Striving4Zen

Move over, chamomile. These science-tested sips leave you more focused, less frazzled.

Jones GABA is a non-caffeinated tea and juice blend that features GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), an ingredient that helps rev the production of calming alpha brain waves and decrease beta brain waves, which are linked to nervousness. Grab it at a store near you.

Slow Cow calls itself the anti-energy drink. It contains L-Theanine, which is supposed to help you relax without causing sleepiness. Research suggests the ingredient can also improve your ability to learn and memorize new information. The beverage is only available in Canada for now, but will hit U.S. shelves soon.

Red Espresso isn't your normal cuppa joe--it's actually caffeine-free rooibos tea that you brew in a coffee maker or espresso machine. The ruby-hued brew packs more than 5 times the amount of brain-sharpening antioxidants as green tea and fans swear it eases insomnia, reduces anxiety and soothes digestion. Find it at Whole Foods or order it here.

THANKS!

Labels: anti-stress, beverages, bottled tea, calming, chamomile, cool new product, GABA, health trend, healthy beverage, l-theanine, rooibos

Natural beauty care products maker Dr. Hauschka is turning down offers for new markets at a time when rivals are struggling to persuade consumers to pay up for cosmetics.

Surfing on a green wave of growing demand for organic products from food to furniture, WALA's natural remedies and beauty products are now available in more than 30 countries and keep attracting interest from distributors across the world.

"We have many requests, but we turn down most of them," WALA Chief Executive Johannes Stellmann told Reuters in an interview.

Finding sufficient high-quality ingredients and skilled staff are the main constraints to growth for WALA, which competes with brands like Weleda, Lavera, Logocos, Primavera and Santaverde in the global market for natural cosmetics.

The market has been growing about 16% annually over the past two to three years and generated sales of $6.9 billion in 2007, research and consulting company Organic Monitor said, expecting to see similar growth rates this year.

Full Article Here

Labels: Dr. Hauschka, health trend, natural products, skin care

Do you know that your nail polish probably contains harmful chemicals? Toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate, just to name a few. But growing concern and awareness has spawned demand for a greener and chemical-free manicure. And now there's an cheat sheet to know which brands are safe at the shop or salon.

The National Healthy Nail Salon Alliance surveyed product manufacturers and found that 74% of polishes were entirely "three free." Great news!! If you're curious whether your favorite brand is in the clear, print the downloadable card — it's as easy as one, two, three when you cut, fold, and save the wallet-sized sheet as a reference.

Thanks!

Labels: health trend, manicure, nail salons, personal care, toxic, toxins

On June 30, the world's top coffee chain will begin selling baked goods without high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors and dyes, and will introduce salads and other items.

"Food has been the Achilles' heel of the company ... That statement will be long buried after we launch this program," Michelle Gass, Starbucks' EVP of marketing, told Reuters on Tuesday.

The new campaign -- which will be promoted with the tag "Real Food. Simply Delicious" -- follows last year's health and wellness push that added food like oatmeal, smoothies and a protein plate to Starbucks' repertoire.

The ingredient changes, which also include removing preservatives where possible, will affect about 90% of the baked goods Starbucks sells and are part of the coffee chain's ongoing efforts to appeal to increasingly health-conscious consumers as recession has damped spending on little luxuries like lattes.

Full Article

Labels: baked goods, eating healthy, health trend, healthier, high fructose corn syrup, marketing, pastries, recession, Starbuck's

We reported a few weeks back about how Yoplait was going growth-hormone free. Well now Dannon's following suit, reports Civil Eats. Dannon, which controls around one third of the country's dairy market, cites consumer demand as the reason behind the change. The company says it will go rbGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone)-free by the end of the year.

There are various health and animal rights issues surrounding the use of rbGH on dairy cows. The hormones have been linked to increased rates of infections in cattle, necessitating greater antibiotic use. And some studies have shown that rbGH raises levels of a hormone in cow's milk; higher than normal levels of IGF-1 in humans may raise the risk of breast cancer. Others say no significant difference has been shown between milk from rBST-treated and milk from non-rBST-treated cows.

Source

Labels: antibiotics, cows, Dairy, Dannon, health trend, rbGH, synthetic growth hormone, Yoplait

Earlier this year we covered customizable energy bars from LA-based YouBar, and recently a similar contender out of the Midwest crossed our proverbial path.

