brown, MS, RD, LD and winner of 2009′s Registered Young Dietitian of the Year Award. Alicia is Health and Wellness Marketing Manager for the DFW area Market Street stores at United Texas. “DFW” is “Dallas Fort Worth” for those of you who don’t speak Texas and Alicia does a phenomonal job for them. By the way, she won’t be a “Miss” for much longer – she is getting ready for her wedding this coming October! Without further ado, I hand the keyboard over to Alicia…
Did you know March is National Frozen Foods Month AND National Nutrition Month? When most people think of frozen foods ice cream, pizza and frozen meals are listed as the top frosty finds. Can frozen foods and nutrition meet in the freezer section without a frozen standstill? I was determined to prove it true. So, just as any frequent shopper does, I grabbed my warmest jacket and headed to the frozen foods aisle at Market Street.
I was on a mission to find not just good nutrition products but great products. Thank goodness for the NuVal system we have in place at Market Street, I didn’t have to spend half an hour reading food labels. I was able to actually see the overall NuVal score just looking through the door (no frozen fingers for me).
The first product that jumped out at me was the frozen hashbrowns. Did you know they receive a NuVal score of 91?! When you compare to the fresh potato which scores a 93, this is a pretty great find. Now you wonder “how can hashbrowns score a 91? Aren’t they fried in oil?” Ahh but the OreIda Frozen Hashbrowns are just shredded potato. It’s how you prepare them that counts. Instead of frying them, how about baking them? Convenient and better for you.
Strolling a little further down the aisle I saw Alexia Sweet Potato Fries. With a NuVal score of 49, these make a great Trade Up from the frozen pre-fried French fries. The family doesn’t have to do with out their beloved French fries! In fact, some kids like the sweet potato fries better than the original.
Moving swiftly to the next aisle (to avoid the frost bite) I run across the frozen vegetables. I don’t think I need to convince you that frozen vegetables are a great way to get good nutrition at a lower cost and added convenience. But one little bag you may not have noticed is the Stahlbush Diced Sweet Potatoes. Considering a fresh sweet potato gets a NuVal score of 96, these hit the bullseye with the same score. I love to bake these or add them to soups. The best part, the only ingredient is: Sweet Potatoes.
One area of frozen foods that is often overlooked is the frozen breads. Most of us are accustomed to buying bread on the bread aisle. If we jump over from the bread aisle to the freezer cas we find a breat with a NuVal score of 93. This is one of my favorite hidden hits. When the traditional bread aisle only brings in a top bread score in the 40′s this is a goldmine. Why is Food for Life Bran For Life Bread in the freezer case? There are no preservatives. If it were on the center shelves it would go bad very quickly. So put on your winter gloves, reach in and grab some Bran for Life Bread.
My last tasty find in the frozen foods sections is Blue Bunny’s Sweet Freedom No Sugar Added Fudge Lites. Would you be surprised to know that this is the highest scoring frozen treat? Guess what the score is? How about a NuVal score of 100!! Now I’m sure you are raising an eyebrow but rest assured, I’ve already questioned this product’s score a couple times. But if we look closely at the ingredients we find that the Fudge Lites are made mostly of skim milk. When skim milk gets a NuVal Score of 91, it’s easy to see how the fudge bars have a good foundation to stand on. With a little bit of fiber and the absence of added sugar the score moves up to 100! Now that’s a treat!
Take a look the next time you hit the frozen foods area. If you normally pick up the frozen pizza or some frozen vegetables, peek a few doors down. You may be surprised at the Fantastic Frozen Foods you find.
Have you discoverd a Fantastic Frozen Food? I’d love to hear about it.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Guest Bloggers
Tags: Guest Post, United Texas
Friday, March 4, 2011 at 07:23 AM
So, my sister-in-law is due to have her baby tomorrow. Remember her? She comments here a ton and we threw her a very special baby shower. At the shower, we gave her all sorts of motherly advice. The advice I should have given her? Your child will get sick. It’s not a bad omen – it’s a fact of life. And when it happens, you will have to scramble to figure out alternate plans. Thankfully, Tina Haupert, who also blogs for NuVal, graciously jumped in for me today and took one thing off my plate. Love Tina! I am very excited for her book coming out in May!
