How to Shop Using NuVal™

We live in an age of information overload. It’s true at home, at work and at school. It’s even true at the grocery store. Today, there are more items available than ever before - sometimes it actually seems as if there’s an infinite variety to choose from. While it’s great to have so many options, it can also be overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to make healthy, nutritionally responsible decisions as you shop.

There are thousands of items on the shelves, each making its own claims, each with its own nutrition label. How much time do you spend trying to decipher those labels? Is it better if something has fewer calories, but virtually no fiber or nutrients, or if it’s higher in calories, fiber and nutrients? Is the lowfat version of a product always the better nutritional choice? What about the “all-natural” version? And are you paying more for something you think is healthier for your family, when you could actually be saving money by purchasing a less expensive, more nutritious item? How can you find the answers without spending hours upon hours doing research, making sense of different products’ health claims and scouring every nutrition label you see? With NuVal.™

The NuVal™ Nutritional Scoring System will help you save time
and effort as you shop by giving you the ability to judge the nutritional value of different foods at a quick glance. NuVal™ takes the complex science of nutrition and boils it down to a single, simple number that’s easy to understand and compare. The higher the number, the higher the nutritional value.

Using the NuVal™ System as you shop is simple:

Find it. Look for the double-hexagon NuVal™ symbol on the shelves of your local Big Y. It will be prominently displayed on the shelf tag next to the price of each item, along with the item’s score from 1 to 100.

Compare it. Now you can comparison shop for nutrition the same way you do for price. NuVal™ scores items across categories, and the scores are displayed right along with each item’s price. Being able to tell which product has a higher nutritional value is now easy to find.

Choose it. NuVal™ has scored items in virtually all different categories, from fruits and vegetables to frozen foods to fresh meat to salty snacks. Even when you’re in the snack aisle looking for chips, you’ll be able to easily see which ones are the more nutritious alternatives. Keep in mind as you shop that there’s no “magic score” to aim for. While it’s true that the higher the scores of the foods you eat, the more nutrition you’ll get, you will also be able to craft a balanced diet with all different kinds of foods with varying scores.

NuVal™ will also help you cut through the clutter when it comes to different products’ health claims. For example, you’ll find that the “lowfat” or “lite” versions of foods are not automatically more nutritious. In fact, often it’s just
the opposite - they often have added sugar or less fiber, which actually makes them less nutritious overall.

The goal of NuVal™ is to have a score for just about every single item in the store, including Big Y brand products. If you find that a certain product or category doesn’t have scores posted yet, don’t worry - we’re introducing new scores all the time. So keep an eye out for the NuVal™ numbers as you shop. When you make NuVal™ nutrition scores a regular part of your shopping experience, you’ll be making easy, at-a-glance nutrition decisions for your family.

Within Range
You’re guaranteed to find some interesting nutritional revelations when you start checking out NuVal™ scores. While certain types of foods might look similar on the surface, their nutritional scores tell a different story. Some foods you might assume to be quite nutritious aren’t, while others might surprise you with a higher-than-expected score. Some categories even include scores ranging all the way from 1 to 100. Here’s a look at some of the different categories scored by NuVal,™ the average scores for foods in each category, and the range of scores you’ll find for each type of food.

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©Copyright 2012, Big Y Foods, Inc., Springfield, MA, (413) 784.0600
Artwork is for display purposes only and does not necessarily reflect specific items. Not responsible for typographical errors.