I have exciting news to share with you all! This Thursday, August 23rd, Whole Foods Market is opening up their very first store on the East Side of Manhattan. They will be located on 57th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave.

I am going to wake up bright and early so I can attend the Bread Breaking Ceremony! The ceremony starts at 8:30am and the doors of the store will open at 9am. Coffee, juice and breakfast snacks will be provided, AND the first 250 shoppers will have an opportunity to walk away with a free Whole Foods Market 57th Street canvas bag! I'm hoping to snag one of those babies!

During the ceremony they will be announcing a donation of 57 salad bars to schools throughout New York City's five boroughs. This donation will be made in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and Whole Kids Foundation^™, a Whole Foods Market foundation dedicated to improving childhood nutrition through increased access to healthy foods. Also 5% of total sales from the opening day will go towards the school salad bar donation.

What amazing news for the children of NY!  With childhood obesity on the rise, children need all the help they can get when it comes to eating a healthy diet!

I myself am especially excited about this store opening up for 3 reasons: 

1. I LOVE Whole Foods because they offer a large selection of quality health foods that are often hard to find at other grocery stores and it is nice to have several options around the city.
2.  They have and amazing food bar, it is one of the few places I in the city I can get really good foods without being contaminated by soy or dairy.
3. Because I have been waiting SO long for a Whole Foods to open up near my boyfriends apartment (also on the East Side) and now I will finally have good food to eat! :)

Whole Foods is always giving back to the community and making an effort to help educate Americans on living healthy lives.  On May 29th I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Whole Foods Market Co-Founder & Co-CEO, John Mackey speak on health and wellness in today's culture. He touched on the following topics:

• Preventing heart disease and cancers by adding large quantities of fruits and vegetables to our diets.
• Instead of American's limiting foods while dieting, they should add nutrient dense foods and eat until they are full!
• Healthy Eating Myth: It is expensive! American's should factor healthcare costs into the cost of food.
• Our nation is overweight and unhealthy, we have the knowledge to prevent. We need to educate ourselves in order to be healthy.
• Healthy foods do not have to taste boring! We can adapt to a healthy diet and learn to love foods, just like people learn to love a healthy diet.
• Doctors do not want to talk to patients about healthy eating because they aren't qualified to and they don't believe it matters.
• Vegetables only have 100 calories per pound and fruits only have 300 calories per pound. Juiced fruits may be worse for you because the sugar is extracted from the fruit cells and rushes into the bloodstream.

He also gave us some great information about Whole Foods Wellness Club. If you are not familiar with the Wellness Club, it is a program where you pay a monthly fee and get perks like 10% discount on a wide variety of healthy foods, Supper Club discounts, unlimited classes in cooking, nutrition and healthier lifestyle choices, cooking demos, events and access to other local business that promote health and wellness.

Meet and greet!

I may or may not be showing off my bicep muscle to John Mackey :)

Whole Foods Wellness Club Class Schedule