Tina
Hi, everyone! Melissa is home taking care of her sick daughter, so I am helping her out with a guest post on her blog. I love it when Melissa writes about her Two Favorite Things on ABBG, so I am taking her lead and blogging about some of my favorite things.
Smoothies
I’ve been on a serious smoothie kick lately. Of course, I love how they taste– they’re smooth, cool, and creamy– but I also love that smoothies are a really nutritious meal or snack if you use ingredents that score high on the NuVal scale. Some of my favorites are frozen bananas (NuVal score: 91), blueberries (NuVal score: 100), ground flaxseed meal (NuVal score: 100), Chobani Non-Fat Plain Greek yogurt (NuVal score: 94), and Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin (NuVal score: 94). The possibilities are endless! Recently, my favorites smoothie recipes are Gingerbread, Banana Bread, and Pumpkin Pie.
iRun Like a Girl Beanie
I run year-round, so I’ve learned a thing or two about how to stay warm while hitting the pavement. On my runs, I layer up my clothing and make sure to cover my hands and head. It might sound weird, but my hat is my favorite part about getting dressed. I’m in love with my performance beanie from iRun Like a Girl. It’s lightweight and sweat-wicking so it doesn’t get itchy and sweaty while I am running. And the best part: it has a hole in the back for my ponytail, so it isn’t mashed again my head while I run. It is a MUST on my winter runs!
Stainless Steal Drinking Straws
If you read my blog, Carrots ‘N’ Cake, you’ve probably seen these Stainless Steal Drinking Strawsjust about every morning in my iced coffee. I LOVE them!! I used to use a plastic straw every morning in my iced coffee and just throw it away. These straws are environmentally-friendly and budget-friendly. You’ll never have to buy a straw again and you’ll help keep all of those plastic straws out of our landfills.
Yoga
Earlier this week, I challenged myself to a month long of regular yoga practice. My goal is to practice yoga for at least 20 minutes three days a week for the rest of the month. I have an intense racing schedule starting this coming weekend and not ending until the second weekend of April, so I want to regularly practice yoga to help keep my body healthy. Yoga is good for the mind, body, and soul.
Question of the Day
If you had written for me today, what would you have put on your list of favorite things?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Guest Bloggers
Tags: Carrots N Cake, Favorite Things, Guest Post, Tina Haupert, Tina Trades Up, Two Favorite Things
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 07:19 AM
Rob Keane is my co-worker and friend. He is responsible for all things PR and Media at NuVal: he’s our spokesperson, our web “editor-in-chief”, our press person, our social media strategist, he does it all. So, when King Kullen launched this week, it made a lot of sense for Rob to jump in and head to the launch while I had some other things I had to do. Since I could not be there in person, I asked Rob if he would give all you ABBG readers a behind the scenes view of the glamorous world of life in PR and media relations. Rob is actually very funny, so if you need a good Friday laugh as you head into your weekend, read on! Take it away, Rob!
I just got back from Long Island, where we had a great launch at King Kullen. It was fantastic to meet all these enthusiastic people and feel their excitement about NuVal.
We arrived the day before the event, getting a quick look at the Commack store, and seeing all the work that was put into getting our scores on King Kullen shelves. Everything from signage to displays to price tags (where most of the scores are found) looked terrific. Then it was off to eat too much at a great restaurant and back to the hotel for some last-minute work before bed.
(By the way, a quick aside—how come we can map the human genome and send picture-taking robots to Mars, but we can’t figure out how to give hotel customers decent Internet access? Seriously? It’s that difficult?)
The next day was the media launch. While these types of events can be a lot of fun, they can also be nerve-wracking. A great deal of hard work went into this event—King Kullen had a terrific setup against the backdrop of their floral department, NuVal visionary Dr. David Katz drove for over two hours to attend and give words of encouragement, and folks from NuVal and King Kullen’s PR firm had been hitting the phones to drum up interest in the media. And there’s always the fact that this was NuVal’s foray into the NY Metro market. But while having an interesting story to tell and hard work certainly help, media coverage is never guaranteed.
