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.
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.
Sylvia Geiger, MS, RD, CD is a Community Nutritionist who works for Price Chopper Supermarkets in the beautiful state of Vermont. As part of her job educating Price Chopper’s customers about healthy living, she writes for Price Chopper’s blog, Chopper Shopper Chatter. Price Chopper was the first supermarket company in the nation to implement NuVal chain-wide, so they have had NuVal scores on their store shelves for over 2 1/2 years now! Sylvia’s posts (like mine) often involve great tips for using NuVal to make nutritious decisions while shopping and cooking. Sylvia has this great advice for Celebrating Mother’s Day. So, without further ado, I turn the keyboard over to Sylvia!
Flowers, breakfast in bed, or dinner at her favorite restaurant are ways we celebrate our mothers and show them our love.
But this year let’s show our appreciation for mom by supporting her in her efforts to care for her own health. In their role as caregivers, moms are likely to put their own health on the back burner or even at risk in order to care and provide for their loved ones. This can have serious consequences—especially for their heart. We’ve long known that women are just as likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease (heart attack & stroke) as men but somehow the myth prevails that women don’t need to actively work towards preventing heart disease. Nothing could be further from the truth. Women of any age will benefit from exercise, diet and lifestyle choices that promote heart health.
Let’s show mom how much we love her by helping take some positive steps towards eating for a healthy heart.
Heart-healthy eating means selecting plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes & beans, lean meats & fish and low-fat dairy foods everyday.
Use the NuVal shelf tags scores to find foods with the highest NuVal numbers—these foods will be more heart healthy. The American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugars, sodium, cholesterol, and saturated & trans fat—and all of these undesirables lower the NuVal scores for a food.
Look for whole grain breads, crackers, rice, and cereals. Again, the higher NuVal score, the better for your heart. These foods will have more fiber, a lower Glycemic Index and less sodium and added sugars.
Aim for eating fish twice a week and choose lean meats & poultry.
This week, I was out at Price Chopper, meeting and talking with customers with my friend and colleague Ellie Wilson, RD. We were in the salty snack aisle, admiring Price Chopper’s beautiful new shelf tags and showing customers how to trade up for better nutrition when a product caught my eye. Wise Reduced Fat White Cheddar Popcorn. It had a NuVal score of 25.
OK, why was this oh-so-exciting to me? Well, my kids are Smartfood fanatics. They love the stuff. But regular Smartfood only scores an 11 on the NuVal scale. That’s below the average score of 15 for other salty snacks – and way below the average score of 21 for popcorn. (I guess it depends if you consider Smartfood a salty snack or popcorn!) In any event, my kids love Smartfood, so sometimes I buy them them the Reduced Fat version, which scores a 19.
I was curious about this Wise product with a score of 25. So, I did what any other Grocery Geek Mom would do. I bought a bag of each and brought them home and had a little taste test!
So, as you saw, my kids found that they tasted exactly the same. I can tell you that Audrey, our afternoon sitter, whose voice you can hear on the video, felt that the Wise brand was a little less salty. My husband seconded that opinion. I think adult taste buds are a little more sophisticated! But if my kids think that these two products taste exactly the same, why not trade up to the higher-scoring brand? A little less salt is good for everyone. Thanks to Wise for making a wise product. I hope I can find these on a store shelf close to my home!
Longtime readers of A Better Bag of Groceries know that I turned the big 4-0 this year. And one way that I chose to “celebrate” this milestone was to take some time to focus on some real people that I know who are also marking this important birthday this year. I’m not talking about Kelly Ripa or Matt Damon or Tina Fey (who all probably have access to personal trainers, chefs, etc who can help keep them looking their fittest and finest as they blow out 40 candles on their cake). Rather, I wanted to highlight my real friends who are proving that 40 is the new 30 – and you can be Forty and Fabulous!
Today’s Fit Friend at 40 is Shannon.
Shannon at my house - Summer of 2008
Shannon is my High School BFF and she is a huge NuVal fan who shops at the beautiful brand new Price Chopper store in Shrewsbury, MA. Shannon blew out her 40 candles in August and to celebrate, this mother of two school-age boys who works full-time managing a claims department for a large insurance company, decided to participate in a triathlon.
Shannon and her boys after finishing the SheRox Tri
Pretty impressive for this former cheerleader (not high school athlete) who I used to Jazzercize with (really!) in the late 1980s! She also managed to do it while buying and selling a house and starting a new job! Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Shannon took some time to answer some of my burning questions. If you thought I was organized, just wait until you read what Shannon has to say!
Melissa: You are a mom to two very active school-age boys – and you’ve worked full time since they were born! Wow! What tips do you have for other moms who work full-time, part-time or in the home for keeping it all together?
