Supermarket dietitians, check your email this week for the summer edition of the quarterly Shopping for Health e-Newsletter. In this issue you’ll find lots of great materials and information, designed to help in your communications with shoppers.

In the June issue of Shopping for Health, look for:

Everything you need to assist customers who are interested in plant-based eating, courtesy of the California Walnut Commission. There’s a get-started grocery shopping list, as well as handouts explaining how to replace saturated fats with monos and polys, nutrition information on walnuts, and some great recipes.

From Daisy Brand Cottage Cheese, shopper tips offering healthy snack ideas. Try these great pairing ideas to team Daisy all-natural cottage cheese with some tasty, nutrition-packed sides. Also, how to talk to shoppers about meeting protein needs with cottage cheese, and a complete guide to how to shop your store to meet MyPlate recommendations.

Back-to-School handouts, news and stats from Mini Babybel Cheese. Check here for creative tips for the lunch bag or box as well as detailed customer fact sheets on the many flavors of Babybel Cheese. Social media and Tweet tips included!

These recipes, photographs, social media ideas, nutrition backgrounders, customer handouts and more will be available in the Shopping for Health archives for up to one year. Make your life as a supermarket dietitian easier by visiting the content library and archives at www.shoppingforhealth.org!

Women who care about basic nutrition, healthful ingredients and who want to replace meals by eating-on-the-go. In fact, women aged 20 – 30 say they get 30% of their daily calories in the form of “snacks.”ᴬ

Here’s the breakdown on what Americans consider their favorite snacks to be:

63% Chips/ Crisps
59% Chocolate
58% Cheese
56% Cookies/ Biscuits
55% Fresh Fruit
48% Bread/ Sandwich
48% Crackers
44% Vegetables
44% Peanut Butter
43% Popcorn

We nosh throughout the day, with 31% of our snacking occurring in the morning, 26% in the afternoon, 22% in the evening and 22% later at night. The single most popular time of the day to grab a nibble? 3:10 p.m.!  But more than sixty percent of shoppers say they snack at least one to two times a day, and another twenty percent say three to four. (Who are the ten percent who say they never snack?!)ᴬ

Cottage cheese is a snacking choice of 28% of “health conscious” consumers, according to research conducted by Daisy Brand Cottage Cheese. And with just four ingredients – cultured skim milk, cream, salt and vitamin A palmitate (an antioxidant added to dairy products to replace the vitamin A lost in production), Daisy Brand fills the bill for those looking for the most natural cottage cheese. Most other brands have ten or even more ingredients.

At Shopping for Health, we enjoyed a tasty Cottage Cheese Bar to create tasty and healthful snacks combinations. Here are some super pairing ideas:

One scoop of Daisy Brand Low-Fat Cottage Cheese, plus:

• Slices of grapefruit, chopped mint and a drizzle of honey
• Sliced Granny Smith apples and ground cinnamon
• Chopped tomato, chopped avocado and chopped fresh cilantro
• Blueberries and chopped pecans, cashews or pistachios
• A tablespoon of peanut or other nut butter and a few chocolate chips

ᴬAll statistics from Nielson 2014 report on snacking in America

Water is the most essential nutrient for life, but the U.S.D.A. dietary guidelines focus primarily on what to eat, rather than what to drink. And as a result, too many people drink sugar-sweetened beverages instead of water. Twenty percent of our daily calories – and nearly half of all added sugars – come from beverages, according to recent national nutrition survey data. Half of all children and adults say they drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day.

Encouraging shoppers to drink zero-caloric bottled or sparkling water in place of sweetened beverages is a primary strategy towards helping people meet the recommendations in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Health professionals give these guidelines on limiting caloric intake from beverages:

American Heart Association – Limit the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to 450 k calories (36 ounces) per week, for a 2000 k calorie diet.

American Academy of Pediatrics – Water, not sports or energy drinks, should be the principle source of hydration for children and adolescents. 100% fruit juice should be limited to 4 – 6 ounces per day for children who are 1 – 6 years old, and 8 – 12 ounces per day for children and teens who are 7 – 18 years old.

World Health Organization – Limiting intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy is part of a healthy diet. A further reduction to 5% or less is desirable for additional health benefits. Sugar intake can be reduced by limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars.

As we move into the hot summer months, adequate water consumption is more important than ever. From Nestle Waters USA, here is a visual guideline to use when talking to consumers about how to best structure beverage consumption, to provide the hydration needed each day.  Recommendations are based on a 2006 Journal of Clinical Nutrition study, and USDA data.

ᴬ Popkin BM, Armstrong LE, Bray GM, Caballero B, Frei B, Willett WC. A new proposed guidance system for beverage consumption in the United States. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2006; 83:529-542. 

ᴬU.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. 7th. Edition, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, December 2010. Available at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ dietary_guidelines_for_americans/PolicyDoc.pdf. 

Few foods herald spring as well as beautiful strawberries.

May is National Strawberry Month, a good time to take note of reasons to encourage more consumption of America’s Favorite Fruit. The California Strawberry Commission presented these to supermarket RD guests at this year’s Shopping for Health conference. Here are some highlights:

Number One: Strawberries are packed with nutrients. A cup-size serving contains more vitamin C than is found in an orange, fiber, folate and potassium. And all for just 45 calories.

Strawberries are also a favorite Superfruit, meaning that they contain a variety of bioactive compounds that converge to fight oxidation and inflammation. More than 110 studies concerning strawberry consumption and human health have been published since 2006.

And in addition, there is emerging science that is showing that eating strawberries reduces the risk of chronic disease. Four servings of strawberries a day lowered cholesterol and reduced oxidationª while three servings reduced insulin response.ᴮ

Here’s one more: Strawberries work in diabetes meal planning. They provide just 7 grams of sugar per serving, less than apples, bananas, grapes and oranges, with a low glycemic index. The American Diabetes Association names strawberries as one of ten superfoods in a diabetes meal plan.

California is the leader in U.S. strawberry production, with 1.6 billion pounds of fresh strawberries and 400 million frozen strawberries produced annually. That’s 88% of all strawberries grown in the U.S.

ªBasu, et al Journal of Nutrition, 2014

ᴮPark, et al, Experimental Biology Conference, 2015

If you were at the Shopping for Health 2015 conference in Napa, are you still dreaming about this fabulous Strawberry Pavlova dessert?

Check here for strawberry recipes

Shopping for Health 2015 will take place March 8 – 10 in beautiful Napa, California.

Back by popular request from our retail dietitians, SFH 2015 will once again immediately follow the meeting of the Food & Culinary Professionals Dietary Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics!

Retail RDs who are guests of Shopping for Health will again have the option of flying to Napa before the SFH conference, in time to attend the DPG meeting.

If you are a supermarket dietitian at a leading grocery chain, please contact Shopping for Health for information about this meeting. Each year, we host an exclusive group for three days of nutrition, health and culinary presentations, leading industry speakers, delicious meals, fun events and outstanding networking opportunities. Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits from AND are offered for participation.*

Look for your Invitation to Shopping for Health 2015 soon!

*Application in process, as final program is developed.