Giant’s in-store nutritionist program started three years ago with one nutritionist, said Lisa Coleman, lead nutritionist for Giant Landover, which operates stores in Maryland, Virginia, Washington and Delaware. Now there are 11.

“What better place to teach people about healthy eating than where they buy their food?” Coleman asked. “Labels can be deceiving and there is so much choice. The supermarket is the perfect place to do nutrition education.”

Pugliese is the first in-store nutritionist in the Fredericksburg region. She started in the position April 17 and will work with all five Giant stores in the area. She’ll also do community outreach at local schools, gyms, retirement communities, day care centers, doctor’s offices, businesses and other places that invite her.

With diabetes, heart disease, and food allergies and insensitivities on the rise, Pugliese said, more and more people are looking at their diets to see how the food they eat can moderate or even prevent their symptoms.

Toward that end, she offers personal, one-on-one consultations to customers with questions about how to shop and eat healthfully. These consultations cost $25 for an hour, but that cost will be returned to the customer in the form of a $25 Giant gift card.

“So it’s basically free,” Pugliese said. “People always think there’s a catch, but there isn’t.”

Pugliese said her goal is to individualize her nutrition advice.

“Not everybody’s the same,” she said. “I want to meet people where they can reach their goals.”

This means she won’t tell everyone that healthy eating means eating organic. Frozen fruits and vegetables are completely fine in her book.

“People shouldn’t feel like they have to shop organic unless they want to,” she said. “You can find healthy food in every aisle of the store. I want to give people the direction to make a healthy choice where they are.”

As a general rule of thumb, think “fresh is best,” Pugliese said. She recommends sticking to the perimeter of the supermarket to avoid filling shopping carts with the more processed foods found in the center aisles.

“There’s a reason we start all our tours in produce,” Coleman said. “It’s so beautiful and colorful.”

If paying $2 or $3 for grapes or a bag of carrots causes sticker shock, Pugliese said shoppers should think in terms of having that fruit or vegetable last for a week.

“Then it really comes down to cents,” she said.

Shopping for a full week means making a list and planning ahead for the meals you want to cook. That’s something Pugliese can help with as well. The Giant nutritionists find that many people go into supermarkets without lists or plans.

“Think about your week, how busy you are,” Coleman said. “Spend Sunday prepping and portioning veggies and fruits for easy grab-and-go. You’re more likely to eat it if you can grab it and see it.”

For those very busy evenings when everyone in the family is eating in shifts, Pugliese has a handful of five-minute recipes she’s happy to share. They include breakfast for dinner, stir fry using a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, paninis and quesadillas made with rotisserie chicken.

“Rotisserie chicken is a blessing,” Pugliese said. “People say, ‘But doesn’t it have so much salt?’ But it’s so much better than drive-thru. Look at things on a continuum and make the best possible choice for that moment. And know that if you’re not eating junk all day long, that quick grab-and-go will balance out.”

And as far as that jicama goes, Pugliese said you can slice it—first peel it with a chef’s knife—and add it to a fruit salad or green salad or serve it with hummus or Greek yogurt

“You can even grill it,” Pugliese said.