Childhood obesity. It’s a phrase referenced in the media constantly. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years, and in 2010, more than one-third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.1-2

These statistics, and the increase in public awareness of childhood obesity, make it more important than ever to take the time to teach kids how to cook healthy meals for themselves and their families. ShopRite supermarkets took matters into their own hands last month, emphasizing the role of their in-store dietitians.

ShopRite retail dietitians rolled out programming for Kids Cook Monday, a public health initiative begun by the non-profit Monday Campaigns. “The Kids Cook Monday program is a natural fit for what our dietitian team is already doing within the store, both in store and within their local communities. We believe that setting children up with healthy behaviors and skills provides them with them with a strong foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating,” said Melanie Dwornik, Wakefern’s retail dietitian supervisor, in a Supermarket News article.3

During the free, in-store events, retail dietitians convey their messages through interactive demonstrations and full cooking classes with a new recipe highlighted each month, helping kids and their parents learn how to prepare healthier meals. ShopRite plans to hold Kids Cook Monday events at least once a month in all stores, and the frequency in each store might vary depending on local demand.

As ShopRite continues their program, other retailers should take note!

1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. Journal of the American Medical Association 2012;307(5):483-490.
2. National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2011: With Special Features on Socioeconomic Status and Health. Hyattsville, MD; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2012.
3. Liz Webber. Shoprite Dietitians Teach Kids Healthy Cooking. Accessed May 6, 2013. http://supermarketnews.com/health-amp-wellness/shoprite-dietitians-teach-kids-healthy-cooking

Whether it’s due to the economy or to the desire to eat healthier and know where our food is coming from – or both – there has been a definite shift from eating out and making unhealthy choices, to cooking at home and making a conscientious effort to select nutritious foods. In fact, over the past several years, consumers have been eating at home more and more. Last year alone, there was a 72% increase in cooking at home over the previous year. And as consumers cook more, they are looking for new flavors and ways to add fruits and vegetables to meals. These are just some of the recent shifts that are impacting consumer food choices and will continue to affect the food industry. The below article, “Top 10 Food Trends” from the April issue of Food Technology takes a deeper look at the changes and how they are shaping current food trends. Click here to read the full article.

Grocery stores and retailers recognize in-store registered dietitians as an opportunity to help their shoppers sort through the clutter of nutrition labels and product claims, and to connect with their shoppers on a personal level. “American consumers are connecting health and wellness to their diets,” said Robert Vosburgh, group editor of Supermarket News, a weekly trade magazine for the food industry in a recent article “Meet the Supermarket Dietitian” posted on USNews.com1.

According to the USNews.com article1, among the Food Marketing Institute association’s 1,500 food retailers and wholesalers, 85 percent employ dietitians at the corporate level, half employ dietitians on a regional level, and 33 percent of all stores boast an on-site dietitian. This makes sense since the 2012 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends showed that 78% of shoppers report interest in reading nutrition labels, paying more for organic products, or looking for locally sourced products.2

As dietitians increase their roles and numbers in-store, it will be important for retailers to measure the sales of healthier items and the return on investment for the store. The USNews.com article1 refers to an uptick in sales around certain healthy promotions in Hy-Vee, and the customer loyalty associated with having a dietitian to help make your purchase decisions a little less complicated.

As health and wellness becomes more of a priority among consumers, it is valuable for the consumer to have someone in-store, explaining to them the health and nutrition benefits of the various products on the shelves as they make their purchasing decision.

1 USNews.com. “Meet the Supermarket Dietitian”. Accessed March 21, 2013: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2013/03/07/meet-the-supermarket-dietitian?page=2
2 ICN-Net.com. U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2012 Executive Summary. Accessed March 21, 2013. http://www.icn-net.com/docs/12086_FMIN_Trends2012_v5.pdf

By Jenna A. Bell, PhD, RD

When you think about all the healthy changes you’d like to make to your diet, it may seem overwhelming. So overwhelming that you may consider avoiding a change all together. To give you some help, Pollock Communications surveyed the nutrition experts – Registered Dietitians – in their annual Nutrition Trends Survey for 2013. Pollock asked dietitians what behavior change would have the biggest impact on improving the American diet. The top answer may not be a surprise to you…but the options that tied for number two may be enlightening.

