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We’re thrilled to announce the opening of the newest Fresh Healthy Cafe franchise, in the heart of downtown Boise. We want to welcome the newest additions to the Fresh family, Zaira and Eric. Next time you’re in the downtown area, be sure to drop in to meet the team, check out our healthy choice menu and grab lunch or a healthy fresh squeezed juice! A little bit about Zaira and Eric…

Fresh Healthy Cafe reFresh Juice Program is now available at select locations! Whether you’re looking for a full on juice cleanse, or to add a healthy boost of vitamins and nutrients into your diet; our all natural, fresh squeezed juices offer nutritional options for everyone.

Juice Cleanse

A juice cleanse is meant to reset eating habits, support your body’s natural detox and kickstart a healthy diet. Most commonly done over a three day period by replacing heavy solid foods with healthy, nutrient-packed fruits and vegetables, your body absorbs energy from the juice. Selecting a balanced juice cleanse program is very important. Just drinking one type of juice combination won’t give you all the vitamins and nutrients that your body needs on a daily basis.

Water is vital for all of your body’s systems to function. When you are dehydrated, your body will will experience critical malfunctions, that could be fatal if left untreated. Dehydration causes a drop in blood volume.

Our bodies are made of up to about 65% water, and blood accounts for most of that. This can cause your body to compensate by increasing your heart rate and overheating your muscles. The imbalance will drop your energy levels, and you will lose mental clarity, as your body focuses on trying to conserve fluid.

Salads get a pretty bad rap for being healthy, but unpalatable. Most people imagine limp, bitter greens, that don’t inspire any culinary delight. Most of us know that we should be eating salad, but do you know why?

Salads are a convenient and simple way for you to increase your fruit and vegetable intake in one meal. They’re also the building blocks of good health because of their fiber content. Lettuce, and vegetables like celery and carrots provide fiber that can help to lower cholesterol levels and make you feel fuller for longer.

As a part of a healthy lifestyle, daily physical activity has been shown to lower risk for many types of diseases, including cancer, and diabetes.

If you don’t have time to join a gym, there are some easy ways that you can increase your daily physical activity simply by making a few changes to your regular regimen.

Purchasing a pedometer will help keep track of the number of steps that you can get in a day. Augmented with at least 15 minutes of sustained exercise (jogging, skipping, running, or biking), along with these daily changes, can count towards the other 15 minutes of exercise required to achieve the benefits of regular exercise.

1. Take the stairs. Stairs work two fold by providing resistance/incline along with aerobic activity. Try to take them at a brisker pace to really maximize the benefits of this activity. To really challenge that healthy lifestyle, take them two at a time, or even side ways. Make sure you’ve got your pedometer on you to make it count!
2. Spend at least 20 minutes cleaning your home every day. Keep that core tight when you’re dusting, and sweeping. Make deep squat knee bends when you’re picking up things off of the floor, and flex your thighs and glutes when you’re dusting higher shelves. Not only will your house sparkle and shine, but you’ll will too.
3. Park in a far spot. Instead of looking for the closest spot to the door, park the furthest away. If it’s raining, jog with your umbrella to increase your heart rate. Parking in a further spot will mean you’re out of your car sooner, but also increase the number of steps you’re taking each day.
4. Spend time in your garden. Picking weeds in a sun is a great way to boost your mood, and increase your movement. Digging with a shovel, and tilling dirt is both a cardio and strength exercise. Just make sure you’re wearing a hat and staying properly hydrated in the hot sun.
5. Walk or bike to nearby destinations. Choose steeper or inclines wherever you can will increase your overall output, burn more calories, and strengthen legs and your core.
6. Stand at work. Instead of sitting at your desk, see if you can spend some time standing while you work. This burns more calories, strengthens your cardiovascular system, and improves your core and posture.
7. Walk after a meal like lunch or dinner. As a part of a healthy lifestyle, even a short walk increases your metabolism and accelerates digestion.

To achieve a healthy lifestyle, you’ll need to find unique ways where you can increase your steps and heart rate each day. Kneading multigrain bread vigorously, raking leaves, and moping are small ways to uniquely add physical activity every day.

