Grocery shoppers have more on their plates than ever. They’re time-pressed and focused on convenience and health for their families. They’re also looking for simple solutions and sustainability AND they don’t want to give up great taste.
During this podcast, registered dietitian nutritionist Megan Roosevelt, founder and CEO of Healthy Grocery Girl®, and John Chamberlain, Vice President of Marketing at Limoneira, introduce you to “Take a Healthy Stand.” This program is designed to assist retailers in meeting all these shopper needs. This fast-paced podcast also addresses produce as nature’s pharmacy.
www.limoneira.com
Grocery shoppers have more on their plates than ever. They’re time-pressed and focused on convenience and health for their families. They’re also looking for simple solutions and sustainability AND they don’t want to give up great taste.
During this podcast, registered dietitian nutritionist Megan Roosevelt, founder and CEO of Healthy Grocery Girl®, and John Chamberlain, Vice President of Marketing at Limoneira, introduce you to “Take a Healthy Stand.” This program is designed to assist retailers in meeting all these shopper needs. This fast-paced podcast also addresses produce as nature’s pharmacy.
www.limoneira.com
Welcome to Lost In The Supermarket, the podcast that goes behind the shelves, w ho w ill look at the latest grocery trends, the latest health information and how to make every shopping trip the best it can be for your shoppers. I'm Phil Lempert and on today's podcast we talk about how the produce department is nature's pharmacy. Take a healthy stand and the produce department is nature's pharmacy is our title. Grocery shoppers have more on their plates than ever before. They're time pressed and focused on convenience and health for their families. They're also looking for simple solutions and sustainability and they don't want to give up g reat taste. During today's podcast, registered d ietitian, nutritionist, Megan Roosevelt, founder and CEO of healthy grocery girl and John Chamberlain, vice president of marketing at Limoneira introduce you to take a healthy stand. This program is designed to assist retailers in meeting all o f the s hopper needs. This fast paced podcast also addresses produce as nature's pharmacy. Limoneira is a$500 million global agribusiness, a leader in sustainability and has a harvest at Limoneira, a 500 acre live walk, work community with school facilities, parks and athletic fields and miles of hiking trails. Limoneira has 15,000 acres of land in California, Arizona, Chile and Argentina there take a healthy stand educational campaign, utilizes research that's supported by the national Institute of health to help consumers with easy and delicious ways to optimize health. One of the many components of taking a healthy stand is the produce department is nature's pharmacy, their new app which cross tabulate 55 health concerns and desired outcomes with 74 fruits and vegetables. John is also the head of produce marketing association sustainability committee and is a member of United fresh Washington DC marketing committee. He sits on the board of the Ventura County economic development association as well. Megan is a registered dietician, nutritionist, founder and CEO of healthy grocery girl and the host and producer for the number one family friendly dietitian channel on YouTube with over 4 million total views. Megan is the spokesperson for luminaires take a healthy stand campaign and video host and producer for their YouTube channel featuring weekly citrus inspired recipes, DIY lifestyle and beauty videos. She is an internationally published author, host, producer, as well as a nutrition expert for regional and national TV and magazine. Her passion is sharing simple, healthy recipes that the whole family can enjoy. John and Megan, welcome to lost in the supermarket. Thank you, Phil. Thanks for having us. So John, let's start with you. Can you describe, take a healthy stand? What's it all about?
John:Yeah, so we found that based on research, consumers are choosing to make the most of their caloric intake. Um, you've probably heard about the growth of functional foods and they are set to outpace the growth of conventional foods around the world across both developed and emerging markets globally. And three fourths of us consumers believe that healthy foods and beverages can be used to increase the quality of their lives. In addition, more than a quarter of Americans believe functional foods and beverages can be used in place of some medicines. Many consumers are using foods and beverages for that and treat many health concerns including heart disease, high blood pressure, lack of energy, intestinal irregularity, and many other conditions. So the foundation for our ticky, a healthy stand campaign is simple messaging that's supported by research, by the Institute of national health and other responsible objective organizations.
Phil:So John and Megan, and I think I need both of you to weigh in on this with everything that you've just said with the fact that three quarters of consumers get it, they understand that what you put in your body is going to relate to how you feel, how, how well you live, why aren't more people doing that? Why aren't more people eating more fruits and vegetables? Megan? One, you answer first and then I'll throw it to John.
Megan:I think one of the number one barriers to adding more fruits and vegetables into your diet is time. People are busy, they're working, they're raising families, and produce can sometimes take a little bit more prep than a convenience item from Washington shopping and finding really enjoyable ways to cook and prepare produce. So I think time is one of the big factors that people feel or maybe are not confident in the kitchen for how to easily prepare recipes, which is where dieticians and retail dieticians can really come into play to educate and equip shoppers and consumers with how to do that. Um, and the second is just education. I think that we all get stuck in our ways of the favorite foods that we like to enjoy. Um, and so again, with the retail dieticians and dieticians, we can really help educate families, shoppers, consumers on not only the benefits of these foods, but really how to easily incorporate them into our everyday life.
