Instacart Is Making It Easier and Cheaper to Eat Healthier

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WHETHER YOU'RE STRIVING to stick to a high-protein or plant-based diet—or just trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, shopping for affordable, healthy foods can feel like a chore.

There’s the meal-planning, the list-making, and the-when-the-heck-am-I-going-to-fit-in a grocery store run. (Not to mention usually forgetting something at the supermarket.)

Well, the online grocery delivery service Instacart, has just launched some new features that will make all of this a little bit easier.

Instacart Health is a new initiative that the company says is “designed to deliver the ingredients for healthier living,” according to a press release. The new service will help grocery shoppers make better decisions, meet their health needs, and stick to a budget.

The initiative focuses on three themes: making healthier choices easier, nutrition security, and food as medicine. And the initiative features an expansive recipe library, which even features healthy recipes from Men’s Health.

With millions of people using Instacart for online grocery shopping and delivery, the company says it has an “opportunity—and a responsibility—to do more” to expand access and affordability of healthy foods. That's especially important because about 10 percent of Americans don’t have reliable access to healthy food, and millions of Americans are living with a diet-related disease. That's serious considering that 85 percent of U.S. health care costs are linked to treating conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure that can be worsened by diet.

A study conducted by the University of Kentucky on behalf of Instacart, No Kid Hungry, and Share Our Strength, found that online grocery shopping helps stretch food budgets, increases the purchase of fruits and vegetables, reduces stress, and eliminates the stigma of shopping with government benefits.

Instacart Health was created in collaboration with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, which is working on strategies to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities. Here’s a look at some of the new features of Instacart Health:

1. Shoppable healthy carts featuring collections of shoppable products that have been curated by health experts.

2. Health tags that provide information, like low-sodium, gluten-free, paleo, or keto, to help people find products that meet their nutrition needs.

3. Shoppable lists for dietitians to offer their clients personalized nutrition plans and shopping lists of products that fit those plans.
   

   

4. Pop-ups on the app’s home screen with content by Instacart’s experts and brand and retail partners that offer shopping inspiration. For example, a Vegan Favorites Pop-up will showcase vegan ingredients, snacks, and other items.

5. A bigger healthy recipe library with recipes from Men’s Health and others, as well as a partnership with weight care clinic Found to provide shoppable nutrition guidance and recipes.

6. New payment options to increase the access and affordability of healthy foods. Instacart plans to accept electronic Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in all 50 states by 2023. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program benefits will also be added as a payment option.

7. Fresh Funds are a new product that lets organizations, such as insurance companies, nonprofits, health systems, and employers, pay for people to purchase healthy foods on Instacart. The company is partnering with United Healthcare to offer its 2.1 million household members access to quarterly Fresh Funds.

8. Care Carts let health care providers and caregivers order and send groceries and medical supplies to others. For instance, a clinician could send groceries to a patient that match their prescribed meal plan. Organizations, like nutrition coaching platform Good Measures, hospital-at-home solution Medically Home, and care management platform NourishedRx, are already using the feature.

9. A collaboration with Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to bring 10 million servings of fruits and vegetables to families over the next three years.

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