Giant Food offering nutrition, healthy living classes online

Giant Food is looking to help various communities with free, weekly online nutrition and healthy living classes.

Aimed at providing support to the greater community, as well as to those with chronic illnesses, the classes look to serve as a preventive measure to ensure healthy living habits are being followed between doctor visits, the Landover, Md.-based company said.

“Research shows that even limited short-term access to regular health care during a crisis can have long-lasting effects on lifestyle conditions like diabetes and heart disease,” Lisa Coleman, director of healthy living at Giant Food, said. “Our customers are cooking more, often on a limited budget, and are feeling uncertain about how to best adapt their routines. Our goal is to provide easily accessible support during this stressful time, which can often exacerbate issues like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and more.”

Led by its in-house team of 11 licensed nutrition professionals, participants can choose from four different types of classes, including:

• Nutrition at Noon, which is conducted by nutritionists from Monday to Friday at noon EST, consists of 15-minute question and answer sessions across such topics as healthy snacking habits, pantry staples and healthy meal ideas to make at home;
• Eating for Heart Health, which looks to teach viewers about foods that promote heart health, managing cholesterol and hypertension, improving blood pressure and pulse rate, and other heart vitals;
• 6 Steps to a Healthier You, which aims to help participants learn how to identify and adopt simple lifestyle changes to help lead healthier lives; and
• Eating for Prediabetes and Diabetes, which teaches practical ways to keep blood sugar level rates in check, as well as simple lifestyle changes to help prevent progression.

In addition, Giant also is offering free and personalized online consultations with its team of registered and licensed dietitians for those who have further questions about their health and wellness. The consultations are by appointment only and can be made at GiantFood.com/nutrition.