Phil:So John, if you had an unlimited budget blank check to get consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables, what would you do?
John:As you know, Megan just said it's communication. So I think it would be just going out and ensuring and working with different organizations cause you can't do everything yourself. But working and partnering with others. I mean we do it already, but I think we would just amplify it and share each other's messages about, okay, it's not that hard. It's easy and you can do things in advance and um, yeah, of course, you know, put more money behind it too.
Phil:And you know, certainly if I look at Megan's videos, um, especially on the recipes, there's a lot of assets that are available too, whether it's retail dieticians or culinarians or produce managers, uh, to be able to use your videos to educate their shoppers.
John:Yeah, I mean, making this a great job with the videos. They're, they're fast, they're paced. More people are living on their phones right now too, and they're really, really busy. I mean, think of it, you know, you're, you're a mom, you're out there, you're shopping. It's one of many tasks you've got to do. So you want to make it as easy as she can do to get the information and create recipes and make meals that are just easy. Do intensive.
Phil:So John, you tell me that the produce department is nature's pharmacy. What does that really mean? Okay.
John:Kind of goes back to the fact that everybody is very, very busy. You know, things are speeding up for everybody. So we're trying to make things as easy as possible and we want to have people eat in a, in a more healthy and sustainable way. So, and we've also seen that consumers are quick to turn to the pharmacy or supplement aisle to aid or prevent common ailments. So what we've done is we've created an app and it's called the produce department is nature's pharmacy. And it shows consumers that much of what they, uh, what they need can easily and inexpensively be found in the produce aisle. And so we've crossed tabulated 67 health concerns, including the need to increase good cholesterol, prevent cardiovascular disease or ease insomnia as well as desired outcomes, including improving energy levels are reducing wrinkles with 74 fruits and vegetables. All of the, all of these can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores and they contain 12 essential vitamins and 11 essential minerals. And they address these concerns or help with desire outcomes. And by selecting a concern or an outcome, the app then generates foods in the produce aisle that can help consumers achieve their health goals. It's just one part of taking a healthy stand and we're doing other things too.
Phil:So Megan, as a registered dietician, one of the things that I hear often is instead of taking supplements, if we could get these vitamins and nutrients from real food, it's going to be better absorbed in our system. It just a better quality of nutrition. Would you agree with that?
Megan:It would and medication is definitely needed at times it is lifesaving, but for many individuals it may not be the necessary first step to be able to help to cure, prevent or reduce symptoms of what someone is going through. Auto immune diseases are on the rise. Um, many people either have or know someone who struggles with diabetes, heart health of food, allergy condition and food really is medicine. And nutritional therapy is something that a lot of people can turn to once we really start to understand how different specific foods can support our health. Um, people can see big in their health a reduce a reduction in symptoms that they may be struggling by turning to food as medicine, whether in whole or in addition to compliment the medication that they're on. And a lot of people do find that when they're turning to food as medicine, sometimes they're able to come off certain medications, which overall longterm can be a lot more affordable for people. It definitely helps to fix or solve the root cause of what their conditions may be versus where medications can sometimes be a bandaid or a mask. And I think that's what people really want. They don't want to just temporarily solve their conditions and have to be on medication for the rest of their lives. But a lot of people really want to essentially be healed from or put into remission these conditions that they're struggling with and feel better. And so we go to the grocery store on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. We all need to eat. And so why not? If we're already eating, why not eat the foods that are gonna help really nourish our body, help us be whole and healthy. And this app that we've created is a really great resource and a place to educate and get more information. And then in addition to the recipe videos that we create, which most of our recipe videos are 60 seconds or less, they're quick to watch. We post the recipes on our website, healthy grocery calls.com and also on the narrow website where people can just view our print the recipes as well. So we make it really accessible for people to really learn how to incorporate food as medicine.
Phil:So I would also think that in addition for consumers to have the produce department is nature's pharmacy app on their mobile device. RDS, retail dietician should have it as well because you know at at a moment's notice you can just access all this information. So let's talk a little bit about retail dieticians. Why do you think it's important to work with retail dieticians? Megan?
Megan:We still, dieticians are really UpToDate and knowledgeable about current dietary trends, special diets, and really helping people put together quick, easy meals. And for many people, a retail dietician is a much more accessible expert that they can connect with because they're, you can schedule an appointment and have a consultation with a registered dietician. However, we go to the grocery store, like I said, every, every week. And so if there is a retail dietician who's so accessible, is right there out of place that you're frequently visiting, that's a really great resource for consumers to connect with an expert and get that information. So we want to support the experts that are supporting consumers to really be healthy and live their best life.
