That’s the thing about health: it doesn’t always come with a warning. One day you’re fine, the next you’ve twisted an ankle and need crutches, or your aging dad needs a blood pressure monitor that doesn’t feel like a medieval torture device. That’s where a good old-fashioned, fully-stocked, thoughtfully-run medical supplies shop steps in and says, “We’ve got you.”

More Than Just Thermometers and Bandages

Sure, at first glance, it might seem like it’s all gauze rolls and digital thermometers. But walk inside and you’ll see an incredible variety that reflects real, lived-in life. From compression socks that feel more like cozy hugs than medical gear, to state-of-the-art wheelchairs that glide like sports cars, these stores have quietly evolved into wellness hubs.

A patient may be retrieving a CPAP device to finally sleep at night without gasping, or a physical therapist may be shopping for resistance bands for a patient’s rehabilitation. There are post-operative pillows, advanced blood sugar monitors, shower seats that spare dignity, and pediatric products that soothe little warriors with big battles. It is a lovely, undeserved symphony of utility and compassion.

The good news? There’s usually somebody working behind the counter who really knows their business. They’re not clerks–they’re frequently retired nurses, med techs, or individuals who’ve memorized every aisle like a foreign language. Ask them the distinction between two pulse oximeters, and they’ll inform you which one Aunt Mabel in the sticks of Idaho swears by.

Why Your Neighborhood Needs One Now

Picture working late, hurrying home, and finding that your grandpa needs a replacement oxygen cannula and the big-box stores are already closed. Or finding your child’s allergic response needs a specific type of adhesive bandage that the pharmacy down the street doesn’t stock. That’s when the medical supply store is more than a place to buy things-it’s part of your emergency kit, your health arsenal, and your sense of security.

Aside from emergencies, these pharmacies make living with chronic health issues a little more mundane. Rather than racing to grab an online order that comes in a week and is half-bungled, you are able to go in, experiment with the product, ask questions, and leave equipped. You don’t have to be the sole person to feel lost in a labyrinth of buzzwords and unpronounceable product titles.

It’s that capacity to combine knowledge with compassion that makes a medical supply store seem like a beacon in the neighborhood. It’s where individuals arrive vulnerable-frightened, drained, hopeful-and leave a bit more in charge. A bit more assisted. A bit more human.

From Hospitals to Homes, One Stop Assists

Hospitals are ground zero for medical miracles, but a lot of the healing takes place at home. Recovery isn’t always a linear process, and it’s certainly not always glamorous. Wound care, mobility assistance, respiratory therapy-all of that goes on long after the discharge papers are signed. And let’s be honest: Amazon doesn’t know your wound dressing requirements or whether that leg brace you just had shipped fits a left knee or a right knee.

A good medical supply store fills that gap between clinical practice and everyday life. It equips individuals with the ability to bring professional-grade equipment and assistance into the comfort of one’s own home. Parents are able to locate pediatric nebulizers in the form of dragons, and post-surgery patients can learn how to use a knee scooter without removing every corner of the hall. That blend of utility and niceness? You can’t app for that. It’s human, and it’s crucial.

The Heart Behind the Medical Supplies Store

Here’s the actual secret nobody reveals to you: these shops are usually owned by individuals with their own stories. Some started shop after nursing a loved one with chronic illness. Others are healthcare professionals who wished to serve their communities in an easier manner. They’ve witnessed the tears, the victories, and the uncomfortable questions that come with caring for health, and they greet it all with the sort of grace you’d want to see everywhere.

That energy carries through the store. The shelves are not only filled with product-they’re filled with purpose. The open aisles invite wheelchairs, the signs are legible even for weary eyes, and the return policies are more than reasonably generous. Because it’s not about selling stock-it’s about enabling people to get moving.

Even the most minor of details-such as if a portable toilet seat will fit over an ordinary commode or how to clean a humidifier-are all part of the customer service experience. And it’s these actual, human-based interactions that turn a regular store into something special.

Not Just For the Sick or Injured

One of the biggest myths about a medical supplies store is that it’s just for “sick people.” No way. Athletes swing by for cold wraps. Travelers purchase mini first-aid kits. Pregnant women seek out maternity belts and baby digital thermometers. Busy people snag ergonomic pillows to outsmart neck pain before it destroys another Monday.