Chicago-based Element Bars aims to give users a simple, step-by-step process for designing their own energy bars from scratch. Customers begin by selecting a chewy, oaty, crispy or datey "core" that defines the bar's texture and base. They can then add nuts, fruits and sweets as well as protein, fiber, Omega-3 and vitamin boosts. The site warns users if they have selected incompatible ingredients, and it will even recommend a mix for users who answer a few lifestyle-oriented questions. Meanwhile, a Nutrition Facts box is updated each step of the way to reflect the user’s current selections.

There's nothing we love more than seeing a good idea spread, and that includes virtually anything in the realm of customization.

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Labels: customization, Element Bars, energy bars, health trend, innovative, new product, Springwise

Good things really do come in small packages, as fans of the winning 100-calorie snack package will agree. Now a new UK company aims to upgrade the small-portion snack with natural and nutritious edibles delivered by mail in just the right sizes.

Graze encourages consumers to do just that by offering a wide variety of natural foods in snack sizes for regular delivery by Royal Mail. Consumers can select from three types of standard snack collections: the grazemini, which combines fresh fruit with dried fruits, nuts or seeds; the grazeclassic, which adds vegetable, savoury and bakery options to that mix; and the grazeluxury, which includes deli and sweet indulgences. Focused nutritional selections are also available, chosen by Graze's team of nutritionists for energy, well-being or workout enhancement. Whichever box style they select, consumers then tell Graze how they feel about the various food options in that mix—whether they like, love, or would like to try them.

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Labels: health trend, healthy snacks, innovative, new product, Springwise

Tangerine Wellness is the leading corporate weight management program that helps companies lower healthcare costs by rewarding employees that achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

According to the Department of Health & Human Services, the majority of Americans are overweight or obese, and obesity is America's #1 health problem.

Obese individuals have 30 to 50% more chronic medical problems than those who smoke or drink heavily. They have increased risks for type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, several types of cancer, gallbladder disease, and other ailments. The effects of obesity are similar to 20 years of aging!

Tangerine has successfully completed dozens of implementations in over 25 states for manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, education, and government organizations. Tangerine has consistently produced over 2% of weight loss per program period with 60 to 80% employee participation. Additionally, Tangerine has generated significant body mass index (BMI) classification improvement, which translates into direct healthcare savings. Clients have seen as much as a 10% reduction in healthcare costs and a 5x return on investment annually.

Tangerine

Labels: health care, health trend, healthy living, innovative, Obesity, progressive companies, Tangerine, Tangerine Wellness

Any of Alabama's more than 35,000 state employees will be charged $25 per month for insurance that's usually free if they're too fat and don't work on losing the extra weight by January 2010, the Associated Press reported Monday.

While other states reward workers who meet criteria for what's considered healthy, Alabama would be the first state to penalize those who qualify as obese. The monthly charge would apply to any state employee with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or greater who "doesn't make progress" in slimming down, the wire service said. The state has yet to determine how much progress an employee would have to demonstrate.

A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. A person who is 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs 220 pounds would have a BMI of 35.5, the AP said.

The wire service cited statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that Alabama ranks second in the nation behind Mississippi as the state with the biggest weight problem. Nearly one-third of Alabamians are obese.

The director of Alabama's State Employees' Insurance Board said that a person with a BMI of 35 to 39 faces about $1,750 more in medical expenses each year than a person with a BMI of less than 25.

Alabama already charges a premium to state workers who smoke.

Source

Labels: great idea, health trend, innovative, Obesity, study

Starbucks is rolling out a serious reinvention of its breakfast food.

The more nutrition-friendly food — fewer calories, more protein, fiber and fruit — will show up Sept. 3 on the breakfast menu at most of the 11,570 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Six new items include hot oatmeal, an energy bar and a whole-grain apple bran muffin with fruit pieces.

Starbucks plans to revamp its lunch and dinner menus, too, in 2009. The goal is to lure back core customers who are visiting its stores less often and spending less when they do.

Industry consultant Malcolm Knapp says, "Starbucks is following a fundamental trend: People want to eat better-for-you food that tastes good."

Full article

Labels: breakfast, health trend, oatmeal, Starbuck's

Pizza Hut, the world's largest pizza restaurant chain, announced this week it will soon begin serving healthier pies.

Dubbed as "the Natural," the new pizza for health-conscious consumers will combine a multigrain crust, organic tomato sauce and preservative-free toppings.

Brian Niccol, Pizza Hut's CMO, said the new pie was a response to an emerging consumer need: the desire to eat pizza and still remain healthy. "That's why we're offering the Natural," Niccol said in a statement. "It allows us to stay on the cutting edge of food trends while delivering on the amazing Pizza Hut taste our customers expect and demand."