The Commack, NY King Kullen store, where we had our media launch
The setup for the media conference, about an hour before the event. In about 40 minutes, this would be standing-room only
About a half hour before the event, any concerns about media attention were forgotten, as reporters from CBS Radio, Newsday and the Long Island Press showed up, as well as camera crews from News 12, TV55, Long Island News Tonight, and FIOS 1 News.
King Kullen’s Joe Brown, Vice President of Sales and Merchandising, is interviewed before the conference
It also helped that dozens of people from King Kullen’s headquarters showed up to lend their support. A lot of positive energy. Even a seemingly minor detail, such as the food that King Kullen served at the event, was done with NuVal in mind.
The refreshment table for the event. But what are those signs above the food? Hmmm…
Why, NuVal scores for the refreshments, of course!
Soon, NuVal visionary Dr. Katz arrived at the store, and soon we were off and running. He quickly engaged the audience, speaking about NuVal with the passion and conviction he’s become known for. One of Dr. Katz’s talents is his ability to talk about anything from macronutrients to biological chemistry and make it accessible to the average listener. Makes me wish he taught biology when I was at college.
Dr. David Katz (middle) arrives at King Kullen
Dr. Katz speaks at the press event. “You can improve your diet and your health one well-informed choice at a time,” he said.
After Dr. Katz’ speech and a quick Q&A session, the event was over, and NuVal was officially launched. Now, King Kullen’s customers have a very powerful tool at their disposal—a system that will guide them to the most nutritious foods on the shelf in an easy, accessible manner.
After the event, Dr. Katz spent time talking with the media…
…and to members of the audience more than an hour after the event’s end.
Dr. Katz frequently talks about the need to stop the flood of rising obesity and heart disease rates, and likens NuVal to a sandbag, part of a barricade that will stop the flood and get our health trends moving in the right direction. Thanks to King Kullen, we have a great partner in helping us all get on the right track for nutrition.
Coming Up Monday on A Better Bag of Groceries
While Rob and Dr. Katz handled the media frenzy out on Long Island, Catherine Katz and I hit the kitchen this week and this recipe that I have for you might just be my all-time Catherine favorite! So, be here Monday to check it out! Have a great weekend everybody!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dr. David Katz, Guest Bloggers, King Kullen
Tags: Dr. David Katz, Guest Post, King Kullen
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 09:03 AM
Today, I turn the keyboard over to Tracey Cullen and Michele Tonner from King Kullen Supermarkets. I have been working with Tracey and Michele since June of last year to develop a partnership and to help them launch NuVal in their supermarket chain on Long Island – and it has truly been a pleasure. Both Tracey and Michele are super-accomplished career and family women who find a little time each day to read A Better Bag of Groceries and I feel so humbled. They have a lot to say about NuVal, so I won’t hold them up! Without further ado, I give you Tracey and Michele!
Michele and Tracey
We are so excited to be guest-bloggers for today’s A Better Bag of Groceries. We both work for King Kullen, a chain with 45 locations on Long Island and Staten Island. After months and months of work (on both our part and NuVal’s), it’s finally here – NuVal is in King Kullen! All of our customers get to benefit from this easy-to-understand scoring system. The higher the score, the better the nutrition – how easy is that?
We met Melissa and a few of her NuVal colleagues last year when they came to visit King Kullen, and have both have been avid followers of this blog ever since. We are both interested in nutrition, albeit in different capacities. Michele has both a professional interest (she has her Masters in Nutrition) and a personal interest (she is looking to make the most nutritious decisions for herself, her husband, and their two-year old daughter). In addition to her position with King Kullen, Tracey is pursuing her executive MBA, which is a full-time endeavor. Between working full time and going to school full time, and traveling quite a bit to do both, Tracey has less time to cook these days, but whether selecting fresh vegetables and meat, frozen meals, or something in between, she is also looking to make more nutritious decisions for her family.
We could not be more excited for NuVal’s launch at all 45 King Kullen locations this week. King Kullen is America’s first supermarket (Don’t believe us? Check with the Smithsonian!). Now, another first – King Kullen is the first retailer in our region to provide NuVal scores to our customers. All of our customers that are interested in nutrition can now “trade up” throughout the entire store. Over 13,000 items in our stores have been scored, with new scores come out monthly. Each month, we can’t wait to see which items have been added to the file. We usually spend a few minutes each morning talking about NuVal, but when new scores are reported, we have a field day!
