When you look into the mirror, who do you see? Do you see someone with business smarts? Someone with potential? A savvy investor? If you see even one of these people when you look into the mirror, then you are exactly the kind of person that Yo Naturals is currently seeking. In fact, we are looking for a whole cadre of potential small business owners who are interested in investing in a change to the way Americans see snack food.

It’s no secret that there is a childhood obesity epidemic in this country. Many newspaper headlines, many politicians, and many physicians will bear witness to this fact, and that’s not even mentioning the large number of concerned parents. At the same time, there is another (partially overlapping) sector of the population that has been sounding the virtues of organic food for years and years. And their cries are being heard. The organic food industry has grown a lot in the last decade and is likely to continue growing as more is found out about the dangers of residual chemicals that are found in some of our fruits and vegetables. When these two thoughts are combined, it is easy to see that there is a practical solution that can address both problems at one time: vending machines that provide healthy (read: organic and natural) snack foods to time-strapped parents and their children.

In fact, even as you read this, the YoNaturals business is growing in prominence as a leader in the healthy vending movement. Through building alliances with school districts and the parents who enroll their children in these same school districts, YoNaturals has taken over a share of the marketplace that had previously been dominated by the traditional machines that are stocked primarily with junk food and sugary soda pops. Now, as small business owners are coming on board, YoNaturals is looking to expand their claim on the healthy vending movement and to claim an even larger share of the vending market in general by placing their products in more schools and other areas where hungry children and their parents can find them.

As we continue to grow, we are looking for potential small business owners who can help us push into these new markets. Yo Naturals has already invested the time, money, and energy that are necessary to establish the framework for success. Your role, as a small business owner, would be to help us expand into new areas. In fact, as the organic food movement continues to grow, there will be a lot of new territory available to our new way of doing snack foods.

If you are interested in investing in the future of health food vending, then visit www.YoNaturals.com today to find out how to get started.

While wandering the aisles of the grocery store, have you ever wondered what the words “enriched” and “fortified” mean? These two words are found on the packages of many items that are right there on the shelf, ready to be taken home and eaten. But what do those two terms mean? Obviously someone thinks that it’s important to eat enriched and fortified foods, but why?

As you think about your diet and your body’s need for certain vitamins and minerals, one of the most important things to remember is that the best way to meet those needs is through eating a healthy and balanced diet. With that said, it is also important to note that here are many people who cannot meet all of those needs through diet alone. People who do not eat dairy are a good example of this. Because they do not eat milk products, these people must find other ways to provide their bodies with the requisite amounts of calcium. They are often able to do this through taking nutritional supplements and/or by eating non-dairy foods that have been fortified with calcium.

So, as you may have gathered by now, when a food is labeled as fortified or enriched, that means that additional nutrients have been added to the food before it is presented to the consumer. And while the two terms are similar in meaning, they do have slightly different definitions. When a company “enriches” a food, they have simply replaced nutrients that were lost while the food underwent processing. On the other hand, if a food is identified as a “fortified” product, the producer has added in additional nutrients that would not be found in the food otherwise. One commonly fortified product that most Americans would be familiar with is the milk found in your grocer’s dairy section. Oftentimes, producers of this milk will add vitamin D to their product, which will enhance the drinker’s ability to absorb the calcium that is also found in the milk. Another familiar example is found in the baking section of your local grocery store. If you read the labels of many white flour bags, you will learn that it is often enriched with the B vitamins that are lost during the processing phase of production.

The advent of nutritionally-enhanced products has revolutionized the way that Americans think about nutrition. There are many instances where the addition of these vital vitamins and minerals to an otherwise healthy diet has prevented a whole host of medical problems and offered enhanced protection to the consumer. However, when you are choosing a food product, it is important to remember that no amount of added calcium or B vitamins will change the overall healthiness of the food. Make healthy food choices an overall part of your life by choosing snacks from YoNaturals vending machines. It’s for your health.