Eating a balanced meal after a day of physical activity will help to repair muscles, support immune function, and deliver necessary vitamins and minerals. FRESH wraps and panini’s ingredients are chosen to create delicious meals that are nutrient dense. FRESH Turkey Bacon Avocado panini and the Southwestern Fiesta wrap are a delicious way to re-fuel and nurture your body. Visit your local FRESH today.

As a part of a healthy lifestyle, there is one thing you can do every day in order to reduce your risk of major illnesses like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. It will even increase your life expectancy.

It has been shown to be more effective than anti-depressants for depression, and for most people, it can its effects can almost be felt immediately.

What is this amazing drug? Well, it’s not a drug, it’s exercise. Physical activity has been shown to improve health and is even linked to a healthy mental state and happiness. That’s right, exercise can lead to a happier and healthier life.

Chronic and degenerative disease risk like diabetes and cancer risk is reduced and research has proven that exercise can reduce the risk of mental illnesses like depression, Alzheimer’s, and dementia.

Exercise and physical activity is beneficial at every age. It is especially beneficial for the elderly, and helps to stave off the effects of aging. Regular moderate activity lasting at least 30 minutes a day, and at least 150 minutes a week is medically proven to lower the risk of diabetes, colon and breast cancer, bone disease, depression, and heart disease and stroke.

In todays world, average adults spend more time sitting at work sedentary than they do moving around, and as a part of a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise helps to combat this.

Opposite stretching (movements that are opposing to what you normally do, like back bends), are essential to balancing the body. Stretching every hour of sitting will reduce repetitive strain injuries, and allow the eyes to take a break as well.

Exercise improves circulation and blood flow, delivering oxygen, essential vitamins, and fluids throughout the body. Physical activity works all systems in your body, from respiration, metabolism, endocrine, brain, muscle, skeletal, and digestive system. High intensity exercises will break fat bonds for energy, and stimulates nor-epinephrine, which triggers the receptors for epinephrine, a hormone responsible for feeling good. All amazing things for your body, and necessary for a healthy lifestyle.

High intensity aerobic activity like running is also linked to growth of brain neuron cells in the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain responsible for memory, learning new skills, understanding new ideas and navigating.

The hippocampus is also the first area to be damaged by memory type illnesses and dementia related diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Regular exercise and physical activity is a part of a healthy lifestyle. Whether you’re growing neurons after high intensity aerobic exercise, or building muscle after weight lifting, FRESH has a way for you to re-fuel and re-hydrate. Repairing muscles? Try one of our protein bowls. Check out a delicious FRESH café near you.

Water is by far the best way to stay hydrated, but it can get really boring trying to get to your optimal hydration levels. Human beings are made of about 65% water, and if you can remember your grade 9 science class, water is required as a catalyst in many metabolic reactions.

Long term dehydration leads to chronic hydration issues, which brings with it a whole host of nasty symptoms like pain, headaches, join stiffness, issues sleeping, lack of energy, and problems focusing.

This kind of dehydration may even slow down your metabolism and reduce endocrine function. You will also need more than the recommended intake of fluids if you are exercising regularly, breastfeeding, are ill (even more if you have symptoms of the flu), consuming diuretics, and if the temperature is really high. 8 glasses of water a day (at about 8oz each glass) is the minimum recommendation for optimal hydration. Depending on your level of activity and metabolism, you may likely need even more. You can offset your water needs by trying these 5 other ways to stay hydrated.

1. Adding vegetables that naturally contain more water is a great way to supplement your water needs. Not only are you increasing your hydration, you are also adding nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and fiber as well. Try cucumber, celery, radishes, tomatoes, and lettuce.
2. Eat some fruit. Many fruits are high in water content, and are a way to satisfy your sweet cravings at the same time, without any processed sugar. Fruits high in water are melons, grapefruits, oranges, strawberries, and kiwi, and offer a delicious way to increase hydration.
3. Coconut water is a natural beverage that is harvested from young coconuts. They are high in electrolyte and potassium, which is vital for nerve and muscle function. Electrolytes imbalances occur when you are severely dehydrated, and also when you drink too much water as well.
4. Smoothies contain a lot of water filled fruits and vegetables, which means that you can quench your thirst and give your body a boost of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Smoothies are nutrient packed, and can be a way to hide vegetables that you don’t like as much either. A smoothie in the morning can break your night’s fast gently, and a balanced smoothie won’t give you an energy crash like coffee and tea.
5. Green tea. Loaded with antioxidants, green tea may help lower your risk of cancer, increase mental focus and clarity, and even help increase your metabolism.

