Eating healthy doesn't have to be a bummer
COLUMBIA, 4/20/13 (Beat Byte) -- An Irvine, California company is partnering with a Columbia, Missouri woman to offer an unusual choice in snack vending machines: healthy food.Sprout Healthy Vending's newest operator, Kim Kraus, sees the partnership as a business opportunity that supports her lifestyle. It might also be an opportunity for area schools to improve less-than-optimal snack offerings.
School vending machines became a controversial topic a few years ago, with healthy food advocates arguing that candy bars, sodas, and salt-laden chips were a ticket to poor health for kids, and a long-term plague on their well-being as adults. Sports and school program boosters, on the other hand, said they needed the money school vending machines supply.
Kraus thinks the choice offers a win-win for everyone."It’s about adding alternatives and good choices on the go or away from home," she explains. "Businesses, schools, hospitals and municipalities can’t continue to talk about the obesity and diabetes health crises and then offer only unhealthy choices in the vending machine down the hall."Sprout is definitely not your grandma's snack food vendor. With a colorful selection of organic cookies, soy-based puddings, fruit and veggie crisps, yogurts, smoothies, and 41 drinks from Arrowhead mountain spring water to Tazo plum-pomegranate ice tea, the company also offers the latest thing in vending technology: wireless, iPad-style touch screens designed to Americans with Disabilities Act standards.A vegetarian for over 20 years and former fitness instructor, Kraus says cancer and diabetes run in her family. "My life has been centered around nutrition and fitness for many, many years," she explains. "Healthy vending options taste great. The beauty is that eating healthy doesn’t have to be a bummer."Sprout Healthy Vending