Author: Laura Rayburn

If you’ve already taken steps to improve your diet but are trying to figure out how to improve it further, then you should consider increasing your daily intake of dietary fiber. The results of studies have consistently come down in favor of fiber. Dietary fiber offers many health benefits to the people who consume it on a regular basis. Even though it most often touted for its ability to ease problems with constipation, it has also been shown to lower a person’s risk of diabetes and heart disease, among other things.

Furthermore, eating your recommended daily amount of fiber is easy once you know what fiber is and which foods contain it.
Dietary fiber is often called “bulk” or “roughage”, and it is simply the plant material that you eat and that your digestive system cannot break down. Unlike fats or carbohydrates, fiber passes through your body, beginning to ending, essentially unchanged by the digestive mechanisms and reactions that your body normally uses when it is breaking down food into its component parts.

There are two main categories of dietary fiber to consider when you are thinking about improving your eating habits: soluble and insoluble. As the name suggests, the difference in the two is that the former is dissolves in water and the latter does not. Furthermore, the difference in solubility affects the way that the dietary fiber interacts with your body. Once inside your body, soluble fiber dissolves to form a gel-like material that can aid in lowering blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels, whereas insoluble fiber works mainly to increase stool bulk and thus alleviating constipation.

Many people are able to get their daily dose of fiber from eating a diet that is chock full of foods that are high in fiber content. These include such staples as oats, legumes, apples, whole-wheat flour, nuts, and many vegetables. If you believe that your diet is low in fiber and are unsure about how to increase your fiber intake, make sure that you speak to your health care provider about this at your next appointment. There are many benefits to eating a high-fiber diet, and you do not want to miss out on them simply because you do not know what kinds of foods are high in fiber.

If you’re already well-versed in the benefits of a high-fiber diet, then you should already know that many health foods are considered high-fiber foods. In fact, you should know that if you choose your snack foods from YoNaturals heath food vending machines, then you will have many high-fiber options to choose from. Choose it for your health.

Author: Brenda Coxe

Whenever you read the newspaper or listen to the radio or television someone is always preaching about learning how to make good choices in the foods and snacks we feed our families. The problem is they don’t give us any specifics on how to do that. On rare occasions you will see someone encouraging us to eat more fruits and vegetables or take vitamins to make up for the loss of nutrients in the food we eat. Instead of encouraging us to take vitamins and dietary supplements, they should be encouraging us to learn to eat right so that we won’t need to rely so much on dietary supplements.

If no one is giving any information on how to make good eating choices, how are we supposed to know? The best way to do that other than taking time to attend nutrition classes is to conduct some research on the subjects. The library, bookstores, and the Internet are full of information on eating for good health. Reading and surfing the net are probably the two best ways to obtain the information you need because they are the easiest sources of information.

Most of us learned about good nutrition when we were in school but as we have become adults, we have ceased to see the importance. The problem with that line of thinking is that it brushes off on the kids, and they adapt our attitude. This is especially true if we attempt to force the children to eat healthy while we continue to eat junk food and make other unhealthy choices. Like any other method of rearing our children, they will not accept “Do as I say and not as I do” for an answer nor should we as parents expect them to do so. Parents need to set the example for their children, and that begins with healthy eating.

We cannot expect our children to adapt healthy eating habits unless we instill them into them at an early age. The problem develops when we as parents don’t fully understand the importance of teaching our children healthy eating. We cannot teach them healthy eating if we don’t know what it entails ourselves. Before a parent can teach their children, they must learn themselves. YoNaturals is attempting to do something about this problem by introducing the children to healthy and organic foods and snacks. It may not completely solve the problem but it is a step in the right direction. We cannot expect the change to occur overnight, but we are headed into the right direction.

If you want to learn healthy eating, the first thing you need to do is learn the basics of the process and what foods you should eat to maintain good health. Eating healthy means no just eating foods that are nutritionally balance but knowing how much to eat and how to supplement anything that is lacking in your diet. Healthy eating also involves including all of the nutrients you need, preferably in the food you eat though supplements are not out of the question.