Water is still the best way to stay hydrated, so moderation is important when consuming the above alternatives. They don’t replace water, but do help to offset your daily water requirements. For a delicious way to stay hydrated, come into FRESH to try one of our FRESH squeezes, smoothies, or green tea. Find your closest location here.

To even consider entrepreneurship, you will need to have 3 characteristics run deep in our veins. A strong work ethic will echo through your employees if it starts with you. The ability to be agile and adapt to changing situations, even if it means dropping something that you’ve worked on for a long time because it no longer suits the needs of your own franchise. Possessing tenacity, and the persistence to push forward, especially in the face of failure.

These are the characteristics that need to exist inside of you, as they will be called on time and time again.

When you own a franchise, you are responsible for the health of our business, employees, and yourself.

As an entrepreneur and franchise owner, success is attainable if you also follow these three simple guidelines:

1. Know your business. You don’t need to understand it before you start, but you need to live and breathe your business. It means that you know how to do most of the tasks needed to run the business. You will hire employees and professionals to support you, but ultimately, when you own a franchise, you must be able to do the work, so that you can support your own employees.
2. Have a business plan. How will you know where you are going if you don’t have a map and haven’t been there before? How would you know that you are there? Business plans spell out your goals and how you are going to achieve them. Solid plans also plan for issues that may arise and scope out the competition and how you will handle sales and marketing. When you own a franchise, a business plan should contain milestones and check points so you know you’re on track. It will keep you, and anyone else on your team accountable.
3. Being successful means that you have to be able to pass on the day to day tasks that don’t have to do with your franchise’s growth. As a leader, you will be planning and strategizing about what your next steps are, and cannot be involved in the day to day maintenance of the business. Of course you will observe key performance indicators to ensure the health of the business, but your focus will be to grow the business, and that means delegating as much as you can.

It is a rewarding and exciting journey when you own a franchise. Franchising helps to mitigate a lot of the issues that come with starting your own business because that road map is already partially started. The good news is that you get to fill in the rest of the journey, and decide how you’re going to make it unique for you.

Ready to find out more about how you can own a franchise with FRESH? We’ll support you through the entire process to ensure you’re starting with the best step. Contact us today for more information.

Think of the word diet, and it may immediately trigger negative views on body image.

But diet does not have to be a bad word.

A good and healthy diet is a fundamental part of a healthy lifestyle. Why certain foods don’t belong in your diet may not necessarily have to do with maintaining your waistline. Decreasing or completely eliminating certain foods will improve your overall health, including how you feel, your mental clarity, and even how you breathe.

Understanding why certain foods don’t belong in your diet will go a long way in helping you to avoid it.

Here are 5 foods you need to say goodbye to for good health.

