LANDOVER, Md. — Giant Food, the leading greater Washington D.C. regional grocery chain, today announced that it will be offering free, weekly online nutrition and healthy living classes aimed at supporting the greater community, as well as individuals with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. At a time when the CDC recommends individuals postpone regular, non-urgent healthcare visits and instead use telemedicine when available, these free online classes serve as an extra preventative measure to ensure healthy living habits between doctor visits.
“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,” said Lisa Coleman, MS, RD, and Director of Healthy Living at Giant Food. “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 Giant’s in-house team of 11 licensed nutrition professionals, which has traditionally shared essential nutrition resources to the community via in-person classes, consultations and store tours, these free online classes are an important pivot to continue to offer advice for participants to effectively manage their health through simple diet and lifestyle actions.
People can choose from the following online classes based on their current health needs:
- Nutrition at Noon – For those who have general healthy living questions, join Giant nutritionists Monday-Friday at 12PM EST for quick, 15-minute Q&A sessions. Topics discussed during these classes include healthy snacking habits, must-have pantry staples and healthy meal ideas for at-home cooking.
- Eating for Heart Health – Attendees can learn about foods that promote heart health, manage cholesterol and hypertension, and how to improve blood pressure, pulse rate and other heart vitals in this weekly online web series.
- 6 Steps to a Healthier You – Whether it’s a concern about weight, chronic disease management or just optimizing health, participants will learn how to identify relatively simple and gradual lifestyle changes to help them live healthier lives.
- Eating for Prediabetes and Diabetes – For those with prediabetes and diabetes, learn practical and delicious ways to keep blood sugar rates in check. Attendees will also be able to learn some simple lifestyle changes to prevent the progression of prediabetes and diabetes.
Giant is also offering free personalized online consultations with their team of registered and licensed dietitians for customers who have further questions about their health and wellness. Consultations are by appointment only.
To schedule a consultation, sign up for a class or participate in the weekday “Nutrition at Noon” series, go to giantfood.com/nutrition or email nutrition@giantfood.com.
About Giant Food
Giant Food is headquartered in Landover, Md. and operates 163 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia with approximately 20,000 associates. Included within the 163 stores are 154 full-service pharmacies, 81 full-service PNC Banks and 23 Starbucks locations. With flexible options and convenient solutions, Giant fits all the ways today’s busy consumers want to shop – whether in store, via Giant Pickup or home delivery from Giant Delivers which combined serves 157 store locations. For more information on Giant, visit www.giantfood.com.
