Thriving Viva Fit headlines, feeds Council Bluffs Latino Festival

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.

Douglas Burns, a fourth-generation Iowa journalist, is a founding member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.

Please consider following some of the other writers in the collaborative.

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Darcy Maulsby, Keep’n it Rural, Lake City

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

‘The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.