Phil:And also, you know, to your point of being experts, you know, registered dieticians, um, have to be certified. There's a lot of training involved. Uh, they, they are truly are the experts versus a lot of consumers today. Um, going out there and just Googling something a half of which comes up, correct, half of which comes up wrong, but we don't know what's right and we don't know what's wrong. So there's the problem. And also we've got a whole bunch of people out there now that are perceived as experts who are not registered dietitians who don't have the training and very often don't have any either medical or scientific background. So how can a consumer make sure that you know the information that they're getting or that they're reading online is accurate?
Megan:You make a really good point and I'm glad that you brought that up. I always like to say that all registered dieticians are nutritionists, but not all nutritionists are registered dieticians and just like you said, registered dieticians. We go through a minimum of four to six years of school receiving a bachelor's of science and health and nutrition. We then go on to do a one to two year dietetic internship, which is essentially working in hospitals, outpatient clinics, community centers, WIC, dialysis centers, all these different facets of where dieticians may work. So we really get to see what's, what does it like working with all these different types of populations and communities. We then set for an RD exam, which is very extensive. And then we're required to do continuing education credits, going to seminars, reading books, going to conferences, uh, research studies so that we're staying up to date with the most recent research studies and information out there to keep our credentials. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist because there's no regulation for the word, just nutritionist or health coach. Um, there's a lot of online courses that maybe you can take within six months or a year even and, and have the title health coach or nutritionist. But it's definitely not the same as I'm a registered dietician. And it's also important to note that a registered dietician is the only nutrition expert that's recognized by the medical community as a true nutrition expert. So if you want it to work in a hospital, you would have to have those registered dietician credentials. You couldn't just be a health coach or a nutritionist. So the simplest answer to your question is you just need to make sure that who you're working with, who you're seeking out is a registered dietitian. Or we also go by registered dietician, nutritionist, and in short that is R D or RDN. those are the credentials you want to look for. You may see additional credentials such as a certified diabetic educator, someone may be specialized in sports nutrition. You may see someone with lots of letters after their name, but the most important is RD or RDN.
Phil:Got it. So John, we hear a lot about sustainability, especially in in the world of produce and agriculture. Is there a connection between sustainability and nutrition?
John:Yeah, and this is a really important topic. So we were just recently at the produce association with PMA in Anaheim and there was a panel on it discussing it because a lot is going on in the world. So we've got changes in the fiscal environment. Those, you know, there's climate change, there's acts altered access to water and you know, and they directly impact human health as well as the inability to produce food. And you know, the world's population is you know just growing exponentially and make seed 9 billion by 2050 and there's also an unprecedented increase in the global middle class. And so all of this is taxing resources. We know in California that water spend a huge issue when we need water for boats, urban uses and agricultural uses. So it just impacts our food and impacts that are attrition in the food. So now what you're also seeing with the global middle class growing the demand for animal based products, oils and processed beverages and snacks, and that's impacting nutrition. So the health status, and Megan knows this too, and I'm sure you guys do too, Phil, is that okay, going work complex. We've got unacceptably high prevalence of obesity infections and size, simultaneous risks of nutrition related noncommunicable disease, including type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease, diseases and cancers. And the food system is primary, the primary delivery vehicle for nutrition efforts, you know, to ameliorate nutrition-related health concerns and from, they're subject to the above pressure. So climate is changing and we're impacting the food system and therefore also impacting the nutrition of people. And what they're eating.
Phil:So when we talk about nutrition, different populations here in the U S and certainly globally have different needs and different accessibility. When it comes to nutrition. We hear a lot about food deserts. John, what are you doing to work in these food deserts to make sure that these populations are also getting high quality, healthy produce.
John:It kind of intersects with each other and you see disparity with respect to incomes around the world. So unfortunately people at the lower income levels, uh, you know, and it's impacted by you know, grocery and you know, food service. They just don't have access to fresh, fresh food. It's not, it's not easy. It's easy to get a bag of chinos, not as easy to get a fresh Apple, you know, or some other growers, some great vegetables. And not only that, these populations, they really haven't been educated about nutrition and how to get good food or fresh food. So we're working with a group, they're wonderful. It's called a lemonade day and they're useless. And they teach kids, this is a separate thing, but they teach kids about entrepreneurship, which is another thing that we're kind of lacking in the United States. Just teaching about how to be an entrepreneur. Not everybody needs to go to a four year college, not everything, but you know, trade schools and there are some great courses. And this one guy who developed this restaurant chains on raising tans, uh, is he was behind it and he was, he's of one of the members of lemonade day or one of the sponsor of lemonade day. So there's over a million families in the program throughout the United States that take part. Part of our mission with lemonade day is to help them get healthy produce into these areas of the country that don't have access to fresh food, which is, which are called food deserts.