Shannon: I’m not really sure I always keep it together. I try to be as organized as possible. Sundays, unfortunately, are not a day of rest but more of a planning day. I make all of our dinners for the week on Sunday so they’re ready to be heated/cooked when we get home from work. I love my crockpot and try to find new recipes. It’s some prep in the morning and instant dinner when you come home. I’ll explain my meal system in detail below.
I also make 10 salads on Sunday for lunch for my husband and me. I store them in individual, seal-tight containers to grab and go a healthy lunch. Leftovers or a lean protein are added to the salads.
Once the meals are made, I list the meals, activities and lunches on the master calendar for the week.
As much as I give my husband a lot of grief about how he would be lost without me, this plan would not be successful without his execution. He gets the kids to and from school and gets dinner on the table. He is a large part of this successful operation.
Melissa: You competed in a triathlon this year. How did you manage to train for such an event with your schedule?
Shannon: The triathlon idea was my ‘turning 40 freakout’. I wanted a physical challenge. I knew I did not have the passion to train for a marathon or ½ marathon. I am so jealous of people who have that dedication. I wish I had it. The triathlon appealed to me because the training was varied – swimming, biking and running.
I decided to do it when I turned 39 (yes! I am a planner!) but did not tell anyone in case I chickened out. The running was easy. I run a few 5Ks around town so the 5K run was not intimidating. I started spinning at our local Y to train for the 12 mile bike. My spin instructor is the head mentor for the She-Rox Tri and was a great trainer!
Then…there was the swim….I am not a swimmer. The first time I got in the pool, I could only go 2 laps without being winded. That ½ mile swim was going to be long! I just kept at it once or twice a week and got up to 50 laps. The swim is still my least favorite aspect of the tri, but I can do it.
Training was challenging. It became more challenging last spring when I had to do it while buying/selling a house, getting a new job, moving and buying a new car!!! I did all this plus the triathlon within a 2 month timeframe!!! I just did it. It was in the routine and I could not turn back. Looking back, it probably helped my stress management.
Melissa: You are a Triathlon Mom, and while you (like me!) were a cheerleader and active, you were not a super athlete in high school (I hope you don’t mind me saying that). Now, you run and you are probably fitter than many of the moms around you. Tell me about your Fitness Journey.
Shannon: I was a late arrival to the athletic foray. Thank you so much for reminder of the ‘cheerleader days’! Back then, being an athlete wasn’t as accepted as it is today. I exercised sporadically in my 20s. I thought I was fit but then did my 1st 5K and swore I would never do one again! My exercise habit kicked in my early 30s after I had my first kid and still had 35 lbs of baby weight on his first birthday! I joined Weight Watchers and lost that weight!! I transferred to my company’s home office that had an on-site gym. With a toddler, I had no time. I saw co-workers exercising at lunch. I poo-pooed the sweating at lunch thing but then tried it. The rest is history. My routine grew from there.
When I transferred again a couple of years later to our Wellesley, MA office, I remember watching the Boston Marathon on TV and turned my walk/jog into a run. That started my 2-3 time a week run.
My current routine is spin 2Xs a week (bright and early at 5:45 AM!), running twice a week (at the office at lunch), 2 days of strength training (at lunch on the spin days) and one weekend workout – elliptical, group fitness or swim.
Melissa: You’ve told me before that you do your own “Dream Dinners”. Is Meal Planning a key to your organization? What are some of your tricks?
Shannon: As I mentioned above, I do all my meal prep/cooking on Sunday. This prep ensures that we are all able to eat together at least a few nights a week. With 2 boys and their activities, homework, etc, it can be very hectic and without meals ready to go, we’d be doing lots of pizza and drive-thrus.
I try to cook a big meal on Sunday that we can have another night during the week. I also cook another three meals for the week. I double and freeze when I can. I also try to sneak in extra veggies and lower fat options where I can. I’m not as good as Melissa and her fabulous friends but I try….That’s why I love the NuVal System!!
Melissa: What do you think of NuVal? What trade-Ups have you made since learning about NuVal?
Shannon: We have a new Price Chopper in our town. I love walking around there and checking out the NuVal scores. It is really eye opening – a real learning experience! My ‘best’ trade ups have been all-natural peanut butter. I used to buy reduced fat peanut butter thinking I was being ‘healthy’ before I read about it on Trade-Up Tuesdays. I also traded up my cereal from Cornflakes with bananas to Kashi Go-Lean. Pasta and OJ are a few more of my trade-ups. I’m working on the Greek Yogurt trade up right now. I really believe it’s about small changes that become habits of a lifetime!!!
Yesterday’s post was kind of like that Seinfeld episode when Jerry and George pitched their “show about Nothing” to NBC. I wrote about coffee – which we’re not scoring at NuVal. I didn’t really have a trade-up story to tell. It was a post about Nothing. But in the end, it sparked some great comments and questions from so many A Better Bag of Groceries readers.
One of my favorites came from Carolyn C:
Carolyn C with two of her three boys
“I would love to see how the generic label foods rate from grocery stores vs. the brand name foods. We often buy the generic food labels (because of cost), and I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’d love to know what we are eating!”
