Saturday, September 13, 2008

Nationwide Crusade Against Junk Food in Schools Goes Hi-Tech With YoNaturals Healthy Vending Machines

Nationwide Crusade Against Junk Food in Schools Goes Hi-Tech With YoNaturals Healthy Vending Machines

Schools now have a solution to junk food vending with the introduction of YoNaturals Healthy Vending program. finally a solution for the kids.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) June 25, 2007

Finally, public schools have joined the YoNaturals healthy vending revolution. Schools in California, Washington, Nevada, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Virginia are taking action to comply with government guidelines by providing new high-tech vending machines filled with healthy snacks and beverages.

YoNaturals, Inc, with national headquarters in Solana Beach, California, is a pioneer in the national effort to clean up vending machines in the public schools. Their website www. yonaturals. com offers practical action steps any teacher, parent, student or school system can take to uphold their civic responsibility to maintain and foster public health.

Mark Trotter, CEO of YoNaturals says, "We've made it easy for any school to make the transition from junk food machines to healthy vending machines. Schools will still earn generous commission on sales, so they can recover any revenue lost from removing junk food machines which don't comply with government requirements."

"The big difference is, all our products are healthy and natural - the same products you might find at your local health food store like Whole Foods or Wild Oats. All our products meet or exceed the nutritional guidelines for each state. Our plan-o-grams help you custom-design food inventory that will be in 100% compliance, and satisfy your local taste and product preferences as well."

"Not only that, our healthy vending machines feature state-of-the art technology with 24/7 monitoring. You can set the timers on our machines to switch on and off at your discretion, to make sure you comply with any mandated student break times. We can monitor and control inventory, and tell our distributors when to restock them, and also alert them instantly if there are repairs that must be made on site. Our systems are seamless, sophisticated and smart."

Medical experts, public health advocates, consumer wellness watchdogs, and even a former President of the United States, recognize that the vending industry, which is not regulated by the USDA, is in need of radical change in order to head off the current crisis in public health.

When former President Bill Clinton in 2006 announced an initiative in which five of the nation's leading food manufacturers pledged to make healthier snacks to combat childhood obesity in America, many medical experts and wellness advocates applauded. However, the initiative has proved toothless, and little has changed since then. A 2004 survey done by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that an estimated 75 percent of vending machines are filled with junk food.

"This is voluntary; they don't have to do it." Clinton said, speaking of the companies and the schools. Nevertheless, he said the nation's childhood obesity epidemic and skyrocketing health care costs made immediate action essential. However, to date only a few states have been pro-active in offering healthier snack choices for school children.

Trotter, CEO of YoNaturals (provider of healthy vending machines nationwide) says "We salute the few brave and forward-thinking school around the country which have taken steps to introduce healthy eating to their students"

"The big junk food companies have been trying to delay the inevitable, playing games like making smaller portions of the same junk foods, or calling new products "healthy" or "natural", when in fact they are not.

"Too many school officials have still got their head buried in the sand, but they can't keep taking the money from junk food vendors any more without suffering dire consequences. The word is out and their game is exposed. They've got to put health and wellness first, or childhood obesity, diabetes and other diseases will become an epidemic. School officials need education, courage, and inspiration to support healthy vending machines in the schools."

YoNaturals in-house nutritionist, Dr. Roy Vartabedian, is the New York Times best-selling author of Nutripoints, and a leading expert in providing health and wellness programs to schools, hospitals and nutritionists nationwide.

YoNaturals web site (www. yonaturals. com) features a complete mini-course in healthy nutrition that's simple and easy to follow. Every product has been specially selected based on taste and nutritional content and scores high on Dr. Roy's Nutripoints system.

The healthy snacks and beverages in YoNaturals vending machines include more than 150 choices of healthy bars, chips, crackers, cookies, dried fruit, nuts, meals, spritzers, smoothies, iced tea, coffee drinks, organic milk, water, sugarless/caffeine free natural Energy Drinks and juices.

For more information, contact YoNaturals at (858) 794-9955

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