Trading Up Downtown

As a health enthusiast and food blogger for www.cashewsandhummus.com, I consider myself somewhat of an expert on healthy eating.  I’ve read more nutrition labels than I can count, and only stock my pantry with “natural” foods.  Just try to beat me at a game of “which is my healthiest option?” at a restaurant, and I’ll boastfully take you down.

So, when Tina introduced me to NuVal, I thought: “That’s a great system for newbies, but nothing I could use.  I already have that stuff down.”

Boy was I wrong…

I perused the NuVal website, and checked out some of the scores.  To my delight, I found many of my favorite foods listed!  To my disappointment, I was not an all-star NuVal eater like I expected.

In the “Fresh Breads and Rolls” category, I found the sandwich bread I often purchase:  Pepperidge Farm 100% Whole Wheat.  That’s right, 100%.  It must be perfect.  I was surprised to find it trumped by Arnold Natural Flax and Fiber Bread—almost 20 points higher!  With my tail between my legs, I’ll have a new plan of action at the grocery store from now on: trade up.

Next, I moved on to the veggies.  I LOVE vegetables.  I figured that all of the scores must be pretty high, so I had little to fear.  Wrong again!  Artichokes?  One of my favorite foods?  A mere 18 points?  That’s less than my bread!  Thankfully, I noticed that another one my staples, broccoli, has a perfect score of 100.  In the clear.

This letdown doesn’t mean that I’ll be cutting artichokes out of my diet completely (they’re full of healthy fiber, potassium, and calcium!), but I just might add a little more broccoli to my morning omelets.

Now, I’ve never been much of a “chip snacker”, but on the occasion I do stuff my fist into a bag of potato chips (ahem, every Saturday NFL game…), it’s almost always Cape Cod brand.  My fiancé would have it no other way.  I’ve always cursed myself after those chip feasts, thinking I was committing sin against my body, soul, and thighs.

Lo and behold, NuVal surprised me again!  This time in a good way. The Cape Cod 40% Reduced Fat chips (which we get about half the time) have a whopping score of 32!  In the big picture, that’s not ideal, but high in the chip world!  I would have never thought that they’d beat out Baked Lays, which taste like cardboard doused in that unmistakable chalky substance reminiscent of TUMS.

I continued to browse the food scores (again and again…) and soon considered myself an expert at the NuVal system.  I realized it was time to stop quizzing myself when I began to think that buying ground sirloin was a good idea.  (I’m not much of a beef eater, but wow!  A higher score than ham!  Can you believe it?)

So, here I stand: proof that NuVal is a valuable tool for even us all-knowing, all-powerful food bloggers.  Next time you’re in a Hy-Vee, (or have the time to obsessively check online scores like me) try it out.  You just might learn something!  (Such as: Who knew Kashi Strawberry Fields was only 1 point higher than Cap’n Crunch, with a weak score of 11?  I’ll stick with my Go Lean Crunch from now on…)

Category: Guest Posts, Uncategorized by Tina