Choices. Whether it’s a conscious decision or not, everyone is faced with multiple choices every day. A University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) graduate student helped her fellow classmates and professors by making the choice to snack healthy easier. As part of her thesis, she set out to learn if students and faculty would purchase healthy vending machine options. After taste testing one of the three snacks—licorice, chocolate chip cookies, or chili cheese flavored pop chips—each tester was asked if they would buy the item if it were available in one of the university’s vending machines. The positive outcome led UNK to replace some of the previous vending choices with healthier options.

Regardless of a student’s age, eating healthy is important. Not only does a healthy diet impact physical growth, but it also affects a New York City student’s ability to learn. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “More than a quarter of kids’ daily calories may come from snacks, kids who have healthy eating patterns are more likely to perform better academically, and kids consume more healthy foods and beverages during the school day.” Easy access to healthy snacks at school makes choosing healthy snacks simple. Unfortunately, access to healthy snacks at school isn’t always easy.

Action for Healthy Kids®, an organization that works to end childhood obesity, offers the following tips for changing the types of snacks and beverages that are available in New York City school vending machines.

• Determine the current snack inventory
• Survey teachers and students about snack preferences:  consider holding a “taste test” and asking for opinions about potential choices such as Snikiddy Baked Fries or Nature’s Path Organic Granola Bars
• Talk to your local vending company about increasing the number of healthy options available, the pricing structure, and healthy item placement in the vending machine
• Educate staff and students about the new choices, and why healthy eating is important

But will offering more healthy choices really have a positive impact? According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, the answer is yes. Four independent studies examining the behavior of school age students (k-12) in Connecticut, Texas, Massachusetts, and Washington found that students increased their intake of healthy choices when more healthy choices and a greater variety of healthy choices were offered.

If your New York City school doesn’t use vending machines or is looking to completely switch from traditional vending snacks and beverages to healthy ones, Healthy Vending can help as we only offer 100% healthy snacks and beverages. Instead of only offering a small selection of healthy choices to your faculty and students, there are over 400 items to choose from—30% of those choices are organic and exceed state regulations. By switching to healthy vending options, the dilemma about what to choose is removed. For more information about how to make the switch, contact Healthy Vending at 917.572.3671.

 

What if there was a line of beverages that could help improve brain function, lower the risk of cancer, support your immune system, help with digestion issues, and improve metabolic functions, mental clarity, and relaxation? Would you want to know what it is? How about your New York City employees? If this line of beverages has peaked your interest, you are one of the 72% of U.S. adults that the Pew Research Center says believe that healthy eating habits are very important. So, what is this beverage?

It’s B-Tea Kombucha, a ready-to-drink tea beverage with raw and organic ingredients.

Today’s kombucha, or fermented tea, began thousands of years ago in Asia and was known as an “elixir of life.” It’s a bit different today, but it still contains many positive components like prebiotics (carbohydrates that the human body cannot digest or food for probiotics), probiotics (“good” bacteria that helps the digestive system stay healthy), and many other antioxidants and nutrients. And there is none of the stuff that we don’t want, as there are no added preservatives, sugars, chemicals, or artificial colors.

Each of B-Tea Kombucha’s eight flavors is naturally carbonated during secondary fermentation, kosher, and known to increase one’s metabolism which can help to maintain a healthy weight. Here are a few of the benefits of each flavor.

Original Black Tea (100% Darjeeling Black Tea)

• improves focus, energy levels, and memory
• helps with detoxification

Green Tea (100% organic Japanese Bancha Green Tea)

• improves focus, energy levels, and memory
• positively impacts one’s mood

Tranquility Tea (100% organic Japanese Bancha Green Tea)

• includes 100% organic Aloe Vera extract
• helps with detoxification and digestion
• offers immune system support

Serenity Tea (70% organic Japanese Bancha Green Tea; 30% Chamomile Tea)

• soothes the nervous system
• helps with detoxification
• improves focus, energy levels, and memory

Green Tea Lemon Balm (100% organic Japanese Bancha Green Tea)

• contains Lemon Balm flavor
• improves mental clarity, concentration, and memory
• aids in digestion and detoxification

Lemonade (30% Lemonade; 70% Tea Mixture)

• improves focus, energy levels, and memory
• helps with detoxification
• positively impacts one’s mood

Original Ginger Tea (70% Darjeeling Black Tea; 30% natural Ginger)

• improves focus, energy levels, and memory
• helps with detoxification
• aids digestion

Chili Cleanser (100% organic Japanese Bancha Green Tea)

• contains chili pepper
• helps with detoxification
• improves focus, energy levels, and memory

Consider the positive impact these benefits could have on you and your New York City employees. In addition to improved focus, mental clarity, concentration, and higher energy levels, healthy employees are likely to have increased productivity and fewer sick days. Recent research in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine supports the connection between employee health and a business’ bottom line as they found that “healthy workforces provide a competitive financial advantage in the marketplace” (Fabius, et al, 2013, p. 999)

To add healthy ready-to-drink beverages like B-Tea Kombucha to your New York City vending machines or to overhaul your office break room or school lunchroom vending selections to include healthy snacks and beverages, contact Healthy Vending at 917.572.3671. We would be happy to help you make the switch.

Source:

Fabius, R., Thayer, R. D., Konicki, D, L., Yarborough, C. M., Peterson, K. W., Isaac, F., Loeppke, R.  R., Eisenberg, B. S., & Dreger, M. L. (2013). The Link Between Workforce Health and Safety and the Health of the Bottom Line: Tracking Market Performance of Companies That Nurture a “Culture of Health.” Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 55(9), 993-1000. DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0b013e3182a6bb75