Hy-Vee Starts New Dietitian-Supported Subscription Wellness Service

Dietitian Alea Lester Fite knows there are many possible barriers between customers she works with through Hy-Vee and eating a more balanced, healthy diet. She says, often, we’re all influenced by cultural, behavioral, stress-related and family traditional factors, just to name a few.

“My dad would be like: ‘Steaks for dinner!’ and I was like, ‘And…?’ ‘I’m making steak for dinner!’ ‘And?'” said Fite, who is a dietitian at Hy-Vee’s stores in Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, New Hope, Plymouth and Robbinsdale. “So getting customers to start to think a meal is multiple things.”

Now, customers who pay for Hy-Vee’s Healthy You subscription program can get access to health and wellness content online, health screenings and two 30-minute sessions per month with a dietitian like Fite in a store.

“It’s not necessarily the first thing that people think about when they think about a grocery store, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense: having that nutrition professional where the food is,” she said.

Hy-Vee Corporate Dietitian Alea Lester Fite goes over how to choose certain products at the Robbinsdale store.

Fite will accompany her clients through the store if they wish, and often they start with fresh produce.

“People are afraid to buy too much bad produce, because they’re afraid to let it go bad,” she said.

Fite encourages clients to think more about different ways to prepare fruits and vegetables and how to incorporate them into meals for the whole week if possible.

“It’s honestly the area where people struggle the most,” Fite said.

She helped explain the best way to approach certain kinds of bread and other grains like rice or quinoa, and how customers can scan labels to make sure they’re not getting extra sodium, sugar, or fat in an attempt to incorporate more food groups into their meals.

But really the goal of programs like Healthy You, Fite said, is to encourage more wellness and better lifestyles.

“I think people are starting to understand that prevention is important and can often be less expensive than treating something after the fact, and just easier and better for people in the long run,” she said.

The Healthy You subscription program is available at these participating locations.

Maple Grove | New Hope | Plymouth | Robbinsdale | Twin Cities