Hm, what’s for breakfast? Certainly in the Midwest, a ‘traditional’ breakfast of Eggs, Bacon, Toast, Orange Juice and/or Coffee sounds good to many people. It’s easy, fast and nutritious, right? You have your protein and your whole wheat toast with your ‘smart’, heart-healthy margarine, your freshly squeezed OJ with no added sugars or preservatives and your black coffee. Good to go!
But wait…what if you have high cholesterol problems, or diabetes? What if consuming any kind of whole grain makes you bloat like a dirigible? What if you don’t have time to fresh squeeze your OJ every morning and what if you like your coffee fully loaded with milk and sugar added to it?
Suddenly your simple, healthy breakfast has become something that requires a lot of forethought and planning. Maybe the thought of all that planning makes you throw your hands up and grab the Cocoa Pebbles to just be done with it!
Deciding what to eat, how much of it to eat, when to eat it, when not to eat it and if you could be allergic to it is more complicated now than it ever was. Unless you’re a nutritionist with a lot of time on your hands how are you supposed to figure this out?!
Thankfully, there are two great companies out there trying to make this easier for everyone! NuVal and Guiding Stars. Knowing that great nutrition decisions start at the grocery store, each company developed a method to ‘score’ products based on their ingredients.
NuVal gives each product they score a rating between 1 and 100. The higher the score, the better the nutrition value of the product. Guiding Stars provides a 1-2-3 system of Good, Better, Best. Each program allows the retailer to provide eye-catching shelf-signage that publishes the ‘score’ so that customers can compare products and make their decisions confidently right at that time, eliminating the need to do a lot of research on their own or just wonder whose package claims seem more trustworthy.
Not only do these programs help consumers find their way, but they also provide an opportunity for retailers to explore the ‘health and wellness’ arena, benefit their local communities and partner with local hospitals, schools and other area services to bring this valuable information to the masses.
Food for thought.