Eat More…

In the survey of 200 dietitians, “eat more fruits and vegetables” was the top response to the questions: what behavior change would have the biggest impact. We all know this is true. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourages us to increase our fruit and vegetable intake and MyPlate says to fill half your plate with fruits and veggies. For more ideas to improve your intake and make this behavior change, visit: www.ChooseMyPlate.gov or Fruits and Veggies – More Matters: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/.

Less is More

While “eat more fruits and vegetables” was a clear winner with 58.5% recommending it as number one, there was a tied for second place: “reduce added sugars” (18%) and “Maintain current diet but eat less of everything” (17.6%). These scored far above “eat less fat” and “eat less saturated and trans fat”. Based on these dietitian insights, we need to choose more of the good stuff (fruits and veggies) but watch our intake of unnecessary calories from added sugars and overall, we are eating too much of everything.

Manageable Changes

So when you contemplate making changes to your diet for your health’s sake, consider these simple changes: add a fruit and vegetable to every meal or snack and eat less of your usual servings.

Avoiding added sugar can be a little more challenging. Try this low stress modification: avoid regular soft drinks – they are the main source of added sugars in the diet.

We all appreciate the importance of quality time, but do we really think about the quality of our calories? According to a 2013 Nutrition Trends Survey conducted by Pollock Communications, Registered Dietitians (RDs) say that we should. The majority of the RDs (57%) agreed that focusing high quality calories is most important for achieving a healthy diet and weight.

“While calories from all foods provide us with energy,” notes Dr. Jenna A. Bell, Registered Dietitian and Senior Vice President, Director of Food and Wellness at Pollock, “you’re more likely to eat a healthy diet if you choose foods that have high quality calories – meaning they provide vitamins, minerals, fiber and other essential nutrients.” Dr. Bell describes the practice of eating foods that provide more than just calories as being nutrient dense, rather than calorie-rich or full of wasted calories.

How does this relate to weight loss?

It makes sense that a focus on high quality calories would improve the healthfulness of a diet, but how does it affect weight management? Dr. Bell explains that weight management is easier when you focus on high quality calories because you will weed out those foods that are heavy in added sugars or “undesirable” fats that typically add calories over and above what you need. “If you’re looking for a high quality calorie, you are going to choose foods that are rich in nutrients – fruits, vegetables, whole grain fiber sources, lean meats and low/non-fat dairy. By design, these foods tend to be lower in total calories so balancing your food intake with your activity will likely be easier.”

Bottom line, adds Dr. Bell, “I rarely hear of individuals gaining weight because their diet was too high in high quality calories, like fruits and vegetables.”

Consumers seek nutrition advice from a variety of sources; according to participants in Pollock Communications’ recent survey of registered dietitians (RDs), the top three resources are dietitians, social media and smartphone apps.

For consumers, it’s likely that a combination of these three can help ensure success through a tailored mix of support, expertise and convenience.
• A dietitian is credentialed in nutrition science and can offer an individualized eating plan to suit any dietary need.
• Social media can offer support from friends, family or others working toward a similar goal.
• Apps can provide convenience in terms of food journaling, calorie counts and weight tracking.

For dietitians and weight loss programs, the three can work together to show consumers and fans that you can help them no matter where they learn or look for support. For example:
• Dietitians can add to in-person sessions by Pinning recipe ideas, Tweeting advice and responding to followers, thereby proving expertise and gaining new clients.
• Weight Watchers has in-person meetings, offers apps that track weight and calculate food values, and uses Facebook and Twitter to send words of encouragement to members.
• Jenny Craig coordinates one-on-one consultations, has an app that helps people make smart choices at restaurants, and replies to Tweets with words of praise for members who share their successes.

As long as people are getting information from a reputable source, the key thing is that people are becoming more health-conscious, but if one or all these methods proves useful to an individual, that’s all the better.