Food labels don’t tell us what foods to eat, but they contain vitally important information in making your decisions of what to buy and consume. 

Basically there are two important parts to reading a food or supplement label; the nutrition or supplement facts and the ingredients.

Nutrition and Supplement Facts -  The nutrition or supplement facts tell us the amount of calories, protein, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber,  saturated fats, vitamins and minerals that a product contains per serving.  Be sure to note the amount of sugars, saturated and trans fats as these compounds should be limited, according to the USDA.

Ingredients List -  The list of ingredients is key to note when purchasing any type of food or supplement.  It lets you know what a product contains, such as unhealthy chemicals.  If a label contains more than a few unpronounceable compounds, chances are it’s not a nutritious choice.  The Food and Drug Administration requires manufacturers to list the ingredients with the largest quantities first and the smallest quantities last.

Read and compare our FruitFast labels with others.  Take, for instance, our juice concentrates, they contain only one ingredient – 100% juice without added water, fillers or preservatives.  And our proprietary line of fruit softgels, like CherryFlex, Wild Blueberry and Pomegranate, contain USA grown pure fruit as their first listed ingredients.

FruitFast recognizes the importance of letting our customers know the nutritional facts and ingredients in all our products.  You’ll find certificates of analysis conducted by outside professional laboratories posted on our website.  Have  questions about our product ingredients?   We invite you to give us a call toll free at 1-877-591-3101.

Conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), survey findings indicated that 89 percent of respondents agree certain foods have benefits beyond basic nutrition.  And this is a significant increase from just two years ago, says the IFIC.

The Health Consumer Trending Survey found Americans making the connection that they are what they eat.  Elizabeth Rahavi, RD and associate director of wellness at IFIC, said “Consumers’ awareness of many food and health relationships has reached an all-time high.”

According to the survey, the top functional foods named by consumers are: 1) fruits and vegetables; 2) fish, fish oil, seafood; 3) dairy (including milk and yogurt); 4) meat and poultry; and 5) herbs/spices, among others. But beyond consumer interest in individual foods, research shows people are increasingly associating nutrients with specific health benefits for:

• bone and heart health
• antioxidants for protection against free radicals
• healthy immune systems
• omega 3 fatty acids for cognitive health 1

But as you might expect, saying and doing are two different things.  Maintaining a healthy diet – that includes plenty of fruits, antioxidants, beneficial oils and phytonutrients – is the key.

We invite you to browse our website and research the natural goodness that can always be found in FruitFast products.

1   www.foodinsight.org/

Regular exercise is part of the answer, says the online health site WebMD, along with diet and good sleep habits.  It doesn’t mean you have to buy a costly gym membership necessarily, but chances are you will only stick to your fitness regime if you enjoy what you are doing.  Whether it’s walking, biking, running, tennis, or just taking the steps instead of the elevator, you have to  make it an ongoing part of your lifestyle.  Exercising with a friend is another suggestion to help with the consistency, too, and keep you moving.

When it comes to diet,  a healthy dose of willpower doesn’t hurt either.  Eat well-balanced meals three times a day, control your portions and no binge eating.  That last one’s tough, too.  Stay away from the junk food, and as my boss says, if a product has a long list of ingredients you can’t pronounce, don’t eat it!

FruitFast has some excellent choices when it comes to healthy foods to include in your daily diet.  I’ll be happy to tell you about our Super Fruit juice concentrates in great tasting flavors like tart cherry, pomegranate and wild blueberry, or our line of popular fruit softgels and our low calorie FruitFast bars.  Talk about good for you – these are delicious and make adding more fruit to your diet easy for you and your family.

So give us a call … toll free at 1-877-591-3101 … and we’ll help you on your way to a healthy 2010!

This time of year brings with it personal promises of ways to improve our lives and associations.  And there’s no harm in reminding ourselves that there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Top 10 lists for a brighter year ahead traditionally advocate a variety of lifestyle changes.  Take www.about.com and their advice to fit in fitness, stop smoking and drinking, spend more time with family and friends and simplify life.  AARP.org takes a similar slant at enhancing our existence:  Get out and party, laugh a lot, take naps, dance, get regular exercise, make whoopee and enjoy the great outdoors.

My approach can be summed up in the word “straightforward.”   To me it means forging ahead with dreams and vision, and setting clear-cut goals for this company.  Simplify whenever possible to keep life less complicated.

As FruitFast greets a new year, we’ll continue taking pure USA-grown fruits and developing down-to-earth products for notable health benefits.  We look forward to offering our customers innovative supplements and food products backed by top-flight scientific research.

In 2010, you can bet FruitFast will once again be straightforward in delivering the power of fruit for healthier living.

Happy New Year!

Just in time for the Holidays, we are offering customers a savings of $2.00 per bag on all of our one-pound bags of dried fruit – that’s USA grown Montmorency red tart cherries, balaton cherries and wild blueberries.

If you are looking for tried and true, tasty recipes, you have come to the right place.  Gourmet cook Debbie Colaianni shares her world of culinary delights on the FruitFast Recipe blog.  She welcomes your favorite Thanksgiving dishes, too, at Debbie@fruitfast.com.

Order today by calling toll free 1-877-599-3101.  We’re here to help you!

The timing couldn’t be better either, as another study has just been released, and it’s yet another affirmation that Wild Blueberries are, indeed, a Superfruit! The additional scientific findings – this time from researchers at Cornell University – confirms that Wild Blueberries have a greater antioxidant content than many common fruits such as apples, bananas and red grapes.

Appearing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, study results found that Wild Blueberries performed well in new tests measuring their cellular antioxidant activity. The fruit had already been rated among the top 10 power foods for its naturally-occurring phytonutrient levels.

If you haven’t tasted FruitFast Dried Wild Blueberries, you don’t know what you are missing. These small berries are bursting with flavor, and are perfect for use in salads, sauces, baked goods, smoothies, pancakes and waffles, or when eaten right out of the bag as a snack.

While on the topic of our wild berries, you have a choice of how to obtain their healthful properties: we offer our premium Grade A Wild Blueberries in juice concentrate form, Wild Blueberry IQ Softgels and Wild Blueberry Fruit Supplement Bars. You’ll also find them in our MixedBerry Liquid Fruit Supplement.

With these healthy choices, you can’t go wrong.