SOURCE

Labels: eating healthy, eating out, health trend, Pizza Hut

WITH EYES ON THE BOTTOM LINE, COMPANIES TRY TO GET WORKERS TO SLIM DOWN AND SHAPE UP....

Across the city and beyond, a growing number of companies are trying to similarly open their employees' minds and otherwise encourage them to eat better, lose weight, exercise, tend to dormant medical issues - in short, to be healthier.

In recent years "wellness" has become quite the corporate buzzword: The magazine publisher Meredith Corporation is one of a rising number of firms with a "wellness manager." UPS employees can volunteer to be "wellness champions" and inform colleagues of company resources; Scholastic has an on-site "wellness center" in its SoHo offices.

Other increasingly common initiatives include smoking-cessation and weight-loss programs, on-site gyms and exercise classes, and health screenings in which employees fill out questionnaires about their lifestyles and take blood tests to determine risk factors. More than two-thirds of companies now offer such programs, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

"At first it was just something a few large workplaces were doing," says Marilyn Helms, a professor of management at Dalton State College in Georgia who's studied corporate health programs. "Now, with rising healthcare costs, the tide's kind of turning."

As Helms' words suggest, there are financial reasons for all this get-well gusto. Having healthier workers cuts down on health-care costs, as well as reducing sick days and medical leaves.

But the rationale goes beyond cutting costs. There's growing appreciation for the notion that healthier employees are happier employees - and more productive ones. "People do a better job when they feel good about themselves," says Deborah Musso, director of Sea Change New York, a wellness company that works with firms around the city. "This is what companies are getting to understand."

Tim O'Neil, the Meredith wellness manager, sees creating a healthier workplace as part of building a better business culture. "Anytime the company can help an employee feel better, enhance their level of energy and help create a fun atmosphere at work, it's mutually beneficial," he says.

Some employers are offering another incentive besides convenience: cash, vacation days or prizes. The Boston-based Tangerine Wellness has built a booming business setting up incentive-based plans that reward employees for shedding pounds or maintaining a healthy weight. At some companies, colleagues team up to compete in weight-loss contests, and the winners split a cash award or donate it to charity. Tangerine CEO Aaron Day compares the incentives to stock options. "People are used to rewards for measured results," he says.

Events like contests figure into other initiatives. At XMPie, a division of Xerox, 22 staffers teamed up for the Eat Well Live Well Challenge, which required colleagues to walk 10,000 steps and eat five cups of fruits or vegetables each day.

In addition to fostering healthier habits, the contest - which required workers to wear pedometers around the office to log their movement - was "a great morale booster," says marketing director Kimberly Meyers.

In addition to health coaches, the SoHo-based publisher Scholastic has an on-site wellness center staffed by a doctor and nurse practitioner - a perk 13% of companies offer, according to SHRM.

Source

Labels: Corporate Wellness, eating healthy, health trend, wellness, workplace

Probiotics are the new the cure-all craze. If you believe some food labels, they can solve everything from bad digestion to acne to obesity to a bad attitude. To help further their health claims, the marketing team at Dannon, which makes Activia, took things a step further. Banking on the power of suggestion, they came up with new names for two strains of bacteria found in their yogurt: bifidus regularis, which supposedly helps regulate your digestive system and L. casei immunitas, which, you guessed it, supposedly strengthens your immune system. Probiotics may have some benefits, but most yogurts contain them—the reason why there is a class action lawsuit accusing Dannon of a false advertising campaign promoting the benefits of their yogurt over others. The suit charges that the claims merely convince consumers to pay more. But how else would the marketing team get paid?

Source

Labels: Dannon, deceit, health trend, lawsuit, Probiotics, yogurt

West Coast beauty and health foods marketer SuperFoods Rx is banking on the connection between food and beauty by rolling out its whole foods-based line at upscale retailers.

The Del Mar, Calif.-based company, which incorporates books, skin care, nutritional supplements and food products, earlier this month launched its products exclusively at prestige beauty boutique Studio at Fred Segal in Santa Monica.

The initial offering includes the SFRX Complex Age Defying Serum, a skin care product formulated with "super" foods, or nutrient-dense foods, including pomegranate extract; green, white and black tea leaves; organic sweet pepper; organic tomato, and extract from pineapple and papaya.

