Vending machines are here to stay. As of 2018, there are 1.3 million snack vending machines in the United States that offer primarily high-calorie snacks. This is a problem for the almost 40 percent of adults and 18 percent of children who are considered obese. Obesity, a serious medical condition, is known to cause heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, stroke, and multiple types of cancer.
One way researchers are trying to convince New York City consumers to eat healthier is to include a 25-second time delay on vending machines that encourages the consumer to make a healthier choice before the vending machine releases the traditional snack from the vending machine. Brad Appelhans, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Rush University Prevention Center and lead investigator of the study relayed that the “delay yielded a 2 percent to 5 percent increase in the proportion of total purchases from healthy snacks.” The success of this approach stems from the fact that humans prefer immediate gratification, and immediate gratification influences choices and behavior.
But this isn’t the only way to encourage New York City consumers to make healthy choices. Rather than creating an environment where individuals need to be psychologically encouraged to make healthy decisions, Healthy Vending provides only all-natural and organic beverage and snack alternatives that are great tasting and enjoyable.
With vending machine technology that allows consumers to read the nutritional facts about a specific healthy snack or beverage before making a selection, New York City consumers can feel certain that they have made a good choice. Their wallets will also be happy as the majority of our healthy snacks and beverages are equal in price to unhealthy traditional options. It’s a double bonus—a happy waistline and a happy wallet.
Don’t forget to include students. They also need healthy vending machine snack and beverage choices while at school. Rather than hoping that they will make a healthy beverage choice, offer great-tasting beverages that don’t have large amounts of sugar or artificial sweeteners to go with a healthy snack. Together, Healthy Vending and your New York City school district will customize a list of healthy options to ensure that all items sold meet or exceed the minimum nutritional standards established by the USDA School Food Service Program.
Help your New York City employees or students make healthy vending machine choices. Be upfront with them about your break room goals and the importance of their health. To learn more about combining everything and creating a healthy office break room or school lunchroom, contact Healthy Vending at 917.572.3671. We look forward to helping you customize the perfect solution.