Meet NuVal Mom Amal Wood!

Two years ago, Amal Wood had back pain that was so severe, even mundane tasks became excruciating. Everything from driving to unloading the dishwasher to brushing her teeth became something to dread. Faced with the very real possibility of invasive surgery, Amal decided instead to hire a personal trainer to manage the pain. Thankfully, it worked. She can now jog, bike, and even take part in kickboxing classes.

Most importantly, Amal’s ordeal taught her to never take a healthy and fit body for granted. Once she regained her health, Amal planned on keeping it. She soon began to focus on eating for better nutrition.

“I have learned that to be healthy, I have to live an active lifestyle and eat healthy foods,” she said.

A mother of two living in Kernersville, NC, Amal now uses a great tool to help with her overall wellness and health—the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System. Amal uses it every time she visits her local Lowes Foods supermarket, and the easy-to-use 1-100 scoring system has helped make subtle but important changes in her shopping list.

In the few months she’s used the system, Amal’s changed everything from the simple ingredients she stocks in her pantry to the kinds of cereal she feeds her kids to the lunches she packs for her husband. For instance, Amal realized that her usual brand of diced tomatoes received a NuVal Score in the 40s while another brand scored an 87.

“I use them for everything,” she said. “I use them in chili, sauce, casseroles. It surprised me what a difference there could be in scores.”

The scores have even helped make shopping more fun for her children Layla, 10, and Nora, 7.

“We make it into a kind of competition,” she said. “We go down the cereal aisle, and whoever comes to me with the higher scoring cereal gets to put her choice in the basket.”

Amal said she even found NuVal Scores useful in picking up a bag of chips for her girls. While she said she has taught her children that “a colorful plate is a happy plate,” they do have childhood cravings for salty snacks. So, she simply uses NuVal Scores to find the most nutritious option, in this case Cool Ranch Doritos, which get a 24 as opposed to Fritos, which score 10 points lower.

“If I’m going to buy chips, why not get the ones with the most nutrition?” she said.