How Two Millennials Personalize Health and Well-Being

By Allison Febrey, Specialist, Health and Wellness, Food Marketing Institute

Any internet search for "healthy" will show there is no one size, fits-all approach. As a 24-year old type-1 diabetic, I need to take good care of my health, especially through my diet. My husband, Nick, still has a young person's metabolism and eats like it too, but he is also in the Navy and regularly must pass fitness tests. Lucky for us, it's never been easier to personalize health and well-being at the grocery store and at home.

According to FMI’s 2019 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report, amongst co-shopping households, 37% of Millennials and Gen Z go to the grocery store together.

For our household, health and wellness starts with a grocery list and a trip to the store. While I pick out fruits and vegetables for the week, Nick finds snacks. For him, health and well-being goes beyond staying in shape—he wants to enjoy the foods he eats, too. By splitting up in the shopping trip, we both get exactly what we want, meet our health needs and personalize the grocery shopping experience.

At the grocery store, 82% of shoppers actively look for at least one front-of-package claim.

Nick looks for foods that are made ethically; this is another aspect of health and well-being important to him. He doesn’t feel that he has “eaten well” unless the foods were made ethically. Turns out Millennials are more likely to look for “free-range” and “certified humane” front-of-package claims. For me, health and well-being are about nutrition, so I look to avoid negatives with front-of-package claims like “low carb” and “low calorie.”

Personalizing health and well-being continues at home. In multi-person households with no kids, 84% of people eat the same dish, but each person can customize.

This is often our household’s approach to sharing meals. One of our favorite meal solutions is a rice bowl because I can swap out the rice for lower-carb cauliflower rice and Nick can add hot sauce, one of his favorite condiments.

For all the definitions of “healthy,” there are even more ways to personalize eating well. And at the end of the day, our grocery store helps us sit down together for a family meal, which might be the healthiest thing we can do together.

Download U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends