Make healthy affordable: How to expand Food as Medicine beyond fresh

by Sifter
,
Judy Seybold
,
MS, RDN, LD, CLC
February 17, 2025
February 17, 2025
The inflationary surge continues. Grocery prices spiked by 0.5% last month, the most in more than two years.
Sifter is the Food as Medicine Platform.

No wonder that “price” and “good deals” are the leading factors for grocery shopping decisions according to most surveys. And it creates a major roadblock for promoting the “fresh focused” healthy eating initiatives taking shape across the healthcare and health insurance landscape as part of the Food as Medicine movement. As long as healthier foods are defined primarily as “fresh”, they tend to come with a higher price tag.

But there is a way to balance eating well with staying within a tight budget—more choice. The center store, home to canned, frozen, and dry packaged foods, is actually full of healthy choices. If only they were easy to identify and connect to health personal diets and preferences.

That’s what Sifter technology does—we make it easy for shoppers to find and buy exactly the right foods for their personal diet, throughout the grocery store. This includes:


•    Smarter food benefit cards and tailored APLs to support specific health conditions from diabetes to obesity to heart disease. Sifter science-based filters accurately determine a far wider range of appropriate, cost effective options. This improves usage and program effectiveness.


•    Scan by Diet API’s which can be integrated into existing mobile apps, giving shoppers personalized nutrition guidance when they need it most — at the grocery store. Shoppers use their phone to scan grocery products and instantly learn whether the food fits their health goals and personal preferences.


•    Medically tailored grocery (MTG) lists for dietitians, pharmacists, and other health professionals to provide crucial guidance where it counts most: when food shopping. Sifter's dietary algorithms "sift" for suitable MTGs across all grocery categories, including fresh, frozen, dried, and canned products.


Healthier foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables or grass-fed meats, are more perishable than processed foods and come with a higher price tag. Frozen and shelf-stable foods, on the other hand, are designed to last longer, which helps reduce the cost for consumers. But they’re often not included in programs that support healthy diets.

Contact us today. We can show you how to integrate Sifter’s cutting-edge technology solutions into your existing programs. You can further empower people to take control of their health through smarter food choices. Whether they’re pursuing weight loss, managing chronic conditions, or simply aiming for a healthier lifestyle, Sifter makes the journey easier, more sustainable, and more effective

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