I do my best to feed my family healthy and nourishing meals and for the most part, I think I do a pretty good job. But sometimes deciding which foods are the best choices is tricky. I try to always glance at food labels and check the amount of sugar, protein, fibre or other nutrients that some of my purchases contain. But I simply don’t have time to compare every variety of yogurt to determine which brand has the least sugar and fat while still providing protein and calcium.
So what’s a busy parent to do? Turn to the Guiding Stars! This new program from President’s Choice is in Loblaws stores across Canada and gives popular foods a simple star rating so that families can determine with a quick glance which choices are the healthiest. The system grades foods based on a credit and debit system and then assigns the star ranking. Things like vitamins, minerals and fibre increase a food’s ranking while things like saturated fat and added sugar move it down. The program makes good food choices easier and, best of all, it’s easy enough for a child to understand!
The ranking system is a great starting point when shopping, but PC has even taken the program one step further with a personalized Guiding Stars Personal Profile. This free program is offered to PC Plus program members and automatically gauges their food choices online. Just sign in and you’ll find a percentage number that lets you know how many healthy choices you’re making, easy suggestions to improve your score and more. It takes tracking food choices to a whole new level so that living a healthier lifestyle isn’t a hassle.
Over the next few months, I’ll be tracking my family’s food choices and seeing how the PC Guiding Stars program helps us improve our lifestyle. Keep an eye out for updates on our progress, and make sure to check the number of stars on the foods you eat the next time you visit a Loblaws store. Even better, sign up for your free PC Plus membership to seeing what grade your food choices earn you. It’s a fun and easy way to get the whole family eating healthier!
The guiding stars program is an excellent way for consumers to learn how to make better and healthier choices.I think it’s great!
Awesome Kat, our daughter loves the fact that she too can participate in this program and make healthy choices for our family.
Great program! Kat, I love your video! You’re such a natural! Oh, and your little one is adorable! P.S. I need to learn how to make better videos! LOL
Seriously, Christine, if you haven’t already, check out Windows Live Movie Maker. I seriously LOVE it. And let your kids play with the camera! My oldest has enough footage for about twenty YouTube videos and is determined to be the next video star, so I told him I’d make him his own channel. Lol Just teach them to edit so you don’t have to do it all!
I am a little sceptical about this program. It is a quick way to make it through the supermarket shelves thinking you are making good choices, (and you obviously may be making better choices which is great) but there are products that are high in sugar, salt and fat that get too high a rating for my liking.
Good point, Jan! I think with any food ranking system, we still have to take personal dietary needs and goals into account as well. For example, I don’t believe in artificial sweetener, so even if artificially sweetened yogurt gets 3 stars, it’s not something I’ll be buying. But for making those quick choices between two or three different brands when you’re buying the product anyways, I really like the star system so far. :)
I agree with Jan. I’m not a fan of these endorsed dietary programs. Call me paranoid but many have been just to promote certain products despite proven flaws (Health Check with high sodium…) And while I love the discounts I get for buying with my PC card the tracking of purchases leaves me uneasy….
That being said – surprised to see I’m listed as level 4 for my banner/region/province in the Stars program.
Looking forward to beginning my own journey under the stars! Will be interesting to see how I really do!
What a fabulous program to teach the consumer how to make healthier choices for their family. I cannot wait to check it out next time I am at Loblaws.
I can’t believe I didn’t notice it, Tammy! I went into the store and wondered how I’d missed those stars!
The Guiding Stars is such a great program. I love how the program has made it so easy to tell at a glance which foods are the healthier option.
{PS Love the video!}
Love the Guiding Stars program! It makes it so much easier to find the healthiest food for your family plus takes the guess work out of having to compare brand after brand. Excellent demonstration! Thanks for sharing!
Such a great program and I love how easy the stars make it for choosing healthy foods. We were at the store last night and the kids were so excited to point out foods with the stars, especially the 3 stars. :)
It is a great program, i love how my kids find it “exciting” to find foods with 3 stars.. it actually got me out of buying some unhealthy foods because the kids realized it had no stars so really wasn’t a nutritious choice!
That’s what I love especially too, Paula! It’s so much fun seeing my boys get excited about healthy eating!