It is now more important than ever to be in good health and to maintain a sound immune system. Fruit and vegetables have a big role to play here. There are many ways to communicate this message even more clearly. In this newsletter, we would like to give you some tips on working with the theme 'Healthy living.' Will you help us to give the vegetable sector a boost?
Helping you lead a healthy lifestyle
A healthy lifestyle starts with healthy eating. With various tasty vegetables every day. TNI aims to make top-quality vegetables available to everyone and to entice people all over Europe to eat more vegetables.
More and more consumers are discovering that vegetables help maintain a healthy lifestyle and a sound immune system. During the past few months, this trend has seen rapid growth. Many of us have changed our habits since the beginning of the pandemic. We are paying more attention to our health. Worldwide, 11% of the population has begun to eat more healthy foods. Almost half of Britain's population has become more aware of the importance of their own health. For that reason, 39% have started eating a healthier diet. In the UK, we can see that sales of fruiting vegetables have increased by no less than 8.85% in September 2020 in comparison to September 2019. We are all eating more vegetables and fewer unhealthy snacks than we did before COVID-19. We are more often at home; therefore, we have more time to prepare healthy foods and to pay attention to our diet and health. People in Britain are now eating 3.4 portions of fruit and veg out of their 'five a day', in comparison to last year's 3.1 portions. A slight increase but we still haven't reached our goal of five portions a day. If we continue to grow with such little steps, we won't reach our goal in five years’ time. There's still a lot of work to be done here!
We know that a strong immune system is very important, but we can still learn a lot about the role that fruit and vegetables can play in promoting good health. The pandemic has pushed us in the right direction and now it is very important to make sure that we keep up the good work. And that we even take it a step further!
We hope to encourage consumers to eat more vegetables by letting them know about the healthy aspects of our products. The retailer can also encourage the customer to make healthy choices. There are plenty more available opportunities. At TNI, we like to help and share our ideas on encouraging the consumers to eat more vegetables. In this way, we help to promote healthy living.
Column: Healthy eating is very important right now
Sometimes, things get worse before they get better. That is very true of the present COVID-19 period. Now that our health is under threat, interest in healthy eating and living is showing an explosive growth.
That is positive because a healthier lifestyle is rewarded with a fitter, more energetic and an even happier life. That also holds true for the period after COVID-19. It is particularly important to eat sufficient vegetables if you suffer from heart and vascular diseases, diabetes, depression and many other health issues. Vegetables contain many vitamins, fibres and antioxidants which contribute to a stable blood pressure, an active immune system and a healthy weight. All of these factors are important now during the COVID-19 period, and afterwards. Therefore, it's time to get started.
There is already an interest in healthy eating. We can see a growing trend in 'lifestyle as medicine.' Complementary health practitioners, nutritionists, lifestyle coaches and dieticians see that people are seeking a better lifestyle. We advise consumers to eat a lot of varied, colourful vegetables that are fresh and home-grown. A variety of different vegetables is the best advice for improving the immune system and promoting a speedy recovery. This is a good opportunity for retailers to help us make eating vegetables even more attractive.
When consumers change their eating habits they start to pay more attention to a list of ingredients. Which nutrients do you get? Vegetables have a healthy image but many people do not know what nutrients they actually contain. Did you know that a red pepper contains three times more vitamin C than an orange? Or that a sweet potato contains more fibre than brown bread? Strawberries contain less sugar than apples and curly kale contains more calcium than milk. Cucumbers contain fewer calories (13 kcal per 100g) than a rice cake 27 kcal per piece à 7g) and they make a perfect snack. And so on! People are always surprised when I tell them this.
Consumers are now actively seeking a healthy lifestyle. A varied range of products, information about their health advantages and a little push in the right direction by the retailers is just what they need. Are you ready to get up and start a healthy lifestyle, too?
Margriet Schouten, nutritionist
Voeding&JIJ
www.voedingenjij.nl
Roll up your sleeves!
We can all do a lot better each day when it comes to a healthier diet containing more vegetables. There are ways in which retailers can help shoppers to do this. Go on, roll up your sleeves! A supermarket cannot make its customers healthier. It can make the healthy food choice the easiest choice for its shoppers. Supermarkets can do this through the composition of their range, special offers and store design. Retailers sometimes hold campaigns related to healthy eating and these can inspire other supermarkets.
Good, clear communication is the best way to help shoppers to make healthy choices. You can promote healthy eating in the supermarket. You can, for example, use nutrient labels to indicate the nutritional values of products. That idea can also be used successfully for the fruit and vegetable shelves.
Moreover, the current digital technology makes it easy to couple healthy purchasing to personal health goals. A rewards system gives the shopper an extra impulse. In this manner, you can also offer the consumer the right inspiration.
Finally, special offers can be a powerful way to encourage people to eat healthy foods. Especially now, when things are out of the ordinary and we do not know what will happen in the near future, it is important to make buying healthy products attractive. If eating more fruit and vegetables can help build up your immune system and help keep you fit and healthy they are definitely worth the money! Inspire shoppers to put tasty, healthy meals on the table which are good for their bodies and their bank balance. Killing two birds with one stone!
Our healthy heroes
Vegetables are an important part of our daily healthy diet and they contribute to a healthy lifestyle. TNI offers top-quality fruiting vegetables. These are vitamin-rich veggies. Really healthy heroes.
Take, for example, our Harvest of Health tomatoes, They are the very best that nature has to offer. They are extra-tasty and bursting with vitamin C, potassium and lycopene. Vitamin C helps promote a healthy immune system and it is good for your blood pressure and muscles. Lycopene is a bioactive compound that works as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are important for our health.
The bell pepper is a vitamin hero. The red variety contains more vitamin C. It is also a natural source of vitamin E and fibre which helps you feel satisfied.
Cucumbers are also a natural source of fibre and vitamin K which helps to keep your bones healthy.
TNI has a wide knowledge of healthy vegetables. We would like to help you share that information with the shoppers. We will be pleased to help you! Would you like to find out more about vitamin-rich veggies? Check out our range.
Vegetable boost
Consumers look for inspiration on social media to help them find healthy ideas for making dinner. At TNI, our Vegetable Boost campaign supports the retailers in offering new inspiration and tips for the consumers. Would you like more information? We will be pleased to help you!
What are we eating today?
The most important question every day: what are we eating today? Food Fellows have developed recipes with inspiration for more easy, nutritious meals for every day. You can make these meals in a flash with Food Fellows sauces. These sauces come as a tasty bonus with these products. In this way, TNI is helping retailers to provide the consumers with the inspiration that they have asked for.
A lot of vitamins!
The new year’s resolutions encourage shoppers to prioritise healthy eating again. We have some great ideas with which you can inspire consumers to choose healthy and cheap products. Ask us about the possibilities.
