Trading Up Downtown

Hi, All!

My name is Lindsay and I have recently taken to internet blogging to share my passions, which include healthy eating, fitness and wellness.  Blogging has introduced me to a world of foodies, new products, new exercise ideas and a variety of new companies.  While many companies seem to have a knack for providing new products, only one seems to be interested in educating the consumer on smarter food choices at the grocery store, which is where healthy eating either begins or dies.

Namely, this company is NuVal and I came across them via Tina’s site.  I found the concept of their nutritional scoring system to be utterly fascinating and groundbreaking.  Rather than providing a tangible product, the NuVal team was putting the choice in the consumer’s hands, by introducing a scoring system of 1 – 100.  Foods with a higher number have a higher nutritional makeup than those with a low number.  Brilliant!

I kept to myself for a few weeks and then felt compelled to e-mail Dr. Katz in order to show my admiration for his work.  A few emails later, this guest post was formed and I was excitedly and  frantically trying to determine how I’d gotten here and what I was going to write about.  Sure, I am overjoyed with the NuVal concept and wish to see them in stores nationwide, but did I truly have anything of importance to add to the company’s movement other than my gaping awe?

I am not a dietician and I’m certainly not a doctor.  But, what I am may very well appeal to you because, chances are, I might be just like you.  I’m a 26-year-old female consumer, who knows a thing or two about trying to lose weight and stay healthy in this fast-paced society, while continuing to feel normal.

I believe this directly correlates to NuVal’s mission, which I am eager to clarify in the remainder of this post.  I am also hoping my first-hand experience will help you, wherever you are in your journey, to break free of gimmicks and learn how to be well once and for all.

Let me rewind a little bit.  To understand my current thinking and excitement over NuVal, it is important to learn a bit about my past.

I have always loved to eat and am identified by my friends and family as such.  I’m the friend who would much rather go out for a three course meal than go out for a few drinks.  It takes me fifteen minutes to order a meal at a new restaurant because I want to ensure I make the perfect choice and I’ve been known to change my mind, oh, 15 times while the waiter is patiently gritting his teeth.  You get the idea.  I live to eat!

This was always fine and good until my senior year of college when my love for food met my 21^st birthday and they fell in love.  Countless slices of pizza and Chinese food deliveries later, 20 lbs had attached itself to my small frame and I was miserable.  After school, I vowed to lose it and learn about weight loss.  I quickly learned that I needed to take in fewer calories than I expended, which seemed simple enough.  I was able to lose the weight through calorie crunching and consistent exercise.  While I never gained the entire 20 lbs back, I fought with the same 5 – 8 lbs for the next five years, never being able to rid myself completely.  All that time later, I was still a slave to calorie crunching, scouring nutrition labels and keeping various food journals.  Frankly, it was exhausting and felt like a part-time job.  But, I thought this was how it had to be if I wanted to live a healthy lifestyle.  Of course, in all this time, I never put thought into the nutrition makeup of my foods (other than overall calories and fat) and was about to learn a life-changing lesson.

About 6 months ago, I discovered the world of food blogs and haven’t looked back.  The first thing I noticed about the bloggers’ daily food intakes were that they were comprised of mostly natural and wholesome foods.  Ever blogger allowed for the occasional treat when one was desired.  They seemed to be enjoying their daily meals, while never being held hostage to the “do’s” and “don’ts” of any weight loss program.  They just ate. I was so envious, as this is all I had wanted to do for so long!  I wanted to enjoy a meal for what it was and not for how many calories it was comprised of.  I slowly started to mimic their eating habits by incorporating more natural foods than ever before, while still allowing room for all of the splurge foods in small doses.  Guess what?  Not only have I kissed those 5 – 8 lbs goodbye, but it truly has been easy to keep them off.

So, what does this all mean and how does it relate to NuVal?  First, I realized that through all of those years, my food was consuming me when I should have been consuming my food.  I spent so much time worrying about the calorie counts that I never took the time to figure out what kept me satiated, so that I wouldn’t be temped by the vending machine.

