We’re thrilled to congratulate our partners at Hannaford Supermarkets for being recognized by Supermarket News for their excellence in health and wellness merchandising. Hannaford developed Guiding Stars and we love to see the wonderful work they continue to do in supporting healthy lifestyles for their customers.
Julie Greene, Hannaford healthy living manager, told Supermarket News (PDF), “We find that the most meaningful interactions with our dietitians happen on the sales floor where someone will walk in and say, ‘Oh, thanks for the samples of cinnamon apple yogurt. My spouse was just diagnosed with X and I feel lost and overwhelmed. Can you help me answer this question,’ and the dietitian will put her sign up that says, ‘Be right back,’ and she’ll take that person, sometimes literally by the hand, through the store and say, ‘Happy to help you.’”
This approach of making nutrition support easy to come by embodies the essence of what we strive to do here at Guiding Stars, and as we celebrate our 10th anniversary this month, we’ve had stories and photos pouring in from many of Hannaford’s RDs as they share how they’ve used Guiding Stars and our 10th anniversary to inspire more nutritious choices among Hannaford’s customers. For the next couple weeks, we’ll be sharing their stories here on our blog, so be sure to check in for great ideas on how to eat well and how to share knowledge of nutritious eating with others.
Caitlin Ratten, MS, RD, LD – Bangor
From Caitlin Ratten, MS, RD, LD – Bangor:
In April WIC hosted a Spring Fling Fun Day, which I participated in with a Guess the Guiding Stars game. There were piles of food pictures and children ages 1-5 (and the adults with them) tried to guess which pile would receive 0, 1, 2, and 3 stars. It was a fun, easy way to discuss which foods would be the healthiest. I brought the selfie stand as well which several groups utilized!
I also have an upcoming event with seniors and plan to spend some time talking about Guiding Stars as an easy way to make healthy shopping choices.
Guiding Stars is fantastic! Simple for everyone to understand, and is a time saver for label reading. When explaining them to customers so many say they wish they knew about it sooner!