1. Hydrogenated fats. Margarine and other types of vegetable oils that have been artificially hydrogenated are toxic to the body. It increases bad cholesterol, while lowering good cholesterol. These artificial trans fats have been pumped full of hydrogen in order to be solid at room temperature and increase shelf life. Studies have shown that while it’s bad for the cholesterol in the body, it also increases the risk for heart disease, metabolic syndrome, as well as degenerative diseases like arthritis. Furthermore, studies have found that inflammation in the body increases when consuming artificial trans fats, and inflammation in the body linked to cancer. The link with diabetes is more inconsistent, as a larger study found that women who ate trans fats had a higher risk of developing diabetes, while other studies found no significant link at all. Several diabetes risk factors that could cause variances in studies, like insulin resistance and blood sugar levels, will need to be controlled in future studies in order to determine a clear link.
2. Soda pop. Drinking soda pop sends your body’s insulin into overdrive. The spike in high-fructose corn syrup is what is largely fueling the obesity epidemic. All the empty calories in soda pop is sugar, and there is virtually no other nutrient value. It does nothing to quench thirst because it actually makes you thirstier. Drinking soda pop damages teeth, promoting cavities and other dental issues, and some studies have shown that cola could weaken bones. Diet soda pop isn’t any better as artificial sweeteners have been shown to be toxic to your body, and although it doesn’t pack the same caloric punch, it still triggers a spike in insulin. Some studies have shown that regular consumption diet soda actually increases weight gain. The reasons are two fold, and have to do with how artificial sweeteners confuse the body’s insulin system, as well as how you think you are drinking a healthier drink. Diet soda drinkers tend to consume more diet soda because they think it is healthier, and artificial sweeteners are so much sweeter than actual sugar, that it dulls your sweet receptors overtime.
3. Processed deli meat. About 80% of the calories in hotdogs come from unhealthy saturated fat. Processed meats  type are usually high in salt and other additives. Regular consumption of processed meats increases your risk for heart disease, stomach cancer, and colon cancer.
4. Table salt. Table salt is processed and stripped of any trace minerals and vitamins that are present when it is mined. It has undergone everything from extreme heating, bleaching, and enhancement with potentially high levels of iodine. High levels of table salt consumption is directly linked to hypertension, also known as high blood pressure. This increases the stress on the heart overtime, and increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. Hypertension can be dangerous for pregnant women, and cause premature delivery.
5. Microwave popcorn. The bags that house microwaveable popcorn is coated to with PFOA to keep it from sticking. This chemical is a carcinogen, and has been linked to cancer. It is popped in artificial trans fat that lowers good cholesterol while raising bad cholesterol. The fake butter flavoring contains a compound called diacetyl that can cause a disease called popcorn lung that is generally associated with workers in a microwavable popcorn manufacturing facility, however, it has also been observed in people who consume high quantities as well.

A lot of the above contains chemicals or constituents that are bad for your healthy lifestyle, and should be completely eliminated, or at least greatly reduced. When you’ve got a craving for an unhealthy food, pop into a FRESH restaurant and satisfy your taste buds with one of our delicious wraps, smoothies, or protein bowls that are not just good for your diet, but your overall health and well being too. Find a location near you now.

One of the discernible traits of entrepreneurs is their need to control things. Managing outcomes in business ownership helps to mitigate risk, and determine how to grow the business and expand. On the good side, the controlling type of nature help to propel businesses forward, create a future and vision for the product, and be able to describe it to others in defined goals.

Yet most entrepreneurs have a difficult time delegating tasks, as most of them still reside in their heads.

An entrepreneur may have the best of intentions to give his employees autonomy, but the risk and uncertainty can cause anxiety, which leads to a tighter hold, and even micromanaging of all of the tasks required.

And it’s not hard to see why. Delegating a task involves a lot of hard work to relay the information how you want something done. The real issue is trust. Entrepreneurs subscribe to the belief that they can do something better. It is possible they may be able to do it better based on their sheer will, passion, and drive, however, it is detrimental for them to do this. Entrepreneurs are leaders. Their focus should be on the big picture, the future, and how to get there. Spending too much time on the day to day tasks, takes them away from that. They will continue to operate with a deficit in the future, if they are not able to delegate tasks, and trust that people may get it wrong, but that they have trained, mentored, or will continue to assist on a infrequent and occasional basis.

Passing on information is also time consuming, so hiring the right people from the get go will go a long way in feeling comfortable enough with sharing your goals, passion, and ideas.

Take the time to discuss with your employees the task, how the employee plans to tackle it, and how you will collude. Remind them that you trust that they will do a great job, and then allow them the autonomy to do it. Be open for questions, and follow up infrequently. Schedule the follow ups in your own calendar to ensure you are not micromanaging on a day to day basis.

Ultimately, there is a fear of mistakes, and that there will be consequences. However, if you can understand that mistakes may happen, and that you trust you have hired a team that is capable, and able to handle the challenges, then you have to work hard at letting go. Remind yourself of what your main purpose is on the team as well.

When you can effectively manage this cycle, you can focus on the important tasks for you. Organizations with good leaders that are great at delegating will see their businesses grow, because their strengths are utilized on the things that matter, propelling their business forward, instead of the daily day to day management. Although important, they are maintaining, while your goal is to make leaps and bounds.

Ready to hire employees and be your own entrepreneur? Contact us at FRESH today, and we’ll help you get started.