Norwich — If you’ve made the ritual New Year’s resolution to lose weight, eat better and watch your blood pressure, The William W. Backus Hospital and ShopRite Supermarket in Norwich have vowed to help.

Starting Monday, ShopRite and Backus will launch a pilot program in the Norwich supermarket at 634 W. Main St. called “Just Ask,” offering shoppers information and advice on heart healthy food choices. Signs will be posted throughout the store to promote the program, and store staff members are being trained to identify food choices with low sodium or at least lower sodium levels than other products.

The store pharmacy will be the central information point for the program, head pharmacist Tracey Leary said.

“We're really excited about it,” said Leary, who has worked at the Norwich ShopRite for the past six years. “We're hoping down the road to expand to beyond low sodium to include other heart healthy foods. My pharmacists are all trained on low sodium, heart healthy foods. (Customers) can come right to the pharmacy, and they'll help them.”

The program is an offshoot of Backus’ successful “Just Ask” restaurant program that marks its first anniversary this month. That program started when a frustrated participant in Backus’ cardiac support group told the group he and his wife were reluctant to eat out because of high sodium levels in restaurant food, said Alice Facente, Backus community health education nurse.

Facente went to Illiano’s Restaurant in Norwich and spoke to owner Vincenzo Racy, and Racy said all the restaurant’s food is made from scratch, so all a customer has to do is “just ask” the waiter for low salt options. About 30 restaurants in the Norwich area signed onto the program to help customers find low salt options.

Ken Capano, owner of ShopRite stores in Norwich, New London and Clinton, said the “Just Ask” program fits right into an existing program run through the store’s food wholesaler, Wake Fern Food Corp., which provides labeling information on heart healthy food, low salt and gluten free foods and products with no added sugar.

“It sounds like it’s something to help the community, and that's what we're here for,” Capano said.

Several regular customers interviewed outside the Norwich ShopRite on Wednesday said they had noticed the existing signs on heart healthy and gluten free options, and liked the idea that the store was adding the “Just Ask” program.

“That would be good and helpful,” Delisia Dollinger of Norwich said. “I do see the signs for gluten free. That’s a good program.”

Leary said “Just Ask” started when Facente and Shawn Mawhiney, regional director of marketing for Backus, approached ShopRite to ask if the “Just Ask” program could be expanded to the store, focusing on low sodium products.

“So every department is aware of the low sodium products,” Leary said. “We have actual markers on the shelves.”

Products can be labeled as low sodium if they contain serving sizes with less than 140 milligrams of sodium, Leary said. Reaching that low level is a problem for deli products or canned soups, she said. But store staff will be trained to inform customers which products have lower sodium levels than others. Shelf markers will point out lower sodium options as well, Leary said.

“It's going to be a great thing for the community, and we hope it's beneficial for them,” Capano said.

c.bessette@theday.com

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