By Dan Negroni, CEO

Fresh Healthy Vending started in 2010 with a new idea – one that would transform the vending machine industry from the unhealthy reputation it had earned over the years. Now, with more than 1,500 machines placed in various locations around the U.S. and Canada, we have helped to revolutionize the industry, by offering machines stocked with all-healthy food options.

Our machines are found in a wide range of places, including schools, hospitals, office buildings and workout facilities. They are ideal anywhere people want convenient access to healthy drinks or foods on the go. Each machine is filled with healthy snack options including juice drinks, fresh fruits and vegetables, protein and granola bars, yogurt, and baked chips and crackers.

Our “top five” list of types of facilities (in random order) where consumers can find Fresh Healthy Vending machines appear below.

Military bases. Those in uniform are seeking out healthy snack options at Charleston Air Force Base, Camp Pendleton, Little Rock Air Force Base, McGuire Air Force Base, Miramar Marine Base and Fort Campbell Army Base. The Defense Department has made an overall commitment to our dedicated men and women in the service.

Corporations. Major companies and office complexes around the nation also want to honor the health of employees and have sought out Fresh Healthy Vending machines, including Apple, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., Tap Out, Cameco Corporation, Pacific Science Center, Advantage Rent A Car, New Frontier Media, Charles Schwab, Honda, Alcatel-Lucent, J.B. Hunt, Sony, Active Networks, Toni & Guy Salons and Tiffany & Co.

Hospitals. Several major hospitals and health-related companies offer healthy vending to employees, patients and visitors as an option, including Bon Secours Hospital, Pacific Life, GE Healthcare and St. Luke’s Hospital.

Hotels. Travelers seeking healthy on-the-go snacks will find such options at Hyatt Regency and Crowne Plaza Hotels.

Schools. Most notable is our nation’s dedication to curing the obesity epidemic. Following first lady Michelle Obama’s lead and commitment to our nation’s children and their health, schools at just about every level are offering healthy vending machines, including Harvard University, Boston Ballet, Paul Mitchell–The School, University of Southern California and University of California, San Diego and countless middle and high schools around the country.

Visit www.freshvending.com to learn more about securing a machine for your location or Fresh’s innovative initiatives.

The “workplace wellness” trend sweeping the nation has the potential to help employees improve their health while at the same time offering new market opportunities for farmers

Fruit and vegetable growers looking for markets for their products might want to consider The FruitGuys. This privately held family business buys produce directly from farmers, for next-day delivery.

Most FruitGuys customers are businesses seeking to provide healthy snack options at the office for employees. Several fruit box mixes are available for weekly delivery to offices around the U.S. The company also makes home deliveries of mixed fruit and vegetable boxes.

Providing fruit for employees can counteract unhealthy food found in worksite breakrooms or vending machines; keep employee morale high; reduce absenteeism and demonstrate a company’s commitment to health, according to The FruitGuys founder and CEO, Chris Mittelstaedt.

The company has four regional collection hubs. Fruit is gathered from farms in each region, sorted and hand-packed for delivery in sturdy, environmentally friendly paper crates.

“As we grow, we plan to open more hubs,” said Mittelstaedt. “Someday we would like to have a hub in every state. We work with as many local farmers as possible,” he said.

Buyers for the company look for small family farmers who are living on the land, farming 100 or fewer acres.

“We believe in supporting farms of this size,” Mittelstaedt said. “We’re very interested in organics and sustainable agriculture – that’s what drives the company.”

But, Mittelstaedt explained, the company buys fruit from both conventional and organic growers.

“We give customers different choices, both in price and variety of fruit,” he said.

The FruitGuys is always looking for unique crops or “old-school” fruit varieties, such as Arkansas Black or Pink Pearl apples. Pink Pearls are renowned for tart flavor and pink flesh. This variety is somewhat hard to grow and find, but the company offers it as often as possible.

Providing financial support for stewardship projects is one way the company gives back to its growers.

For example, instead of farmers paying each season to have bees trucked in to pollinate their crops, The FruitGuys will pay for a beekeeper to do an installation of hives on the farm. The farmer keeps the bees and the honey for his or her own use, or to sell.

Learn more at http://fruitguys.com.

Easter, like most holidays, is all about traditions, many of which revolve around food. While some may enjoy a Cadbury Creme Egg or marshmallow Peeps, the main course of an Easter dinner is what many foodies look forward to, especially the traditional Easter ham.

“Ham first became a spring favorite in the time of the Romans, who buried pork by the sea in the winter to create a salty, cured ham for the spring,” said Colleen Albright, a pork producer from Coldwater, Mich. “America’s pilgrims carried on the tradition of ham in the spring, hand-curing pork in the fall in preparation for the Easter feast. At that time, the fall was the traditional time for hogs to go to market and curing or other preparations were done at that time. Easter would have been the first holiday that the cured ham from the fall would to be ready to eat.”

Ham is not only a tasty tradition, it is also a healthy one. According to the National Pork Board, a 3-ounce serving of pork contains 5 percent of our Daily Value of iron and 11 percent of our DV of potassium and vitamins B12 and B6, known for boosting metabolism.

Albright said the best cured hams are bright pink in color, and although lean is healthier to look for a ham with some marbling. “Marbling is the visible specks of fat within a muscle,” said Albright. “Marbling contributes to pork flavor and, to a lesser extent, to juiciness and tenderness. However, hams with excessive marbling tend to taste greasy. Select hams with a small to modest amount of marbling for optimum flavor.”

She warns that while the least expensive hams have the highest water content, this extra water just makes the ham heavier and doesn’t contribute to flavor or nutrition.

Across the country, grits are on a comeback. The gain in popularity is evident beyond just south of the Mason-Dixon Line. While restaurants in more metropolitan areas have been experimenting with grits for awhile, the dish is starting to pop up on restaurant menus in places like Kansas City and other American cities more and more.

So, what is the reason for the resurgence? Aside from more refined consumer tastes that demand creativity, local chefs are having fun reinterpreting grits. Further, “the grits comeback has been aided in part by corn millers who have made a concerted effort to teach chefs how to cook this Southern specialty,” according to the Kansas City Star. Read more.

Looking for an alternative to butter, but don’t want to lose the taste? Ghee just might be your answer. Ghee, a clarified butter that originated in India, is a thick paste with extreme flavor. The Associated Press calls it “butter on steroids.” It has a nutty, buttery flavor. Typically found in the international or health food aisles in grocery stores, ghee is gaining popularity by those who are a little more adventurous and demand more flavor in their foods. Read more.