David and I are off to Australia for the next couple weeks to two conferences on nutrition and healthy living! He will be the keynote speaker at the 10th annual conference of the Australasian Academy of Anti-Aging in Melbourne, as well as the guest of honor for the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine at the University of Sydney. We will also be visiting some dear friends of ours while there!
While we are away, I have an announcement, a wonderful suggestion for you…and a beautiful gift (my Cuisinicity apron or my Cuisinicity little cookbook, your pick!) to offer to a select 10 of you!
You know how I have been saying all along how much it matters that you use simple wholesome ingredients? Of course, that’s relatively easy to do when choosing fresh fruit or vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts or whole grains in their natural state! It’s a no-brainer there!
…but where it gets a little complicated is when you have to choose something on the supermarket shelf that’s in a bottle, package, can or jar!
Let’s be honest, how do you decide which bread to choose, which marinara sauce, which cereal, crackers, cookies, pasta, dressing…you name it, there are so many to choose from and who has time to read through every single nutrition fact panel while running around at the supermarket, right? It’s all a blur!
Here at Cuisinicity, I have tried all along to guide you through some of my favorite products that are the most nutritious within each category, be it a marinara sauce (make sure there is no added sugar and not too much salt), or a peanut butter (make sure it doesn’t have added partially hydrogenated oils, sugar and salt) or a bread (make sure it’s wholegrain, has fiber and no added sugar and not too much salt, no hydrogenated oils) or a cereal (make sure it’s actually worthy of being called breakfast and not candy disguised as breakfast…remember this post?!!), you get the idea etc…
Just look throughout my Cuisinicity posts: it’s a common theme of mine, because trading up one ingredient at a time makes a tremendous difference in upgrading one’s diet.
But there is a limit to how helpful I can be!
Well… now I am beyond excited to announce that there is a new app that you can get on your smart phone that offers the best GPS for nutrition to help guide you through your shopping at your own supermarket. It’s called NuVal® Empower. All you have to do is scan the UPS code of the product on your smart phone and you get its score from 1-100: the higher the score, the more nutritious! It’s that simple!
I know it’s the best GPS for nutrition because it is powered by an algorithm, the Overall Nutritional Quality Index that my husband created with a team of world top nutrition scientists in 2006, that is independent of the food industry and that has been robustly and consistently validated in the peer-reviewed literature, repeatedly over all these years. As a result, it is the most sophisticated and well validated nutrition guidance system in the world.
You can read more about it here!
So, here is my suggestion to you, while I am away:
- Try the app: there is a 30-day free trial which you can take advantage of by sending an email to empower@nuval.com with “free trial/CUISINICITY” in the subject line. You should hear back promptly with instructions for enrolling.
- See if you like it. If you do, let me know how it helped you decide between 2 particular items, whatever they are, to trade up on the nutrition. It doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy, just use it and tell me in a comment on this post!
- When I get back, I will look for the best examples on how this has helped you trade up and I will share with my Cuisinicity followers.
- I will pick 10 of you from your comments and send you a Cuisinicity apron or Cuisinicity Cooking booklet (see the little video clip below).
For example, take a look at these 2 peanut butters…
Which peanut butter would you choose now?! By the way, if you haven’t tried Teddie’s unsalted peanut butter, I also recommend it for its creamy deliciousness!
…and just so that you know, David and I will not benefit personally if you subscribe to the new NuVal offering, past the 30-day free trial. This is just for you and your family, just like my Cuisinicity recipes and tips!
So, what are you waiting for?
Go send that e-mail to empower@nuval.com and don’t forget to write “free trial/CUISINICITY” in the subject line. Then, you can register for free and upload the app on your phone and get going!
I cannot wait to hear your comments!
…and now I HAVE to go pack!!!
I going to give this a try – it is nice to see that Dr. Katz helps out with the laundry…ha… Funny – hope you are having a great trip and that you’ll bring all that health info back to us ? !!
HAHAH Greg, that was actually Gabe!!!!
quel joli petit coin, très chaleureux et si plaisant! vous nous donnez de bons conseils as usual! buon viaggio!
Merci Martine! Malheureusement Nuval n’existe pas encore en France, mias j’espère un jour…! 🙂
… Here I have unfortunately my answer. When I read in your article, that the system was globally peer reviewed, I had hoped it was also already rolled out in Europe…
We have moved back to Europe and enjoy the numerous farmers markets and better bikability for everyday errands, but miss a lot from the US too.
I wish it were so too, Sibylle! But you can’t go wrong at the farmers markets so there is no need for Nuval there!!! 🙂
Thank you . I will be trying the free month. I just read Dr. Katz article on NuVal and agree completely with his concern about the cost for the app. Those that need it may not be able to afford it or consider it a priority on a tight budget. I love his idea of employers and maybe health insurance companies seeing this as a way to help employees and clients. Maybe the free month can help people get a sense of what they are buying and what are better choices. I have promoted the less than 5 ingredients from Nutrition Detectives and nothing they can’t pronounce or don’t recognize as food with my students.
Absolutely Arlene! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! I agree, I just love the simple “less than 5 ingredient” guiding rule from Nutrition Detectives, it is so helpful. I also love the “mama duck” clue where the first ingredient is always the biggest! I referred to it in my “put sugar in its place” post: https://cuisinicity.com/put-sugar-in-its-place-2/ Does it resonate with your students too?
Also, I am thinking that during this free trial, people can accumulate as many scores as they can and just keep them for reference for later without having to pay for the subscription when the 30 days are over!
In any case, thank you for your great work in this area as well, we need as many good people as we can! 🙂
I will definitely check this app out! And then let you know what I think.
Yay Tracey! I hope you love it as much as I do! 🙂
Merci! que de jolies photos toute fraîches! bon voyage en Australie!! martine de France
Merci Martine!!! 🙂
This is great. Might motivate me to finally get a smart phone.
WOW Jed, I am actually impressed that you don’t have a smart phone yet! Sometimes I wish I didn’t AHAHAHA! By the way, I just pre-ordered your wonderful book! I so look forward to reading it 🙂