Hy-Vee Chefs In Heart Health Spotlight

Hy-Vee is kicking off American Heart Month in February with a special company-wide ad circular featuring nutrition information, shopping tips and heart-healthy recipes from Hy-Vee chefs.

In keeping with the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign – an effort to draw awareness to the fact that cardiovascular disease is the number-one killer of women – Hy-Vee selected five female chefs to appear in the ad. Monika Sudakov of Bettendorf, Iowa; Norma Reni of Independence, Mo.; Staci Stengel of Yankton, S.D.; Traci Reed of Moline, Ill.; and Cyd Koehn of Hy-Vee’s corporate headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa. Each chef is pictured preparing a heart-healthy dish, with ingredients, cooking instructions and nutrition facts printed in a recipe card format that customers can clip and save.

Hy-Vee’s 150 retail dietitians work with the in-store chefs to develop healthy recipes customers can make at home. Julie Gieseman, dietitian at the Hy-Vee store on Mills Civic Parkway in West Des Moines, said the collaborative effort is a unique benefit Hy-Vee can offer nutrition-conscious shoppers.

“Dietitians have a lot of knowledge about foods that can foster health, but the chefs have that special ability to take those healthy ingredients and turn them into something delicious,” Gieseman said.

Hy-Vee Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating 232 retail stores in eight Midwestern states.