We have also really enjoyed working on the customer literature and artwork for our stores. We used some material provided by NuVal, but we had a lot of fun creating new and different (and very colorful!) marketing materials, in our efforts to fully educate our customers and employees about NuVal.
Some of your blog readers have been following NuVal longer than we have, but here are some things we have encountered that may be interesting to readers of this blog, as well as other retailers that are considering implementing NuVal:
- We have made our own personal trade-ups:
- Michele: When conducting an in-store training for about 50 employees at our store in Huntington Station last month, Tracey spoke about the scores for boneless chicken and shrimp. I listened to Tracey discuss the scores and the reasons for the score difference (shrimp has lower energy density, better fat profile, and omega-3 fatty acids). When we finished the training, I did my grocery shopping for the evening. Instead of buying chicken as planned, I instead bought shrimp. Shrimp has now become a more regular component of our family’s diet.
- Tracey: My husband and I equally enjoy arugula and spinach salads. Once I started learning about NuVal scores, I realized there was an opportunity for a big trade-up; arugula scores an 82, while spinach scores 100! So now, I only buy spinach (even if arugula is on sale!).
- Soda: There is actually a soda that scores a 26! Has anyone tried Diet Cherry 7-Up? It tastes great, and if you are a fan of diet soda, it’s a great trade up from the other diet sodas, which generally score a 15. Melissa can correct us, but we suspect it gets its boost from Vitamin E. (Melissa’s Note: I checked with our dietitians here and Michele and Tracey are right about the Vitamin E!)
- Yogurt: This is a confusing aisle for many shoppers. Low-fat, reduced fat, fruit on the bottom, add-in granola, Greek… What to pick? Who knows, and for many people, they just default to whichever sounds healthy and is on sale that week. NuVal makes choosing yogurt one hundred times easier (no exaggeration). And speaking of 100, did you know there’s a yogurt that scores 100? And it’s not a Greek yogurt. Fiber One yogurts all score 100, and they taste great and are filling.
Yogurt is an aisle where there is so much variation, and so much room to trade up and still get a tasty yogurt. We should admit, there were some surprises for us here; for example, while the plain Greek yogurts are high-scoring (usually in the 90s), once you add fruit or flavoring in, there is a big dip in the NuVal score.
- Organics: As most of you already know, an organic item doesn’t get a boost just for being organic; whether or not an item is organic has no effect on its NuVal score.
- For us, the most challenging part of the NuVal roll-out is ensuring that our employees and customers understand that it’s impossible to shop and only purchase items scoring 90 or higher. Scoring is from 1-100, but you should not compare across categories. In our meat department, many items score in the high 20s and low 30s. These are good scores for that category, and finding 100 is just not possible. When shopping for cookies, look at cookies, and don’t compare cookie scores to produce scores or soup scores.
It’s also time to admit that we both have a NuVal-related addiction. Unfortunately, it’s getting worse, not better… Where better to admit it than here, in a public forum. We are both addicted to the “Nutrition by the Numbers” game on NuVal’s website. Not only are we both addicted, but we are extremely competitive about our scores with each other, and other King Kullen employees. Who’s checked out this game, and what’s your best score? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to see!
Thanks for reading our blog posting. Aside from your comments about the Nutrition by the Numbers game, we’d also love to hear from those who have seen NuVal in King Kullen. Don’t forget to visit us at http://www.facebook.com/kingkullengrocery, or email us at nuval@kingkullen.com.
- Tracey and Michele
Question of the Day
Have you tried to play Nutrition By the Numbers? What’s your best score? Tracey and Michele would love to know!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Guest Bloggers, King Kullen
Tags: Guest Post, King Kullen
Monday, May 24, 2010 at 06:57 AM
Do you remember a few weeks ago when I gave away some high-scoring cookies and chocolate on Trade-Up Tuesday? Well, the winner was this fabulous Mom, Stephanie. I always choose my winners at random (usually, I ask the kids to pick a number between 1 and total number of comments) so I never know who the winner is. Turns out, Stephanie shops at Hy-Vee where NuVal scores are on store shelves. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind bringing her camera along on her next shopping trip and she did! She also wrote this great guest post. Stephanie, you have a future in blogging!!
