The key to improving your overall health and wellness is making smart choices at meal time. “Food plays a major role in our lives,” Kroger Health President Colleen Lindholz tells Life & Style. “We believe it’s medicine and can prevent disease before it even starts.”

But eating better can be challenging, so Kroger’s aiming to help Americans with its new Wellness Your Way Initiative, which includes the OptUp app and Wellness Your Way Festival. “Whenever you are on your journey,” adds Lindholz, “we’re there to help you.”

L&S: What is Wellness Your Way?

CL: It’s a platform that we built to help drive customer awareness and engagement to the products and services that we offer at Kroger, and also help customers take a more holistic approach to health care. People are very busy, and our platform simplifies information for our customers and helps them make better food choices, as well as saving them time and money.

L&S: The OptUp app acts like a mobile assistant when you’re grocery shopping.

CL: The OptUp app is a true game changer be-cause it makes it easier for people to make healthier food choices. Basically, the way it works is it evaluates what you put in your cart. It looks at the history [of your purchases] and recommends products that are better for you.

L&S: Kroger hosted the Wellness Your Way Festival in Cincinnati in October. What can we expect from this year’s festival?

CL: We are looking to expand. This year we want to have two festivals versus just one — Cincinnati and Denver. We’re going to simplify healthcare by creating solutions that combine health, wellness and nutrition. The festival embodies our mission and really everything we’re trying to do as a grocer across the country.