Wellness is for all, and those stores are embracing that increasingly. You may come in to get an ankle support and leave with a newfound knowledge of posture correction devices or sleep aids. It’s not about responding to sickness-it’s about cultivating health at every conceivable stage and degree.

A Trusted Cornerstone in Health and Healing

The truth is, no one really wants to need a medical supplies shop. It’s not like shopping for a new pair of sneakers or planning a vacation. But when life takes a turn-and it will-it’s a place where the practical meets the compassionate. Where you’re not just a customer; you’re a person who deserves comfort, clarity, and the right tools to get through.

So yes, it is not perhaps as sexy as a tech shop or as trendy as a new restaurant, but it possesses something arguably more fundamental: purpose. Subdued, solid, unshakeable purpose.

Because when you’re attempting to make life tolerable for somebody you love-or for yourself-that building with the crutches, the shower chairs, and the folks who actually care? That’s where you go.

That’s why it’s important.

Healing Happens in Unexpected Places

A medical supply store is not flashy, but it is deeply human. It’s where knowledge and vulnerability intersect, and where healing has a home base beyond the hospital walls. As medicine becomes more complex, impersonal, and computerized, these shops provide a tactile reminder that care is still best served hand-to-hand. Whether it’s a cane that enables someone to walk again or a bandage that enables a wound to breathe, these are not products in the classical sense-they’re tiny agents of healing, dignity, and strength. And that? That’s something worth celebrating.

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The core question we ask ourselves is: where did ChefMod come from? The company was born when two veteran, smart restaurant owners sat down and came up with a brilliant idea of making the company. The core founders of ChefMod are John Oldweiler and Eduard Spivak. ChefMod has been in business since 2005, having grown and expanded exponentially since then.

Let us learn more about the company. ChefMod provides independent and small group foodservice establishments with business class, cloud based purchasing and recipe management solutions for both the desktop and mobile devices. The company is member-based and uses the collective resource of its growing group to provide efficient skilled personnel to manage the purchasing process, to provide sophisticated online tools, to fully organize the purchasing life cycle, and to carefully select vendors to service the community.

How does ChefMod stay in business? What services does the company offer? ChefMod makes purchasing easy. The company’s cloud based system gives you access to a suite of tools accessible from your computer, or mobile device. Some of the software that the company employs are:

1. Order 1-2-3

ChefMod shows you in a clear and simple language how to compare sizes and brands so that you can make the best decision.

2. Secure Order

This is a self-learning software which gets smarter with every order you make. You might ask yourself why you need this. It shields you from simple mistakes by validating every item ordered. It even recommends a customized quantity.

3. Mobile App

ChefMod Mobile App takes Secure Order one step further by using your own order history to recommend order quantities generated in your shopping cart.

4. Analytics

As a businessperson, you always want to know your spending patterns. The system analyses your data in the most meaningful way.

5. Financial

Managing your costs is the most important part of the accounting process. ChefMod gives you the tools with the least amount of fuss.

These among other services are offered at ChefMod. Head Offices are in one of, if not the, busiest cities in terms of business i.e. New York, NY.

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Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands, was the last major company to decide on the switch, but it may become the first to actually implement it: They announced in November that 6,000  Taco Bell locations in U.S. will be switching to eggs produced by cage-free chickens by the the end of 2016.

“This is the fastest timeline adopted by any major food company, and it comes as Taco Bell increases its breakfast program nationwide, raising the bar for other major corporations,” wrote Wayne

The post The First Fast Food Chain in Line to Use Cage-Free Eggs Was the Least Expected appeared first on Paleo Diet Magazine.

According to Fox News, the first fast food establishment to serve exclusively USDA-certified organic food opened  two weeks ago in San Francisco. They have a small menu—mostly fried chicken, in either a bowl, a sandwich, or a wrap—and are a bit pricey (8.99 USD for a main course), but this is basically expected considering the relatively small supply of certified organic products compared to their non-organic counterparts. Smaller supply means higher prices.

In …

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Organic Food Overtakes Pleasanton

You can find lots of great things in Pleasanton, beautiful parks, a cozy downtown district, but now you’ll be able to eat at the first organic fast food joint in the country that is also USDA-certified.

