Connie Clifford, a project specialist for Hannaford supermarkets' Healthy Living Initiative, showed a slide of canned lentil soup to the roughly 18 people gathered in the Biomedical Center Monday night.
"Why don't soups earn very many stars?" she asked the audience.
"Sodium," they said in unison.
She clicked to the next slide. "How about yogurts?"
"Sugar," they answered together.
Clifford explained that much of the yogurt Hannaford stocks has too much sugar to meet the chain's new rating system for healthy food. The new system gives products between zero and three stars based on their nutritional value.
The audience members were participants in Shape Up R.I., a statewide initiative to get Rhode Islanders slimmer and healthier by competing on teams to meet fitness or weight loss goals. Started last year by Rajiv Kumar '05 MD'09, Shape Up R.I. is now in its second year and has about 7,000 participants, including over 400 Brown employees. Shape Up R.I. organizes workshops like Clifford's at locations throughout the state during the competition, which runs from January to June.
As last night's program began, some participants won door prizes like free trips to one of several gyms, an appointment with a personal trainer or a pair of ski lift tickets. Kumar then introduced the night's lecture topic, emphasizing the importance of education in improving public health.
"The only way we can reverse the obesity epidemic is to learn," he said. He praised Hannaford's star system as a "shining example" of consumer health education, adding, "what you learn today you can take with you anywhere."
Clifford explained the Hannaford rating system, called "Guiding Star," which she said makes choosing healthy foods cheaper and easier. "It's a time-saver to not have to worry about reading all the labels of the foods you buy," she said.
"Right," the crowd murmured.
Cheryl Souza, a researcher in the University's Center for Statistical Sciences, said she thought the Hannaford system was a great idea. "I wish there was something in the area," she said. The closest Hannaford stores are in Taunton, Easton and Uxbridge, Mass.
Last night's workshop was the first Souza has attended through Shape Up R.I. She described the event as "absolutely wonderful" and said she looks forward to attending the other planned Shape Up R.I. activities, which Kumar said include yoga, Pilates, dance, nutrition and health cooking classes such as last week's "Mediterranean cooking" demonstration by Assistant Professor of Medicine Mary Flynn. Kumar said some participants are especially excited about an upcoming basketball clinic at Brown's courts with Men's Basketball Head Coach Craig Robinson.