Phil:So when I take a look at what we're doing, what we're talking about as far as sustainability and nutrition and food deserts and everything that we've talked about, what comes to mind is education top of the list. What are you both doing? And Megan, why don't we start with you? What are you both doing to teach future generations about this intersection of agriculture and nutrition?
Megan:Well, social media is such a great way to lead people of all generations, but specifically younger population. Um, a lot of younger people are on social media and so it's a really great way to be relevant being on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. And so the content that we create and put out there is definitely a way to reach people to teach them about nutrition. But also again, going back to working with the grocery stores, with retail dieticians, a lot of younger population go grocery shopping with their parents. And so it's a great way for them is they're accompanying their parents at the grocery store. We create different campaigns to support these different grocery stores, the different initiatives. Uh, we can put together recipe videos for those stores creating in store sampling, um, with, with recipe cards in store events. And we really like to support the grocery stores that are providing Limoneira as citrus because that's just another place that people are going to, not only grocery shop but get information.
Phil:And John, what are you doing to really teach people about agriculture?
John:Well, in, in addition to all the great things that Megan just mentioned, we're very lucky. So Limoneira has 126 year old hump bunny and it started by pioneers and it just came out. So we have a great ranch out here and we bring third and fourth graders out here. And the kids, many of these kids don't really understand where their food comes from. You know, they just think it shows up the grocery store, right? So we show them our lemon and avocado groves and then we take them to our packing house and show them our sustainability projects. And you know, kids are really interested in, you know, they hear about climate change, they, you know, it's kind of a scary topic for them. And so we want to help them address it and show how people, you know, women are, others are really helping. Okay. Being sustainable. So we have, sure, you know, seven solar orchards across our company and they produce 7 billion kilowatt hours. Um, and it helps reduce a lot of CO2. 86,000 tons of CO2 over a 25 year period. So we do, we teach them about that. And then we have in adjacent to ours, our major solar fields here on the ranch. We got a Tesla 400 kilowatt scalable energy storage system and it reduces energy. So if you know, you're starting to see brownouts and you're seeing energy losses I mean we take out fire damage in California, you know, you want to have systems where you can use the energy, especially in high energy day parts so you can discharge the battery and use the battery, the store or the electricity from battery to use. And then we also have little English miniature sheep that run underneath the solar panels. And you know, the grace, let me go back, yet, you have miniature sheep, you have a miniature sheep are really hard workers. Um, and they're, uh, and so instead of up on a bunch of guys out here with weed whackers underneath, right? You know, you got the sheep and the sheep are out there and they're working really hard and you see this in Europe a lot. You know, we're on, uh, they're just part of the natural way of, you know, making sure that the pastures and everything are, are maintained and not overgrown. So the sheep are working out here, you know, there under the solar panels, the Tesla battery project. Um, then we also have a seven patented water technology ponds and water is a huge issue. And so this, these ponds treat 3 million gallons of water to California title two 22 drinking standards. So it's just we get the water from our p acking h ouse and we also get the water from our f arm w orker housing, artificial intelligence hasn't gotten t o a point yet where the lemon will fall off the tree automatically into a b in. So you need people t o actually r ight. And it's very expensive to live in California and these people really do the hardest work of all. And so we have, t here a re 2 58 f arm w orker homes for our ag families and o f water is processed through these panted water ons. And then also from our p acking h ouse to clean water standards. And then another thing that we teach them about i s what's going on with landfills. And there's legislation in California, I think i n other States too, nationally that says we're filling up our landfills too much and there's too much nothing that comes out of landfills. So or o ut o f landfills that the police, the ozone layer. So instead of the green waste from your home going to a landfill, it goes to a, a 10 acre facility on our property that treats it and there's, there's too much nitrogen in it. But well we do as we, we grind it up with, um, when materials and well doors and things like that. And then you age it and it reduces nitrogen fertilizer and reduces our water by a third. It creates a really healthier Woodstock. So I think the kids are really interested in the half there. And she's done with her food comes from, they like to know about the different citrus varieties. And they also like to know that, you know, the lemons go not only the grocery stores here, but it goes to grocery stores all over the United States and around the world.
Phil:So John, it sounds like what you guys are doing is fabulous and really at the lead of what all of agriculture should be doing from educating kids, educating and working with retail dietitians, all the assets that you've got, if people want to download the produce department is nature's pharmacy app, how can they do that?
John:So it's available on the Apple store, and it's also on Google play. So we have an Android version and also the alpha version, and we would love it. And we, so Megan's talked about the different ways in which we can use to take a healthy stand, but we really want to support the retail dietitians and nutritionists and grocery stores and try to help them with easy information too. So everything can be customizable and with their messaging too, because they've got their own programs, which are wonderful and we just want to augment them.
Phil:Terrific. Well, Megan, John, thanks so much for joining us today on Lost in the Supermarket.
John:Thank you very much, Phil.
Megan:Thanks for having us.