European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Quot a v is i be a by i i 1 us it it / cart smart shopping by Chuck Roberts staff writer Fossa finally an army health plan that  Cream cookies and chocolate the fit to win shelf Labelling program does t Elk recommend eating these foods. But for those who do indulge in sweets the guidelines help Consumers make the most nutritious Choice says Laurel Dauer. She a the top nutritionist for the v corps health promotion division in Frankfurt Germany. The program basically involves putting a fit to win. Label on certain commissary shelves to indicate the Best Choice for each Type of food. For the cookie customer its sort of like a guide for choosing the lesser of the evils. It also can reduce shopping time. Shoppers Alert to the fit to win labels can push their carts up and Down commissary aisles and quickly select the most nutritious from various food categories such As Cereal butter baby food Yogurt and soup. It can be a simple matter of looking for the product recommended by the fit to win Label and throwing it into the cart. F the red and yellow fit to win Label includes a generic drawing of a sprinter symbolic of today s fast paced society. Although Many people Are concerned about their health they often Are too Busy to examine detailed food package labels to find the Healthiest Choice Dauer said. Quot most people Don t have a lot of time to spend in the commissary Quot she said. Quot the kids Are screaming it s crowded and you re tired. It s like a what do i buy i just. Want to get out of Here Quot some of the fit to win choices May be a Surprise. For example someone wanting a nutritious Cereal might grab an old standby such As Corn flakes but fit to win a recommends a Cereal such As frosted mini cheats a instead. A a a a a a a a. A a Quot a frosted mini cheats is a sugar coated Cereal but the. Sugar is Only on the outer layer of each wheat Square. The Cereal is not saturated with sugar like some such As Honey nut cheerios which has twice the amount of sugar. Frosted mini cheats beat out Corn flakes because it has More fiber. A fit to win Cereal must have at least 2 Grams of fiber. A the practice of using this shopping tool is starting to catch on. Karen Madden uses fit to win to select about half of the groceries she buys it the commissary in. Giessen Germany. She said it cuts the amount of time in half that she spends Reading labels in her Effort to keep her family healthy. Spec. Patricia White said she uses fit to win As Long As it does no to interfere with family traditions. Quot basically i go by what my Mother used Quot said White who is assigned to he 4th in 43rd air defense arty at Giessen depot. A the made it this far doing it the Way she did but i would like to know what is healthy for my kids. Sgt. Paul Solomon is More sceptical. He said it will take time for him to develop a Trust in the Labelling system. If the fit to win Label matches what he considers the Healthiest Choice he said he will consider using it More extensively in the future. But for items such As potato chips and cookies he said bad is bad and it does t matter if one is a Little less evil than the other. Recommending specific products even has the support of the food producers because they Are aware that choosing healthier foods is the Way of the future Dauer said. If fit to win causes a decrease in sales for one item it also can cause an increase in another item made by the same producer. If producers complain Dauer said she can refute their arguments by showing them the scientific basis used for selecting fit to win products. A f Sas Dava Didio shopper Micha Espinoza checks an ingredient Label at the army commissary in Giessen Germany. Food r fit to win is being tested in commissaries in Darmstadt Frankfurt Giessen and Wiesbaden. The labels Are expected to be on All v corps commissary shelves by March 1 and May eventually be seen in commissaries throughout Europe and in military clubs schools and even snack bars. The air Force began a similar program last May called nutria guide which use color coded Labelling to identify foods Low in Salt fat and calories. The Green Pink and yellow labels Are placed on the front of the shelves and a c % if 0 i 4#� we a 1 i a amp a Salso include the name of the product nutria guide replaced the healthy heart program in which store. Managers and nutritionists combined to identify healthy products said Diana Brown a Public affairs spokeswoman for the air Force commissary  the fit to win labels Arentt there to Tell people what to buy Dauer is Quick to Point out. The labels moan Only that a product is a better Choice than the similar items around it because the product meets acceptable guidelines for sugar Salt fat and fiber. A ,. Quot we emphasize Choice Quot Dauer said. Quot i m not going to Tell people what to eat but let them make the Choice. I m not going to stand on a soap Box but if you choose to oat this Way Well show you How to do . The Quot very Liberal Quot guidelines for the program were established by Dauer and four other dieticians after studying labels for approximately 7,000 commissary products. The group included products such As cookies among the 700 categories they labelled because it did t make. Sense to leave sweets off the list just because they Aren t considered to be a healthy food Dauer said. Fit to win is targeted toward healthy Young people of Normal weight and without any diet restrictions which is. Typical of the average Soldier Dauer said. She said Many Young people done to relate Well to some programs because they think they apply Only to older people. Fit to win can be used to complement the health risk appraisal program Hrap started two years ago by v corps. Hrap is a comprehensive health assessment Given to incoming v corps soldiers and family members. It. Includes a questionnaire about lifestyle family history and a physical checkup that tests cholesterol strength and flexibility. The information is. Then fed into a computer. Last year it produced a health assessment for about 100,000 people. Fit to win seemed to be a logical Extension for the person who got his health assessment Back and found out he has High  wants to do something about it Dauer said. V corps offers classes teaching people How to read labels but that can be a complicated and time consuming procedure she said fit to win takes care of that by converting Label language such As Mon sodium glutamate into a food awareness selection process that s As easy As Abc Friday january 11, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13