You see, we are a nation obsessed with numbers.  Ask any woman what her dream dress size is or how much she wants to weigh and, chances are, she’ll spit two figures at you before you can say, “skinny jeans”.  However, if you asked this same woman what her blood pressure numbers, cholesterol levels or resting heart rate is, she probably doesn’t have the slightest idea (present company included!).

Think about that for a minute.  We worry so much about what size the jeans are in our closets that we seldom pay any attention to the numbers that really matter.  What good is a size 6 pair of pants if our cholesterol levels are spiraling out of control?

Similarly, what good is a weight loss program that only teaches calorie restriction vs. calorie expenditure and doesn’t emphasize the body’s need for proper nutrition?  It’s no secret that we are a society which thrives on the now. We are constantly looking for the easy route, so it’s simple to see why we encourage companies to create, box and ship our meals via UPS.  It’s also easy to see why we run to the supermarket for the canned soup that was advertised at 100 calories per serving.  We don’t ask questions, we just do because it looks easy.

We all KNOW that fruits and vegetables should make up the majority of our meals, while being complimented by lean proteins and whole grains.  This is not breaking news!  Yet, most of us fall into the trap of approaching any weight loss program the same, by focusing on vanity instead of health.  So often, we ask, “How many pieces of pizza can I fit into my calorie allotment without sabotaging my diet?” or “I can’t eat that.  I’m being ‘good’ until name-your-event happens.”  This is the way our minds are trained to think in a society that relies on boxed food, weight-loss drinks and thinner-by-Friday gimmicks.  We want to be thin now and we couldn’t care less about what’s going on inside our bodies.

This is why NuVal is SUCH a refreshing concept.  The nutritional scoring system simply allows you to see, at a glance, the nutritional makeup of every item in the grocery store.  Imagine if we could change our way of thinking – and I believe we can – into embracing all foods instead of separating them into “good’ and “bad”.  Through the use of the scoring system, the consumer can easily see the foods that contain the biggest nutritional “bangs”.  The higher the score, the better the food is and the better it will make you feel.  It allows the consumer to be in control, and therefore, out of reach to any gimmicks or falsehoods.   It’s time to focus on what we should eat, rather than on what we should not eat.

While NuVal does not market itself as a weight-loss program, it can certainly put us in the proper mindset to lose the excess baggage.  With the proper knowledge, we can all be free of “diets”.  We can learn to eat the foods that fuel our bodies and give us the energy to power through all-day meetings, dance classes, baseball practices, karate, etc.  Don’t get me wrong – calories still count when it comes to losing weight.  But, with the proper nutrition, the human body has a way of knowing when it has consumed enough for the day.  We simply have to sit back and listen.

Similarly, it would be foolish of NuVal, and me, to encourage consumers to only eat foods with a high ranking.  A healthy diet is all about balance and it is certainly acceptable to indulge in your favorite foods (Heck – this IS America.  I would be worried if you didn’t have a burger and fries every now and then!).  However, it is equally as important to surround those indulgences with foods that pack the essential nutrients your body needs, which will only help you feel like a better version of yourself.   NuVal can help you do this.  Rather than simply eating, you can learn the art of insightful eating.

Learning to adapt to this mindset is the toughest hurdle.  I truly believe that if more individuals understood how proper nutrition could make them feel, the obesity epidemic wouldn’t exist.  In addition to added energy and a slimmer waist, the proper vitamins and nutrients can provide a list of other benefits, including shiny hair and strong nails.  Who doesn’t want that?

The first step is simply a matter of getting the word out to consumers that proper nourishment should be your number one priority.  The healthier you are, the healthier your children will be, as well as the many generations to come.  Everything else, including your jeans size, will eventually fall into place.  NuVal is the first step in educating the consumer.  If you surround yourself with the proper foods at home, it is quite easy to make the best of them.

As a former weight loss advocate turned nutrition junkie, I challenge you to remain a society obsessed with numbers.  Let’s just be sure to change the numbers we’re talking about.

Category: Guest Posts by Tina