Dietiticians in Supermarkets--The New Age of Nutrition

From the Worthington Daily Globe (MN). It's a good first step--now if you can just get people to USE them!

"When people ask where I work and I tell them “Hy-Vee,” I tend to get a lot of confused looks. I am asked, “Do you help customers find items? Do you help people lose weight? Do you stock shelves? What do you do there?” I do all the above, but there is not a simple, one-line answer to this question.

Supermarkets started to hire dietitians about ten years ago when they realized there is a connection between consumer supermarket shopping and healthy food choices. Many customers do not know what to look for in a healthy food item when they go grocery shopping. Food labeling is very confusing and often misleading. One particular food item might claim that it is “low in fat” but unbeknownst to the customer is jam-packed with sugar. Another food product might claim to “help boost your immune system,” but how true is that and to what extent? Customers need someone credible who can answer these questions when they are in the store.

Physicians and other medical experts are also realizing the benefits of proper nutrition in preventing and managing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, weight control and cancer. Patients will see a dietitian in a clinical setting (hospital or clinic) and receive great information from the dietitian, but when it comes to actually putting this into practice in a grocery store they can be confused or come up with additional questions as they are shopping.

To answer the question “what do you do at Hy-Vee?” here is a brief list:

- Answer customer questions about food items and conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

- Lead healthy cooking classes in our Club Room.

- Provide private nutrition counseling in the store.

- Guide store tours that focus on a particular condition, such as diabetes or heart disease.

- Answer questions about the HealthMarket and gluten-free living.

- Reach out to the community to spread nutrition awareness (if you have a first or second grader at Prairie Elementary, your child probably knows who I am!).

- Provide lunch-and-learns for groups or companies on their topic of choice.

- Conduct cholesterol and glucose screenings in the store (you will receive your results in fifteen minutes!).

This is not a comprehensive list because I am always adding to it, but I hope it gives you an idea of what I do at Hy-Vee.

As a Hy-Vee dietitian, I appreciate the unique opportunity to help customers in a hands-on approach to meet their nutritional goals. Hy-Vee has over 100 dietitians working in their stores and is leading the way for other major retailers and supermarkets, which are following suit and hiring dietitians as they see customers place importance on proper nutrition. If you ever have a nutrition question in our store, know that I am there to answer it!"

While the consumerati are busy with the on-site dietitian, we'll be busy shopping in the parts of the store that have no labels to read, and don't really need them: the produce section, the refrigerated meat section, and the egg section.

The only questions we'll be asking are these: "Are these grass-fed or grass-finished? Are the chicken free-roaming, or just free-range? How much and what pesticides are used on this produce, and where did the produce come from? You know--questions a dietitian can't answer.