So, without further ado, I bring you Stephanie…
Stephanie and Her Kids on Mother's Day
Voting for Groceries
I’m that annoying lady at the produce section picking through the fresh items until I’ve found just the right candidate…whether its shaking, plucking, tapping, sniffing, hand-weighing, or rejecting items with brown spots…you better believe I end up voting for the best “candidates”. I have been known to block aisles while intensely reading labels scouring for pesky ingredients, calorie content, fat content, protein levels, sodium levels, and whatever else I can find that might sway my “vote.”
For me, grocery shopping IS somewhat like voting. Each item on my list usually has several options, and as the mother of three kids whom I believe deserve the best, I owe it to them to ensure I’m making the most nutritionally informed decisions when I vote (purchase). Needless to say, “vote-shopping” with three kids in tow can definitely take its time!!
Fortunately for my children who would rather be eating the items I’ve voted for, my local grocery store Hy-Vee has teamed up with Nu-Val in order to provide me with a nutritional grade (1-100) for various products that gets me in and out of my store quicker!
During my latest shopping excursion I took a few snap shots that highlight how easy Nu-Val scores have made some various “trade-ups” to a better candidate!
Lettuce
We love salads! I grew up on iceberg lettuce and have never had a problem with eating any other types of lettuce, but haven’t been able to ignore that the iceberg variety is generally cheaper. On my shopping trip I noticed a pretty big difference between the Nu-Val score for a regular head of iceberg lettuce (82) compared with the organic green and red leaf lettuces (100). I also noticed a pretty big difference in the price tags too so that made voting complicated for this mom on a budget. Fortunately, as I made my way through the lettuce section, I found a compromise!
Iceberg Lettuce: 82
Organic Red Leaf Lettuce: 100
Green Leaf Lettuce: 100
Pineapple
Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple was on the menu for the week which meant I needed some juicy pineapple! I would normally have purchased the canned variety because it makes preparation so much easier, but not after comparing Nu-Val scores! With 74 additional points, I think I’ll sacrifice some time and cut up a fresh one myself!
Canned Pineapple: 25
Fresh Pineapple: 96
Bread
As you can imagine, bread is consumed in mass quantities in my household, and while Wonder Bread can be found cheap, it also makes you wonder what they put in that stuff! One quick glance at various Nu-Val scores and I knew I had three really decent candidates. I can’t always afford to choose the product with the highest score (what can I say…some candidates sway me with a good sales price!) but at least with the Nu-Val scores I know which breads to stay away from!
Nature's Pride: 33
Arnold's Soft Family 100% Wheat: 37
Sara Lee Multigrain: 42
Applesauce
Who knew comparing apples to apples really might be a worthy debate? The Nu-Val scores on these two candidates of applesauce that were right by one another on the shelves goes to show that there are healthier versions of even the healthiest foods! The obvious vote here is the applesauce on the right. (30 vs. 8!!!!) I love getting naturally unsweetened applesauce and then adding our own toppings like berries, cinnamon, almonds or walnuts for additional flavor!
2 Different Musselman's, 2 Different Scores
Macaroni & Cheese
Like most children, mine really enjoy mac n cheese. My son particularly wanted to “vote” for the product featuring one of his favorite superheroes, Spiderman, but I’ve long abandoned the days where I’d vote for a product based on the gimmick on the box. I switched over to making my own healthier version of macaroni and cheese and with the implementation of what my kids call funky noodles I don’t feel bad for abandoning Spidey and his whopping score of 5! After researching several pasta candidates that were fun-shaped, Nu-Val scores once again helped me make a better purchase vote.
Spidey Mac & Cheese: 5
Barilla Plus Rotini: 91
Hy-Vee Rigatoni: 57
I’m so glad that Hy-Vee has implemented Nu-Val scores! It certainly makes my shopping voting experience so much easier!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Guest Bloggers
Tags: Guest Post, Hy-vee
