We are honored to be on the Shape blog recently and invite you to read more about her post at the link here.  Karen writes: “Breakfast on Monday was an apple I brought from my parents house with peanut butter—I won’t say what kind of PB, it wasn’t good! That only carried me through mid-morning when I ate half an Earnest Eats Choco Peanut Butter Whole Food Bar. As you now know, I was testing all sorts of products for National Peanut Butter Day (which was yesterday)…”

See link here –> http://bit.ly/xlUeE

We greatly appreciate his insight and perspective on our Granola Planks!  Please note that the nutrition info he references is for a whole Granola Plank, which can be eaten as two servings at 190 calories each or in full, depending upon whether your crumbling over yogurt or eating on the go (and of course your hunger level – I find them perfect on a hike just as they are).

To answer his question about microwaving, we recommend removing the wrapper first.  My personal preference is to toast them and top them with almond butter for a superfood vegan breakfast – especially good on a cool morning and if you want company – I guarantee everyone within smelling the toasty oaty aroma will run over and ask what you’re making!

As background on Phil Lempert - he is a leading food industry analyst, journalist and trend-watcher. His website SupermarketGuru.com offers readers the latest food & health news, new food product ratings and other shopping resources.

Earnest Eats 16 ct Costco Pack

While you will find our Earnest Eats in many fine natural foods stores and natural sections at grocery stores, as well as coffeehouses, many of you may not be aware that we just launched Earnest Eats at select Costco locations in Northern and Southern California!  See full list at the end of this post.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped us during our Costco Roadshows this Winter – our friends and families were the fine workers you saw in the funny hair nets there (we couldn’t have done it without you!) and we used everyone’s feedback to pick our top two winners for the actual Costco pack – Almond Trail Mix and Cran Lemon Zest. 

We also need your help.  There are some truly health options like ours at Costco – wheat-free, vegan, using whole food ingredients – but we’d all like to see more, so please let them know you are enjoying seeing our foods there!  Please check our Facebook page too as we’re doing giveaways to encourage awareness and pass-along to family and friends – in fact right now we’re asking people to post a picture of Earnest Eats at your Costco on our Facebook page for a free box of Earnest Eats that will be randomly drawn from among the postings.

Thanks and all the best,

Andrew

Image by Oprah.com

Oprah and 378 Harpo staffers go vegan for one week. Could you do it?

Did anyone catch the Oprah Winfrey Show episode, “The Vegan Challenge,” earlier this month? Oprah, along with New York Times best-selling author Kathy Freston, challenged the Harpo Staff to go vegan for seven full days. For the 378 staffers that participated, this meant no meat, no milk, no animal anything! At the start of the week, the staff was sent home with bags of vegan groceries courtesy of Whole Foods and their office cafeteria was transformed with vegan-only recipes.

Throughout the episode, the staff was shown at their high points – losing weight, trying delicious new products, cooking exciting vegan recipes for their families, enjoying consistent bowel movements… and their low points – struggling to kick their fast food addictions, the tough time adjusting to the vegan cuisine, finding family-friendly vegan recipes.

Also during the episode, the number one processor of ground beef in the world, Cargill, gave an unprecedented inside look at the manner in which meat is processed in our country.  Every step of the process was filmed, except the actual killing of the cow, as correspondent Lisa Ling gave the audience an eye-opening behind the scenes tour of the plant.  I have personally taken a tour of a processing plant as part of an Agribusiness class in college, and it was an experience I will never forget. The sights, sounds, and smells were indescribable. Similar to what Ling mentioned, though the tour didn’t turn me away from meat entirely, it definitely gave me an appreciation and understanding for where meat comes from and what it takes to get on the plate.

Also featured was Michael Pollan, author of best-selling books Food Rules, In Defense of Food, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan’s opinion was very clear – there is nothing wrong with eating meat, but we need to start thinking about where our food comes from. Though quite the contrast to Kathy Freston’s message, both authors have respectable reasons for holding the opinions they do. What’s important for us as an audience is arming ourselves with knowledge so we too can make informed food decisions.

The Oprah Winfrey Show staff had a few major transformations. The majority lost weight, many vowed to stick with the challenge through the month, and a few saw themselves remaining a vegan from that day forward. What did you think? Are you a vegan already? Could you successfully pass the one-week challenge? We’d love to help get you started if you do! Earnest Eats bars are 100% vegan and whether you’re a part-time or full-time devotee of a plant-based diet, use coupon code VEGAN at our online store for 20% off!

-Post by Jennifer Yniguez

What are you resolving to do next year?