Making Super Choices at the Supermarket

Have you ever gone grocery shopping hungry? We become totally different shoppers on an empty stomach. Everything just looks SO delicious! While this can be great for dinner inspiration, the temptation to grab unhealthy and processed foods becomes harder to resist.

Having a quick snack before strolling the aisles is one of our go-to tricks for a better grocery shopping experience. And there are plenty of other small things you can do to make sure you come home from the market with whole, fresh and healthy food.

That’s why in this newsletter we’re shining a spotlight on someone who knows a ton about picking the right foods for your body and your health goals. Kathy Jordan is a dietician, trainer and fitness coach extraordinaire, and she’s here to share a bit of her story and best ideas for creating a healthy lifestyle – and shopping list. Take it away, Kathy!

Meet Kathy Jordan!
Registered dietician, certified personal trainer and weight loss, eating behavior and fitness coach!

Tell us a bit about your journey and how you decided to pursue a career in health and wellness!
I decided to pursue a career in nutrition when I was 15 years old. I come from a family of scientists, so something that combined my interest in cooking, creating healthy recipes and helping others get healthy and fit led me to studying food science and nutrition throughout high school and college.

As a fitness coach, you must really love inspiring people to achieve their goals! Can you talk a bit about what it means to you to help individuals and communities make healthy lifestyle choices?
Observing the gains in health and fitness I get to facilitate inspires me to continue helping as many people that I can. In all my fitness classes, we discuss nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices. I customize the programs to each individual’s needs so each person can reach their ultimate fitness potential.

One of the women in my small group personal training program that has been coming for over 10 years sent me a text the other day to thank me for helping her to garner the strength, balance and stamina to hike a mountainous trail over streams with wet rocks to reach the peak!

We heard you also do supermarket tours for Big Y! Can you share some of your best tips for how to make healthy choices while shopping?
My number one tip would be to sign up for a free tour with the dietitian so you get first hand, accurate and current science-based information on products and nutrition in an ideal, interactive setting.

The first step is to determine your food and nutrition goals and then carve out time to plan weekly meals and create shopping lists and choose the foods that support those goals. Start in the produce department and fill your cart with plenty of healthy, whole, plant-based foods and also choose proteins that are lean or supply healthy fats, and minimally processed whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes. We also pick out various products to practice learning how to best read the food labels for Nutrition Facts and ingredient declarations and sort through nutrient and health claims.

Do you have any go-to healthy meals? Would you mind sharing your favorite recipe and how you go about your meal prep?
Since I am always juggling schedules between my Big Y events and Wellness Concepts workplace nutrition programs and my own clients and fitness classes, my go-to meal is one I make and take “on the run.” It’s my Avocado Smoothie that I make with a good handful of Olivia’s Organics Power Blend or Baby Spinach, a couple of frozen avocado chunks, 1/4 of a banana (frozen) added to my blender with a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a couple of tablespoons of plain Greek or Icelandic yogurt, a teaspoon of each: green tea matcha powder and chia seeds and a scoop of whey or plant-based vanilla protein powder.

When I work at home, I love to make a salad with Olivia’s Organics Baby Butter Lettuce topped with toasted walnuts, thinly sliced pears, dried cranberries and bleu cheese crumbles complete with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I sometimes add grilled chicken too!

How did you first get involved with Team Olivia’s? Do you have any favorite Olivia’s products?
I first noticed Olivia’s salad green mixes while doing a supermarket tour at one of the Big Y stores several years ago. I bought some and noticed the quality was outstanding, and the lettuces lasted much longer in the refrigerator than some of the other packaged salad blends I bought in the past. I reached out to Olivia’s for coupons because I knew I would be recommending their products in future tours and events. I like all the salad blends but I enjoy the one with herbs for added flavor.

Where can people find more information about you and your work?
I have a website for my personal business www.bodybykj.com and I have a business page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bodybykj/.
For Big Y, my schedules can be found at BigY.com/LivingWell/GetSocial!

Anything else to add?
I think many times people are anxious about working with a dietitian because they think they’ll have to give up all their favorite foods and join a gym. I take a more realistic lifestyle approach and meet my clients where they are presently and move them forward comfortably to help them meet their goals. In my coaching and work with Big Y, I focus on all the fun, delicious foods one can enjoy and the benefits they will realize when choosing healthy foods and fitting fitness activities into their daily lives.

Thanks so much, Kathy! You have a powerful story to tell and some great insights to offer.

What’s your supermarket strategy? How do navigate your way toward fresher and healthier buys? Share your ideas with us on Instagram by following @Olivias_Organics and using the hashtag #oliviasopenmic. Or send an email to teamolivias@oliviasorganics.org.

Thanks so much for making Olivia’s part of your fresh, healthy life. Stay green!
Team Olivia’s