Accompanying the serum is a line of nutritional supplements, again containing known super foods such as broccoli, blueberries and fish oils. Stern said the hookup with Studio made sense in light of the ongoing research indicating that consuming certain foods enhances overall beauty.

"It is known that super foods are indicated for the health of skin, hair and nails," he said. "There is an established link between certain foods taken internally and the external implications of that. Given that, this is the perfect environment for the line."

Source

Labels: David Stern, Fred Segal, health trend, skincare, superfoods

* Brain Toniq was created for software engineers -- but it's good for us lay-folk as well. The botanically-based (think Rhodiola root and Siberian Ginseng), non-caffeinated, carbonated beverage is sweetened with organic agave nectar and claims to increase mental focus.

* O.N.E. Natural is launching Coffee Berry Juice (tons of Vitamin C and as much caffeine as a cup of green tea) and Cashew Juice (loaded with protein, potassium and zinc). From the company that makes coconut water!

* Cell-nique – this organic super-green and superfruit drink launched last year and is available in Pomegranate, Citrus Vanilla, Tropical Fruits, Apple, and Kukicha Tea; it has a new 13 oz. glass bottle available in April.

Labels: beverages, Brain Toniq, Cell-nique, health trend, new product, O.N.E. Natural

When we wrote about Florida's Healthy Bites Grill back in 2002, we even went so far as to wonder if it might become the next McDonald's. While HBG doesn't appear to be winning that coveted title, New York's Zen Burger is a new contender that has gotten off to a flying start.

Zen Burger aims to revolutionize the fast food world with natural, wholesome vegetarian foods that have the look, feel, texture and taste of meats without the negative effects on health and the environment. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, the restaurant specializes in meatless comfort foods that mimic those sold in traditional fast-food environments, such as the ZenSausage breakfast sandwich, ZenBeef burgers, crispy ZenChicken sandwich, ZenTuna sandwich, ZenHotDog, ZenChicken tenders, ZenShrimp and French fries.

The midtown Manhattan eatery, which just opened a few weeks ago, even recreates the ambience—if you can call it that—of the big fast-food chains, with bright lighting and a 1970s colour scheme heavy on the oranges and greens. Also available at Zen Burger are organic soups and chili, organic salads, non-dairy ice cream, organic teas and coffees, and natural sodas, as well as kids' meals complete with tiny toy. Pricing for a standard meal is about USD 7.

Zen Burger was founded by James Tu, owner of Zen Palate restaurants, and reportedly the plan is to take the chain nationwide, with the next restaurant slated to open in Hollywood in the middle of this year, according to Midtown Lunch. While vegetarians make up a still-small but rapidly growing part of the U.S. population, "flexitarians"—or those who eat a vegetarian diet some of the time, but not always—are a much larger group, and Zen Burger's real target, Tu told TheStreet.com. " The key is the taste," Tu said. "Ideally, I don't want people to know what they are eating is vegetarian."

Appealing to serious and sometime vegetarians alike, it's hard to imagine anything but a warm reception to this concept around the globe. One to get in on early?

Thanks!

Zen Burger
465 Lexington Ave, New York

Labels: health trend, healthy dining, NYC, restaurants, Zen Burger

Labels: health trend, healthy dining, Holistic Health, innovative, restaurants, tea

I never thought I'd put the words "Pepsi" and "healthy" together, but here goes: Pepsi is launching a healthy version of their flagship soda called Pepsi Raw. Made from natural ingredients, it contains no artificial preservatives, color, flavor, or sweeteners. It appears to be lighter in color — is that the lack of corn syrup, artificial color, or something else? — but that's not the only thing it's light in. It's lighter in calories (90 compared to 120 in regular Pepsi), too.

The product is launching in the UK, but it'll only be available in select bars and clubs in seven cities: London, Manchester, Glasgow, Brighton, Birmingham, Leeds, and Liverpool. A larger distribution arrives later in the year, but no word on a US release.

Thanks!

Labels: health trend, innovative, Pepsi, Pepsi Raw

Labels: drinks, fermented, health trend, kombucha, yeast

Natural product manufacturers are looking to the mass market as their number-one avenue for growth in 2008, especially this March, when Target commits to stocking up to 8 feet of these items in all 1,591 of its stores.

Target's embrace of natural care items speaks volumes to the validity of the category in the mass channel, manufacturers said. The chain, which is widely viewed as the hippest in the industry, will push sales of natural and organic body lotions, face creams and shampoos even higher in an already explosive industry.

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Labels: growing market, health trend, natural products, organic, personal care