I was at the Tribeca Whole Foods in New York City this morning to hear a presentation by John Mackey, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the company.
The crux of what John Mackey discussed was healthy eating and how the overarching philosophy of Whole Foods is to improve people’s health by emphasizing a plant-based diet.
He also talked about some other very interesting initiatives, including opening stores in inner cities and a status update on the Wellness Clubs. Read More »
I have been doing A LOT of juicing lately, some apple/carrot but mostly it has been green juice.
When I make green juice, I always try to mix it up so I am not using the exact same green vegetables every single day.
I’ll either use celery or cucumber as my base and then put kale, collards, swiss chard or some other type of leafy green in there. I’ll also throw in sprouts, if available, but will never juice spinach because of its high oxalic acid content.
One green that I used today was organic dandelion. Read More »
Yesterday, I was at the Whole Foods store in Tribeca (Lower Manhattan in NYC) and got a preview of a new concept that the company is piloting at five locations across the country – Wellness Clubs.
Whole Foods embarks on many different programs, most of which I am impressed with, but these Wellness Clubs may be its best one yet.
John Mackey, the Co-CEO and Founder of Whole Foods, has taken the unusual, bold and admirable step to use his corporation as a tool to improve the health of American citizens. He has declared that a plant-based diet is the way that people will become healthier, and Whole Foods has developed initiatives around this (his) philosophy. Read More »
I am writing from Orange County, CA where I am attending the Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim which started yesterday.
So, on Wednesday I made a visit to the local Whole Foods in Tustin to pick up a few things. I love the experience that each Whole Foods delivers but this store is the most mind-blowing one I have ever stepped foot in.
I never thought I would say it but I must confess. I now have Whole Foods envy. How lucky are the people that get to shop here whenever they want.
Aside from the fact that it is a 68,000 square feet spectacle, I saw something that I had yet to see before — a special section where customers can sit down and consult one-on-one with a Healthy Eating Specialist. All for free.
Several weeks ago, I profiled Whole Foods’ new Health Starts Here initiative and have been in constant conversation with many different store managers trying to get the inside scoop — do employees like it or not (in particular, those who work in the meat department), how are they going to roll it out, what are the internal training programs, etc.
One piece of feedback that I kept hearing was that there would be in-store training for customers on the program to answer their every question. Read More »
I almost fell over yesterday when I was at the Whole Foods Market (Fresh Pond Store) in Cambridge, MA. Let me explain…
Before entering the check-out line, I was looking at the marketing materials related to Whole Foods’ new Health Starts Here campaign — an initiative based on a plant-based, nutrient-dense diet.
The first thing I saw was the big poster that ranked foods based on an index called the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI). ANDI was created by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., the chief medical officer of an organization called Eat Right America.
Foods are ranked from 1 to 1000, with the most nutrient-dense foods having the highest scores. Collards and kale have scores of 1000 while soda has a score of 1. What was displayed at the store today was an abbreviated list and did not contain all the scores that are available on the ANDI website link above.
The second thing I saw was the display of about seven books where magazines are normally stacked. This is where I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
There was a copy of The China Study by Colin Campbell, PhD.
For those unfamiliar with this book, it is the culmination of 20 years of research into the lifestyle habits of people in rural China and Taiwan.
Dr. Campbell said that “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease … People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored.”
I had heard about The China Study a few years ago through some of my raw food friends. Given that raw foodists eat an organic/vegan diet, Dr. Campbell is a household name within this community for obvious reasons.
The fact that a supermarket, which sells a ton of animal products, would sell The China Study is nothing less than completely and utterly shocking.
The third thing I saw was a marketing brochure (see below) about the Health Starts Here campaign. It listed four healthy eating principles: Plant Based, Whole Foods, Low Fat and Nutrient Dense.
The first row in the third bullet point under the Low Fat criteria said “Reduce or eliminate consumption of animal products”. I had to stare at the paper for about 10 seconds in order to believe what was actually written there.
Not only does Whole Foods have The China Study sitting by its cash registers, some of the most valuable real estate in the entire store, but the the market is now telling consumers not to buy the animal products that it is selling!
Inconsistent Marketing Messages
Another interesting point here is that there has been a lack of consistency in the messages that Whole Foods has been delivering to the public in regards to this program. Read More »
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