Well, Carolyn you are not alone! According to the National Grocers Association Consumer Survey Report for 2010, 52% of shoppers reported that they buy store brands instead of national brands.
Just for the record, in the grocery biz’, we call store brand products “Private Label”. It sounds so secretive, doesn’t it?
Anyway, according to a 2009 study by A.C. Nielsen, U.S. private label sales were up 7.4% over the previous year. So, people are watching their budgets.
Unfortunately, Carolyn, my answer to you is kind of lame. The answer is, “It depends.” Sometimes, the private label product scores higher than the national brand, sometimes lower, and sometimes the same. One thing that I can tell you, though, is that the retailers who decide to implement NuVal in their stores are taking a very careful look at their private label products. If they score lower than the national brand, they are going out and reformulating their recipes so that they score equal to or better than the national brand.
Check out this pasta sauce example from Price Chopper:
You could buy Classico sauce with a score of 37…
or the Price Chopper brand, with a score of 81.
And look at the difference in price! You would pay 70 cents less for the product that has much better nutrition! I bought that Price Chopper marinara sauce and is was delicious!
Now, I know that many A Better Bag of Groceries readers are not so lucky as to have a grocery store near them that has NuVal on the store shelves. So, while you can learn a lot about National Brands here on my blog or on Trading Up Downtown, you are probably wondering how your Stop & Shop Nature’s Promise Whole Wheat Penne scores or how your Albertson’s 100% Natural Oats and Honey Cereal scores. Unfortunately, you won’t know how those Private Label products score until your store decides to implement NuVal.
I know many ABBGreaders are eagerly awaiting the day when their local store will implement NuVal. To speed things up, you can Suggest a Store on the NuVal website, talk to your local store manager, or get in contact with your retailer through their website.
In the meantime, if you are lucky enough to shop in one of the retailers that currently has NuVal scores on shelf (Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Meijer, United Texas Markets, Kroger- Lexington, KY), please email me and/or send pictures about the stories in the scores that you are seeing.
NuVal Update:
Shoppers in Wisconsin get ready to celebrate. NuVal is coming to Skogen’s Festival Foods! Read about it in Supermarket News here. You’ll see scores on shelf in August!
There are also several other retailers who have recently signed on with NuVal. I’m just not allowed to tell you who they are yet. Stay tuned!
Starbucks Giveaway Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #15 Lindsay from TheKetchupDiaries.com. You’ve won a nice bag of Starbucks coffee. Send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Hello Bloggies! It’s Trade-Up Tuesday a very popular day here on A Better Bag of Groceries where I blog about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal and I give away free stuff to one lucky reader.
Today’s GiveAway was inspired by my recent trip to Price Chopper. Whenever I have the opportunity to visit one of the retailers who has NuVal scores on shelf (Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Meijer, United Texas and Kroger of Lexington, KY), I always take some time to roam the aisles and look for interesting products that have high NuVal scores. I always find something new and this most recent trip was no exception.
The Lucky Winner who wins this GiveAway will have all the makings of a lovely dinner, from appetizer to dessert.
First, the Lucky Winner will begin with tasty bruschetta.
Just spoon this Central Market Classics (that’s Price Chopper’s specialty store brand) Bruschetta on to some crusty bread and you are in business. Note that high score of 52!
Next, Lucky Winner will enjoy a delicious main course of chicken simmered in Central Market Classics Green Olive Tapenade (NuVal score of 57) and served over Central Market Classics Whole Wheat Spaghetti (NuVal score of 89).
This recipe idea comes from Price Chopper’s own Bill Drake, Merchandising Program Specialist. Thanks, Bill!
I suggest a nice, crisp green salad to round out your main meal.
In keeping with the spicy nature of this meal, Lucky Winner will finish out the evening with Lindt’s Chili Dark Chocolate which gets a NuVal score of 14. I recommend pairing it with some sliced fresh fruit to balance out your taste buds.
So, there you have it! While Lucky Winner will have to supply the crusty bread, chicken, salad greens and fresh fruit (those items would not travel through the US Mail so well), he or she will enjoy a delicious and high-scoring meal.
How to Enter:
Leave a comment telling me your favorite three-course meal (appetizer, main course, and dessert). Leave a 2nd comment with a surprising or interesting NuVal score (you can find some on this blog, on Trading Up Downtown, or on the NuVal site) and you will be entered twice! The Lucky Winner will be drawn at random at 10 am EDT Wednesday. Good Luck!
The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System gives nutritional guidance to consumers frustrated with complicated nutrition labels and misleading packaging promises. Under NuVal, all foods and beverages are rated on a scale between 1 to 100. The higher the score, the higher the overall nutrition.
Awards
A Better Bag of Groceries was recently named by Medical Assistant Colleges as a Top 50 Blog for Understanding and Preventing Childhood Obesity. Hooray!
