Nutrition-Focused Social Platform Provides Healthy Food

In partnership with Guiding Stars and Wellness Layers, Premera Blue Cross has launched Serve it Up!, a free, nutrition-focused social platform that helps people make healthier food choices at home and in the grocery store by “serving up” the most nutritious options first. The platform offers tools to build and share healthy shopping lists and recipes, coupons to lower food shopping costs and social engagement within the Serve it Up! community. Also available as a free mobile application, Serve it Up! is designed to help users make healthier food choices on the go. The Serve it Up! platform is available for license by other population wellness companies and is designed to complement and integrate with wellness incentive programs. “Premera is committed to creating innovative products that support health and wellness,” says Neal Sofian, director of member engagement at Premera Blue Cross. “Serve it Up! is a testament to this commitment as the nutrition-focused, digital platform engages people in their health in ways they wouldn’t commonly expect from a health insurance company.” Serve it Up! is equipped with a shopping list builder that educates users about what foods are healthiest according to Guiding Stars’ patented nutrition rating system. The shopping list database includes nutrition information for more than 100,000 fresh, prepared and pre-packaged food items commonly found in most grocery stores. Each food is rated against proprietary criteria based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other national evidence-based nutrition policies. Coupons are also displayed for foods identified as healthy choices. “For too long, the importance of nutrition has largely been ignored in the national healthcare discussion, despite the fact that what you eat plays such a large role in your overall health,” says John Eldredge, strategy consultant for Guiding Stars. “Premera is a progressive industry leader that is moving nutrition to the forefront of the wellness discussion. Premera’s vision paired with the synergy of the Guiding Stars program and Wellness Layers’ innovative technology provides consumers with a smart, simple and convenient tool to make more nutritious food choices.” The new platform encourages users to build profiles and connect with the Serve it Up! community. Once connected, users can find, share and rate recipes and shopping lists to make it easier to enjoy healthy foods. Users can also tailor their Serve it Up! member profiles based on dietary preferences, allowing them to receive customized recommendations, participate in community discussions, share advice and garner support based on specific dietary conditions or concerns. The technology behind Serve it Up! was created by Wellness Layers, the premier developer of socially-rich portal ecosystems and mobile applications for the health and wellness industry. The Wellness Layers platform also powers online portals for several of the nation’s leading health and wellness brands. “We are pleased to build systems such as Serve it Up! that focus on something as universal and imperative as good nutrition. We leveraged our years of expertise to make the experience fun and collaborative and well-suited to serve as a funnel into other wellness management and incentive Guidance and Cost Savings programs, further promoting improved health and prevention,” says Amir Kishon, PhD, CEO of Wellness Layers.