Opened on Tuesday, the new restaurant, called The Organic Coup, serves only organic products for its customers. One specific dish, for instance, is the Coup Signature Sandwich, which is essentially a USDA-certified organic chicken breast that’s been fried in (also organic) coconut oil with chopped organic …

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Mike Donnelley, Cincinnati-based executive vice president of merchandising, stated that figure during Kroger’s annual investor conference with analysts and investors on Tuesday. It is the first time in history that Kroger has stated how much its natural and organic business generated in sales for public knowledge. That is about 10% of Kroger’s annual sales, which was more than $108 billion last year.

The store brand for natural and organic foods is Simple Truth. It has generated double-digit percentage sales increases every year it has existed. Donnelley said that millennials are the driving force behind the tremendous growth in natural and organic foods.

Stuart Aitken, Kroger CEO of data analytics reveled that the data is gathers helps Kroger to focus on areas where the trends take customers. Natural and organic products clearly are the focal point of one trend.
Kroger had previously said Simple Truth is now the nation’s largest brand of natural foods, just two years after it launched the brand.

“We’re delivering on millennials’ needs,” he said.

Kroger had previously said Simple Truth is now the nation’s largest brand of natural foods, just two years after it launched the brand.

Aitken also said at the conference he felt obligated to explain the oft-criticized name of the segment of DunnhumbyUSA’s data analytics business that Kroger added in April. The short answer is 84.51 represents the longitude of the company’s headquarters at Fifth and Race streets in downtown Cincinnati. But why did that become the company’s name?

When Aitken said he felt the need to explain, Donnelley, his co-presenter during that portion of the conference, said, “Good luck.”

“The amount of abuse I’ve taken for that is priceless,” Aitken said.

Aitken told analysts that his favorite blog post about the name was: “Clearly the creative department wasn’t part of that decision.” He gets plenty of criticism for the name, in house and outside. CFO Mike Schlotman once said the name is proof that Kroger executives really do let 84.51 operate on its own.

Nevertheless, Aitken forged ahead in explaining the move.

“Our name actually represents us very well,” he said. “Longitude was one of the biggest problems to solve. It took 100 years. We solve big problems. It’s also a direction, and we’re about where people are going. And it’s a number. And we’re all about numbers.”

Finally, Aitken said, the name shoves the company to the top of any alphabetical list.

Featured Image: credit to Flickr/Nicholas Eckhart

Source: BizJournals.com

The post Kroger Reveals How Much Organic Foods Sells Each Year appeared first on Paleo Diet Magazine.

Up to 25 top U.S. based food and beverage companies shared among themselves this market loss in the last five years.

Fortune Beth Kowitt, a senior writer, used that amazing number to initiate a panel to discuss on the topic “The New Food Revolution” on Tuesday the 12th of October at the Most Powerful Women Summit.

It is expedient here to ask, who or what should be held accountable for this drastic shift? …

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While a 2015 Nielsen survey shows that a large number of Americans want fresh, natural, and modestly processed foods, Azodicarbonamide (yoga mat chemicals) has been discovered in almost 500 food products. Yet, the trend is changing as fast food chains, fast casual restaurants and even multinationals are responding to pressure from consumers, especially from Millennial demanding food made without artificial ingredients.

In 2013, industry leader Chipotle became the first restaurant chain to identify which items on their list contained genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Today, the company is currently working on enhancing their tortilla to remove propionic and benzoic acid, the two preservatives used to inhibit the growth of mold and bacteria. In the way, by the end of 2016, bakery chain Panera Bread will eradicate all artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colors, and flavors stated on their ‘No No’ list. Some of the examples are; aluminum potassium sulfate, nitrates and nitrites, and titanium dioxide (used to add brightness to cheese).

Faced with lagging sales, fast food chains are making changes to prevent falling further behind. Taco Bell will remove artificial preservatives and additives “where possible” by the end of 2017 while McDonald’s has reduced the number of ingredients in its grilled chicken breast from 18 to 12. Multinationals such as General Mills and Kraft are also following suit, with the cereal brand planning to use fruit and vegetable juices instead of green and blue dyes in Trix. Starting in 2016, Kraft macaroni and cheese eaters will see annatto seed and paprika extract replace Yellow No. 5 and 6.

As industry standards for transparency in the supply chain continue to evolve, consumers can consult the Environmental Working Group’s Food Scores database for information on nutrition, ingredient, and processing concerns in more than 80,000 foods.

