Santa Clarita Concessions

Everyone knows that drinking more water in Santa Clarita and less soda or sugar-sweetened beverages is a good idea for supporting a healthy lifestyle, but now a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nutrients, tells us just how beneficial this swap may be when trying to improve your health.

Partially funded by the Drinking Water Research Foundation and authored by researchers from both the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech, this is the first study to use national nutrition surveillance data to report adult beverage intake patterns and predict calorie savings, weight loss benefits and other potential health advantages associated with drinking water instead of sweetened beverages. The study utilized dietary and health data from more than 19,000 adults from National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys conducted between 2008 and 2012.

From this data, researchers were able to determine beverage intake patterns, compare beverage choices to current public health recommendations and identify positive results from drinking more water and less sweetened beverages. The following are some high points from the study:

• 18 percent of adult calories come from beverages. Current public health recommendations suggest this be less than 15 percent.
• More than 40 percent of adults reported drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day. This exceeds public health nutrition guidelines for those trying to improve weight management and reduce the risk for chronic diseases, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
• Reducing calorie intake to the recommended 15 percent maximum would cut 3.9 billion calories per day from adults’ diets in the U.S. The predicted weight loss from such a move could mean 1.6 million fewer adults classified as “overweight.”
• Though Americans are drinking less soda, data still shows that calories from beverages is still exceeding public health recommendations.

From these findings, recommendations were made regarding limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of total calories. Also, it is advised that the more one can replace added sugar beverages with one with no sugar added, like water, the better for overall wellness. Though these conclusions aren’t surprising, the results of compliance are powerful.

“Swapping water for eight ounces of sweetened beverages every day could save people roughly 100 calories,” said Kiyah Duffey, PhD, Virgina Tech and co-author of the study. “If those calories are not replaced by other foods or beverages, that is a meaningful reduction in daily energy intake.”

Looking for healthy break room service at your Santa Clarita office? Call Santa Clarita Concessions today at (661) 259-7310

For years vending machines have been loved by break rooms everywhere. They offer convenience, provide delicious, healthy snacks and allow a snack/meal break when restaurants and stores may be closed or too far away to access during an allotted break time. However, in these same years, vending machines have been loved to be hated. Products get stuck, change doesn’t dispense, dollar bills (no matter how many times you flatten them) won’t read and in some scenarios products (when they do vend) come through the hatch expired.

In short vending machines are just that: machines. And machines are not perfect. But what if there was a system that was closer to perfect? One that prohibited lost money and stuck product?  One that offered even fresher food and guaranteed that customers never had to purchase an outdated product again?

Micro Markets are that system.

A Micro Market operates as a mini convenience store in break rooms in place of typical vending machines. With open shelving for shelf stable products, reach in coolers and freezers and a self-checkout kiosk, customers (your employees) can hold their product before they ever purchase it. Which means in addition to being guaranteed they will receive what they purchased they can also:

• Check expiration dates
• Examine nutritional information (allowing the opportunity to make an informed purchasing decision for their taste buds and their health)

What about money?

Micro Markets use stored value cards, credit cards and finger print recognition to make payment as convenient as possible for your employees. With their stored value cards, employees can upload cash or credit (at the kiosk or online) to make a purchase. The card stores the balance, which means no change is given back (eliminating the coin mechanism which is responsible for roughly 90% of all vending related service calls).

And for freshness?

Those reach in coolers, in addition to beverages; hold FRESH food (not frozen to defrosted, but fresh). Delicious sandwiches, salads, burritos, yogurts, parfaits, wraps, fruit, etc. are now readily accessible to your employees without ever having to leave the office.

So what does all of this mean for your Santa Clarita business?

• Happier/healthier employees
• Reduction of extended off site employee breaks
• Improvement of employee efficiency

Which in turn increases your company’s bottom line as happy employees will produce better results.

Want to revolutionize your company’s break room with a micro market of your own? Call Santa Clarita Concessions today at (661) 259-7310 and ask what requirements need to be met to qualify for a micro market at your place of business.