Healthy eating means putting into your body those nutrients that the body needs for you to maintain good health. Of course, that can also include other products such as water, a necessary element for the body. It’s important for the body to maintain a good balance of nutritious foods in order to stay healthy, and of course, drinking water is part of that balance. Many people don’t drink enough water and failure to drink enough water prevents the body from flushing out old stale water that still remains. It means the body will use the water that is available for the things that require water, and if that water is not fresh, the body can succumb to illnesses such as kidney disease and bladder infections in addition to other conditions.

Healthy eating means controlling the portions of food you eat, especially those foods that contain empty calories. Choosing to eat healthier meals and snacks will help you maintain good health and boost your immune system and metabolism. It’s important for both systems to be in high gear—the immune system prevents disease and the metabolism helps the body burn the calories you eat. You can actually eat an abundance of food as long as your metabolism is in top shape and you exercise to burn off the calories you consume.

Once you learn the basics of healthy eating you will find it easy to make good choices in the foods you eat. Adults and children both need to know how the foods they eat affect their health in order to understand the importance of eating whole grain cereals instead of pre-sweetened cereals, for example. Healthy eating goes beyond just eating foods that are good for you; it includes eating the right foods in the right quantities in order to satisfy the body’s nutritional needs. Choosing those foods that the body can utilize for all of its voluntary and involuntary functions will assure the good health of everyone. YoNaturals is working to help parents understand the importance of seeing that their children eat healthy by encouraging them to provide children with healthy and organic snacks instead of those with empty calories.

Author: Brenda Coxe

Jessica Vachal

Everyone who reprimands about snacking needs to be careful and change up how they reprimand. After all, snacking itself is not a problem for most Americans who are capable of making sure that they snack on healthy foods – fruits and vegetables are your safest bets. It is those who get sidetracked by ice cream and cookies and have the guts – no pun intended – to call those snacks that we fun into trouble. After all, everyone knows that snacks that are full in sugar and refined sugars at that are just not very healthy for you and that those are the snacks we all ought to steer clear of. If you must snack, go for cut up carrots in a baggie or an apple or two.

Life is hectic enough and it can definitely be easy to get caught up in the moment of your hunger and the fact that all you can think of wanting to eat is a Twinkie or a Snickers bar. You think that you’ve been good all day, that you went to eh gym three times last week, and that surely one Snickers bar, when you are as hunger as you are right now, cannot possibly be so bad as people could make it out to be. Yet, that Snickers bar is not going to leave you feeling full for very long and then you are going to want to get another Snickers bar, or worse still a bag of chips, and then you are going to be taking in several hundred more calories than you need and you are going to be suffering quiet a stomachache and a blow to the ego once all those calories have been ingested and digested.

The fact is, hunger is a vicious enemy to anyone who is trying to eat healthy, and that is precisely why you should do what you can to ensure that you can eat healthy snacks – you have to arm yourself just like your mother armed you in elementary school for those joyful fieldtrips and regular old Mondays. Going to the vending machine is, of course, a tempting alternative to packing snacks or even to those lunches that used to be all packed and ready to go for you. You don’t have to think ahead, there will definitely be good waiting for you, and if you have the right amount of change, then you should be set. But your waistline will not thank you and neither will your guilt once your initial hunger has been staved off. Unless, of course you have YoNaturals organic fruit juices and organic snacks to choose from, you are going to be dealing with some pretty heavy guilt, and an equally heavy tread as your trips to the vending machines are going to cause you some weight gain.

Healthy eating is such an easy thing to do, yet many people begin their lives without being exposed to it. Why? Is it that parents are naturally negligent? Parents either fail to learn the importance of feeding their children healthy meals and snacks or don’t understand the impact of poor eating habits on the future growth of their children. There are also those who use the excuse that feeding their children healthy meals is more expensive than feeding processed foods, and though the initial cost of preparing home-cooked meals may be higher than one pays for processed foods, once you have all the ingredients you need, the cost will level out.

On the other hand there are those who insist buying fresh fruit is more expensive than buying cupcakes or baking a cake; however, this information is highly inaccurate. If fresh fruit is out of the budget during off-season, frozen or canned varieties that are unsweetened or packed in natural juices are a healthy substitute. Of course, the real question is whether money is more important than the health of your child. There is always a way to work around the expenses of healthy foods, but one must first become educated in the importance of buying healthy foods and how to prepare them for the entire family. Healthy eating is not something just for your children though they are the most important factors in this equation.