Source: FoodTank

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The study, published in Appetite, explained the differences in consumers’ behavior and willingness-to-pay (WTP) values between consumers who prefer organic production of food to locally processed foods and those who consider it the other way round. The research further exposed that organic-minded consumers have a stronger preference and estimated WTP for both local and organic processed foods.

Generally speaking, the study showed that locally sourced foods, as opposed to foods from non-EU States or neighboring countries, is preferred to organically sourced food by both consumer groups. This illustrates that organic-minded consumers don’t only consider organic sourced foods as important, but are also interested in locally foods in a purchase situation.

The team added that organic-minded consumers (OMC) judgments are;

• • • That organically sourced foods are the most superior.
    • That locally sourced foods are preferred over those from far away, and
    • That locally sourced foods are complements to organic foods in a purchase situation

Study details

The research panel conducted a test on German consumers’ attitudes as it concerns organic and local foods, their food purchase attitudes and their individual characters.

Consumers were grouped into two categories based on their own evaluation on the need to buy organically produced food – organic-minded consumers (OMC) and non-organic-minded consumers (NOMC). Computer-based surveys were carried out in eight grocery stores across Germany. Both consumer groups were tested using various choices of experiments comprising a no-choice option and a binding purchase decision.

“This study combines a consumer survey alongside an in-store, separate choice experiment,” the authors affirmed. There were able to found out that organic-minded consumers had stronger preferences and estimated willingness-to-pay values for both locally and organically sourced products.

Hence, the team finally came up with an assumption that the organic-minded group of consumers regards locally sourced foods as complements to organically sourced foods.

“Compared to NOMC, OMC are more likely to perceive organic food as healthier and tastier than non-organic food, confirming two important reasons for these consumers to favour organic food,” added the team.

“Nevertheless, OMC also have a higher preference for food produced as close to one’s home as possible compared to NOMC,” they reported – adding that the finding is similarly reflected in the analysis of the question regarding consumers’ confidence in products from different origins.

Indeed, the German team found that OMC are not willing to pay more for locally produced food as opposed to organically produced food when the alternative is a product coming from Germany (with the exception of butter), “but they are willing to pay more for a local product than for organically produced apples, butter, flour or steaks, if the alternative is a product from a neighbouring or a non-EU country.”

“This indicates that OMC take both product attributes into consideration and trade them off against each other, depending on the particular purchase situation, especially on the origin and production method of all available product alternatives.”

Source: FoodNavigator.com

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California takes the cake and has 41% of the total organic sales nationwide, coming in at $2.2 billion in sales last year. Washington State came in the second position with just $515 million in sales. Then comes Pennsylvania, Oregon, Wisconsin, Texas, New York, Colorado, Michigan, and Iowa.

These 10 states alone represent a whopping 78 percent of U.S. organic sales in 2014, according to the NASS.

Organic food aside, California’s farmers feed a large part of the country. According to the latest statistics compiled by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the state produces almost half of all the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in the country, as well as a whopping share of the livestock and dairy,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

But, the nationwide organic sales were certainly not limited to just these 10 states. The organic food sales across the United States have increased since the last survey in 2008, by a surprising 78%, according to latest Organic Survey done by the USDA. As more people continue to eat organic and search for local organic options, the distance it takes for this food to get to your fork will continue to decrease. In 2008, 74% of food traveled less than 500 miles to get to your plate, but that number has gone up to over 80% now.

Organic products are also getting easier to find as more local markets include an organic section. 63% of the organic farms in the United States say that they sell their produce to wholesale markets which accounts for nearly 78% of the total organic sales.

“Producers reported in the 2014 Organic Survey that they expect to expand U.S. organic production in the coming years, making the data even more important for policy and programs,” said NASS administrator Joseph T. Reilly.

The report “shows that organic producers are providing a wide variety of products to customers and are getting those items from farm to table more efficiently,” Reilly added.

Even if organic products tends to be more expensive, these latest statistics show that America’s taste buds are slowly shifting away from heavily processed or factory farmed foods and people are increasingly more aware of the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture.

Perhaps the growing backlash against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is driving the growth in organic food sales. Surveys show that the vast majority of Americans—as much as 93 percent, according to a New York Times—want their food labeled.

Source: EcoWatch.com

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