COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa
Alejandra Valdez changed the way she thought about food.
It worked.
She lost 70 pounds.
Now, she is years into leading a growing meal-preparation business, one that hews to the rich (and delicious) tradition of Mexican food she learned from her mother and grandmother with healthier ingredients aimed at improving health outcomes.
Viva Fit is located in the Hoff Center in the restaurant-and-food-service incubator in the center's start-up Kitchen Council. She now has seven employees. Viva Fit, which launched in 2019 and does catering, handles prepared meals for delivery. The strategy: lighter on salt, use of olive oil and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese.
"We do healthy meals for the community to build healthier communities," Valdez, 30, said.
Viva Fit was the primary food provider at the Council Bluffs Latino Festival in that city's Bayliss Park Saturday.
Valdez is a graduate of University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) where she majored in marketing, managing and innovation — a triple major.
She hopes to create a production area and develop vending machines in the Midwest.
Valdez pays a monthly rent in the Kitchen Council, which houses other chefs, she said.
Viva Fit delivers meals up to three times a week for nearly 300 families and a growing customer base.
For her part, Valdez, who was pre-diabetic, went to the Omaha Zoo several years ago, and after walking for miles, endured swollen feet. The experience changed her thinking and inspired a business plan.
"I knew I had to make a change," she said. "I started eating healthier. I started working out., and I just lost the weight."
The business targets the fitness community.
Entrepreneurs in Des Moines and other parts of Iowa have reached out to her.
"I have gotten multiple calls from Des Moines," she said. "I would like to start expanding into the Midwest."
She's also had calls from Shenandoah and other smaller Iowa cities.
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The best kind of story! Makes me want to eat her meals.