One of the most important reasons to encourage healthy eating in your children is because of the damage that sweet snacks can cause. In about the last fifty years the numbers of cases of ADD and ADHD have increased dramatically, and some experts link these figures to excessive sweets and preservatives that are in processed foods. While many lay people tend to believe these conditions are excuses for poor parenting, they are indeed real to those who suffer from them. If we return to eating wholesome and natural foods, the numbers of cases of ADD and ADHD will decrease as well, but it will take the cooperation of schools and parents.

Another major problem with both children and adults is that of poor choices of snacks. In the case of school age children, part of the blame for this can be placed on the schools who fail to provide healthy snacks—for instance, teachers often use sweets as a reward for good behavior. While no one disputes the need for snacks, adults need to understand that children do not need sweet snacks. Our schools need to join with YoNaturals and team with companies such as Healthy Student Vending and School Healthy Vending to ensure the children have healthy snacks. Parents need to cooperate with the schools and provide healthy snacks at home. It is no more expensive to by an apple than it is to buy a cupcake—probably less expensive. Students will be better behaved and more focused when they consume less sugar and more natural foods.

Author: Joshua Zelesnick

Here are some ways to add instant health to your daily diet.  Try some or all of these super foods to start your day off and end your day off great.  You may already have some of these foods in your diet, and good for you, but try some of the others too, and while you’re at it give some of what may be your least favorite foods another chance.  Your health is worth it.

1. Sweet potatoes:  If only Thanksgiving could be once a week.  The sweet potato is a nutritional all-star and one o the best vegetables you can eat.  Sweet potatoes are loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.

2. Grape tomatoes:  Okay, so we all had a scare with tomatoes a little while ago, but as it turns out it was not the tomatoes that had the salmonella.  So go out and buy them!  They’re packed with vitamin C and vitamin A, and you also get fiber, phytochemicals, and a lot of flavor.

3. Fat free or 1 percent milk and yogurt:  Ditch whole milk and whole milk yogurt and turn to fat-free alternatives.  If you can’t make the giant leap, start off with two percent milk, then move on to one percent, then try fat-free.  These low-fat dairy products are an excellent source of calcium, vitamins, and protein with little or no artery-clogging fat or cholesterol.

4. Broccoli:  It’s so good for us!  True it’s really green and it may not be the most appealing vegetable, especially for kids, but give it another try.  Steam it, add it to a stir fry, and melt a little cheese on it.  Broccoli has lots of vitamin C, carotenoids, and folic acid.

5. Wild Salmon:  The omega-3 fats in fatty fish like salmon can help reduce the risk of sudden-death heart attacks.  Salmon that is caught in the wild has less PCB contamination than farm-raised salmon.

6. Crisp breads:  Whole-grain rye crackers, like Wasa, Rye Krisp, and Ryvita, are loaded with fiber and are often fat-free.

7. Microwaveable or ten minute brown rice:  If you can’t decide on a side dish, why not choose brown rice?  Brown rice contains fiber, magnesium, vitamins E and B-6, copper, zinc and phytochemicals.

8. Citrus fruit:  Yum!  Yum!  Citrus fruits taste great and are rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and fiber.

9. Butternut squash:  Doesn’t it just sound good?  Every half-cup has five grams of fiber and loads of vitamins A and C.

10. Spinach and kale:  Both are packed with vitamins A, C, and K, folate, potassium, magnesium, iron, lutein, and phytochemicals. 

Add these foods to your diet and see if you feel and look better in a month.  Your taste buds will be happy too.  Cheers to happy and healthy eating.

Obesity is an unfortunate and pervasive problem which continues to affect far too many of our children. If you’re a family affected by obesity, you know that it influences nearly every aspect of your life: you have little to no energy and you may feel helpless to find a solution. The good news is that there is hope, and there is a better life out there for you and your family. It’s not easy, but it is possible. This isn’t a quick fix, but these 5 tips will help you get started on your way to a happier and healthier life.

