America’s best-kept secret is the availability of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN) at supermarkets.
About 81% of supermarkets employ an RDN, so your local grocer probably has a valuable resource on staff waiting to help you. Many offer these free services in person and virtually.
Of course, each store provides different services, but most offer:
- Advice for healthy meal prep
- Recommendations for groceries
- Nutrition education
- Ideas for meals
- Cooking classes
- Events to teach the community healthy eating practices
In a virtual coaching session, you can participate in health screenings, learn to construct a shopping list based on your diet and the items in the store, and learn about new items that you probably wouldn’t have bumped into.
In-person, RDNs provide tours of supermarkets, give out fruit and advice, advise consumers about food-based allergies, and create magazines to promote healthy eating. Some enterprising stores have nutrition clinics that even perform blood and urine tests to determine the nutritional needs of patients.
Grocers hiring dietitians is good for society and their bank accounts. Increasingly, consumers are connecting food to wellness. A 2022 survey of store owners found that having wellness professionals on staff contributed to the increase in sales the previous year. Half of shoppers in the same study said the supermarket RDNs are helping them maintain a healthy lifestyle.
This win-win relationship isn’t as common as possible because many shoppers don’t know they have help waiting for them at the store. Supermarket websites are the best way to determine what nutritional services are available.
At a time when grocery bills are getting higher, it’s nice to have a free service that helps keep you healthy.
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