Annette asked me a couple weeks ago to write a guest blog for Nutrition Outlook. I immediately said yes, thinking that I would write about my experiences thus far with the the NuVal™ System at Skogen’s Festival Foods.  Then I read her latest post, “Think Positive,” and my thoughts took me in a different direction.

Whether you are sitting on a non-profit community board, serving as a government official, or in a grocery store, it is a challenge to introduce new ideas and shift paradigms as you always run the risk of offending someone with an opposing viewpoint. I appreciate hearing various opinions and feedback; this feedback helps to make new programs and policies better.  What does get to me on occasion though are individuals who don’t take the opportunity to look at the big picture. Instead, they tend to immediately find the negatives and focus on those. In addition, those people who point out the imperfections rarely offer a better solution.  It is easy to point out what’s wrong, but what can you do to fix it?

So if there is a possibility of negative feedback, why would a grocer go ahead and launch a program such as NuVal – especially when business was doing alright without it? Here is a bit about our story…

Skogen’s Festival Foods is built on a culture of servant leadership, especially the teachings of Jim Hunter. Mr. Hunter says that if you wish to be a leader, you must first learn to serve the legitimate needs of others. He defines servant leadership as the skill of influencing people to enthusiastically work toward goals for the common good with character that inspires confidence.  

While business was moving along just fine without NuVal in our stores, our leadership team decided that providing additional guidance – namely nutrition guidance – was the right thing to do for the loyal guests who shop our stores.  We wanted to provide easy, but still reliable, nutrition information at the time of purchase, and discussions led us to the NuVal™ Nutritional Scoring System.

In addition to serving people, you also have to show commitment to the choices you’ve made and the responsibilities you have “signed up for.”  As Festival’s dietitian, these thoughts reverberate in my head on a continual basis. I take every opportunity to share the facts about the NuVal System, the science behind the scores, explain how the program can be used by the average consumer, and answer any questions that might come up in the mean time. I am committed to teaching others about the NuVal™ Nutritional Scoring System.

My point with this lengthy post is that negative comments can easily dash the positive hopes and aspirations of others (this is exactly what those who speak them hope for!). However, it should only dampen the mood momentarily as there is often no further action taken because the negative approach typically does not offer a solution; those focusing on a positive approach tend to have a plan of action in place, and will persist beyond the few negative comments.  If you have good intentions and take the appropriate actions, you will be successful in making positive changes!

Servant leadership, and the teachings of Jim Hunter, can be applied to everything in life. I intend to continue serving others as Festival’s dietitian, and NuVal™ Nutritional Scoring System is a very helpful tool in doing so.

Can you utilize servant leadership in your life?

Visit www.nuval.com to learn more about the system Stephanie Walker, RD, CD includes in her servant leadership.

On Friday, I sat through a round of presentations at the Institute of Medicine’s Committee Meeting on Front of Packaging Labeling Systems.  In layman’s terms, the committee is trying to decide the best method for highlighting “healthy”  or “better for you” foods on the front of the food packages so consumers don’t have to study the in-depth information on the Nutrition Facts Panel.

The committee’s job is due diligence, and I get that.  We want our government and policy organizations to be researching, investigating and exploring all the options.  But at some point, from my perspective, the discussion and debate becomes exhausting.  I’m a dietitian, I truly care about these issues, but the ability of my colleagues to poke holes in and debate the various systems, and the advantages and disadvantages becomes exhausting.

And at this point, I call to mind a saying that many have said.  Perfect is the enemy of good.  While he didn’t coin the phrase, Dr. David Katz, the inventor of the NuVal scoring system I work with, will often bring it to mind when the debate gets too far into the minutia, too far into the details, too far into the weeds.

If what we want is a perfect solution, we’ll never get there.  If what we want is a really good system that can help consumers make more nutritious food decisions, we’re there.

Visit www.nuval.com to meet Dr. David Katz and to explore a really good, but perhaps not perfect, system.

It happens to Al Gore all the time.  He publicly talks about “green” companies that he thinks are doing things the right way, and gets questioned as to whether he is promoting those companies because he has money invested in them.  Gore’s answer is that his critics have it backwards — he is putting his money where his mouth is by investing in companies he believes are making a difference in the environment.

The analogy can be drawn to the work that both Dr. David Katz and I do with NuVal LLC.  He is a medical doctor, but also the inventor of the algorithm that fuels the NuVal scores.  I’m a dietitian, a trained nutrition expert, but my views related to the world of nutrition guidance systems are always suspect in light of who signs my paycheck.  The suggestion is always there that Dr. Katz and my opinions are not valid because we are biased.

But isn’t it just possible that, like with Al Gore, the egg comes before the chicken?  Is it unrealistic to believe that before taking my job with NuVal, I did my homework, studied the landscape, and decided NuVal was the best tool out there with the potential to change consumers’ lives, and that I wanted to be a part of making this a reality?

In my professional opinion and my opinion as a consumer, a shopper, a mom who sometimes struggles to get healthy food on the table like all of you, NuVal is the best – the best system, the best guidance, the best tool.  And that’s true no matter who signs my paycheck.

Visit Guidance on Nutrition Guidance to read Dr. David’s Katz’s views on the topic, and check out www.nuval.com to see how this system can change your life.