1. Recognize the Problem:

There are many reasons children—and adults—overeat.  It may be that your child feels lonely and turns to food for comfort. It may be that he or she hasn’t known anything different. This is why recognizing the problem is the first step. Children follow in the example made by their parents. If you’re overweight it makes sense that your child would also struggle to make healthy choices about food. Try finding out why you or your child eat, and talk to your child about any difficult or sad feelings they might be experiencing. The good news is that once you figure out the root of the problem, the rest of the work comes much more naturally.

2. Drink Water:

It’s no secret that children love soda and sugary juices. While these aren’t the best choices of beverage, part of being healthy is staying hydrated. Explain to your children why drinking water is so beneficial to their health. And while you’re at it grab a glass of water for yourself!

3. Buy Vegetables

Check your cupboards. Look in your refrigerator. Do you see healthy vegetables and fruit, or chips and soda pop? As the parent, you are in charge of what goes into the house. The good news is that you can make healthy decisions without sacrificing taste. Look into purchasing a healthy recipe book and experiment with new recipes. If you don’t like to cook, choose restaurants with healthy options and encourage your child to try new foods.

4. Advocate Healthy Lunch in School

Of course, as much as you’d like to, you can’t follow your child everywhere and you can’t control everything they put into their mouth. School food has long been known as a detriment to our children’s health. This is why advocating healthy choices like YoNaturals healthy vending is so important. Children can’t choose to be healthy if they don’t have the option available to them.

5. Have Fun! 

Don’t make exercise a dreaded activity. Have fun with your child. Go for a nature walk or a bicycle ride. Play a game that encourages movement. You know your child best, so pick an activity that is within his or her interests. And make sure you make it fun!

Following these tips, you and your child will have more energy and better overall health. A better life is possible, and you have the power to make it happen one day at a time.

Bethany Cox for YoNaturals Vending in California!

Author:  Michael Rupkalvis

Organic certification is a process of certification for organic food producers and the producers of other organic agricultural products. Any business that is directly involved in the food production process can seek certification, and this includes the suppliers of seeds and growing materials, farmers, companies that process food items, and restaurants and retailers as well.

From one country to the next you will find that the requirements for organic certification vary, but there are usually production standards in place that dictate growing, storage, packaging, processing and shipping requirements.

These production standards require the avoidance of synthetic chemicals, like pesticides, food additives, fertilizers, antibiotics, organisms that are genetically modified, the use of sewage sludge and irradiation. They also require keeping detailed written records of sales and production, and the use of farmland that has been completely free of all chemical inputs for at least three or more years.

In order to obtain organic certification, it is also required that organic products be completely physically separated from non certified food products, and every certified organic site is required to undergo periodic inspections to show that standards are being maintained.

The concept of organic certification addresses a growing demand for organic food on a truly worldwide level. Certified organic food products exist to assure the quality of the food that we eat, while promoting commerce at the same time. In the earliest days of the organic movement, organic certification was not required but as more consumers turn toward organic food products through the more traditional channels like grocery stores and supermarkets, the need for certification has grown exponentially. In many countries the certification process is overseen by the government, which means that there are legal restrictions on using the term “organic”. Certified organic food product producers are also held to the same level of food health and safety standards as non-certified food producers.

What makes these certifications for organically produced foods such an outstanding idea is that they show consumers which food products can be trusted. Because certified organic food products are held to guidelines and standards, consumers who purchase food items that are certified organic can rest assured that they are grown right, without chemicals or additives, ensuring healthy and risk free food products. The organic movement is growing at a quick and steady pace as more consumers realize the health benefits associated with buying organic.

As more and more consumers turn toward certified organic food products to feed themselves and their families, the guidelines associated with organic certification tend to grow increasingly specific. Growing and processing food organically is not a difficult task at all for most food producers, but it does require that these companies take a long and hard look at the way that they regard the production of food, especially when it comes to growing naturally without pesticides or other chemicals and additives.