Hello and welcome!
My name is Tina and I live in the wonderful city of Boston. I live with my husband, Mal, and my adorable pug, Murphy, in a loft-style apartment just south of the heart of downtown. I enjoy the hustle and bustle of city life and try to take advantage of everything it has to offer– from dining out in the South End to attending Red Sox games to running by the Charles River. Life rarely slows down for me! Through all the craziness, however, I do my best to eat well and live a healthy lifestyle.
My passion for healthy living extends beyond my home life and into my career as a social media strategist for a company called NuVal. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that ranks foods from 1-100 based on how nutritious they are for you. Basically, the higher the number, the better the nutrition. It helps make grocery shopping easier for you and it may just change the way you shop! We’re implementing NuVal in grocery stores around the country. (Currently, NuVal lives in Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Meijer, and soon Texas United stores.) NuVal may not be in your area yet, but here on my blog, you can get a sneak peek at some of the new scores.
Living in a city definitely has its perks, but it can also be very expensive– from the groceries you buy to the gym membership where you exercise. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to give up on your healthy lifestyle. With the right knowledge and know-how, I believe that anyone can make smart choices about healthy living within the parameters of their budget. Trading Up Downtown is devoted to healthy city living while being wallet-friendly. Hopefully, no matter where you live, my posts and simple tips will help you live well on a budget.
Developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts, the 
Hi, this is a comment.
To delete a comment, just log in and view the post's comments. There you will have the option to edit or delete them.
Love the new blog! Congrats!
I love the idea of a scoring system for nutrition on food products, and I can’t wait to see what kind of foods you profile here! Very exciting that you’re starting up this new blog
Love the look! Come to Shopright and Pathmark, Nuval!
Congrats on the new blog, Tina!!
Congrats on the new gig! I’m so happy for you.
Hi Tina!
Love the new blog–it looks fantastic! My family lives in the Hy-Vee area of the country and my Mom is hilarious about shopping now: “I had to try these new wheat crackers because they have a higher NuVal score!” I’ll have to pass along a link to your site to her
Congrats on the new blog and good luck with the book!
Yay for a new blog!
Any plans to bring NuVal to Stop & Shop?
Sweet new blog! Adding this to my reader. I can’t wait to hear tips for when I’m home and near a price chopper with nuval
I can’t wait to see what you post here. I’m excited about NuVal in general, I just wish it was in more stores (the nearest Meijer is about an hour away, but I’m sure I’ll make it there eventually). Will definitely add this blog to my Reader!
Love the new blog Tina! Can’t wait to read more!
Congrats on the new site Tina! I am so interested to hear more about Nu-Val and your Bostonian experiences with it. It looks great
Love the new site already:)
I love the concept of your new blog! I recently moved from Boston to Syracuse, NY, and although it’s not nearly as expensive as Boston, I’m always looking for ways to save. Also, as a central New Yorker I’m super excited to hear that NuVal is in Price Choppers. I’ll have to check it out!
Love the newest blog!
Keep up the good work!
Kim
Yay! I’m excited to read your blog!
Congrats on the new blog. Looking forward to reading more. Can’t wait for NuVal scores to be in Texas!
Love it Tina! Congrats!!
Hi Tina! I’m so excited about your new blog. I also live in the city and look forward to your eating healthy on a budget tips.
congrats!
Tina, your new blog looks great!!
Hi Tina! Your new blog looks good! Excited to see how different this will be compared to Carrots ‘N Cake. I love your writing so I’m sure I’ll like this one too
Tina,
i’ve been following your personal blog now for about a month and will now be regularly checking the nuval blog. I’ve never heard of the system before and definitely makes things easy. as not all stores use nuval, i was thinking it would be awesome if the nuval system was available as an iphone app. i’m addicted to my iphone and use it everytime i go to the grocery store as I keep my shopping lists and recipes on it. nuval would be another great addition to my pocketable tech addiction.