Day 27: Ponce rescued Sue from the copy machine. We think she is only temporarily blinded. New rule: don’t copy your face without protective eye gear.
Day 28: Ponce set off on his own this morning. We’ve been camping in cubicle 27-605b. I sent up a signal flare that ignited the ceiling tiles and engaged the automatic sprinkler system. We’re tired, wet, and dying for nutrition.
Day 29: Ponce returned this morning with something called a pluot. It’s dark purple and sweet and it gave us energy that we had not experienced in a long time. I asked if Ponce thought it could help with the growing problem I read about on the Time magazine blog - a horrible worksite jungle disease known as “office butt.”
Day 30: Ponce led us to a worksite wellness clearing that was filled with light and warmth. In the center of this oasis known only as Kitchenette 12 was a fountain of office fruit in a FruitGuys crate. We gorged on fresh white and yellow nectarines, pluots, peaches, berries, cherries, and more. We could see the mix. Ponce said that fruit has phytochemicals (antioxidants) that can help us stay healthy. Darker-colored fruits like cherries, grapes and blueberries have compounds in them that protect the fruit from damage from sunlight. These same compounds may also help our bodies inhibit cellular decay. He showed us that the FruitGuys service comes with free access to the Berkeley Wellness Letter and that an article in the archives explains some of these phenomenons. The password this month, he said, is “Coffee.”
It looks like Sue is starting to get her sight back now. Gotta go – she’s putting her conquistador helmet in the toaster oven.
Enjoy and be fruitful! chris@fruitguys.com
 Healthy Work Habits
What does this term Workplace Wellness mean? Workplace Wellness is an employer policy that has been moving into the forefront of our work-a-day life. More companies, of all sizes, are implementing programs that benefit their employees well-being, and of course their bottom line. Workplace Wellness programs represent a great handshake between ROI for companies and long lasting health benefits for all participants.
 We all know about the health crisis in our country. In the workplace the greatest concerns are obesity, diabetes and heart disease. "We spend $28 billion a year on the effects of obesity and inactivity. And obesity is about 90% preventable" says California Senator Tom Torlakson. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that obesity will cost us $2 trillion in health care costs nationwide. For an individual who contracts diabetes they face a 300% increase in health costs. With one in three of us at risk for diabetes, this is serious news. Messages about the importance of proper diet and exercise abound, yet we face longer commutes, extended workdays, and increasing number of households with both parents working. All of this adds up to a more sedentary life and a penchant for unhealthy (yet convenient) meals. Attaining a healthy lifestyle seems more and more elusive.
 But it's not impossible. The office is now the place where proper diet and exercise are being supported. Increasingly companies are supplying the access to healthy solutions. These measures can be great or modest, suiting any budget and company size. The shift into Workplace Wellness begins with leadership and desire for change, either from management or ad-hoc employee committees. All companies are different, and it's important to develop programs that fit the company's culture - one company's Morning Yoga may be another's Boot Camp. A kick-off health fair is a good way to communicate with the whole workforce and assess their needs.
If you are a FruitGuys customer - then likely your company is already on the path to Workplace Wellness reform. A primary step begins with access to healthy food like delicious fruits for snacks and waters instead of sodas. A next step would be access to physical activity like Walking Clubs or gym memberships. Company sponsorship of Health Risk Assessments, smoking cessation programs and encouragement for breast-feeding mothers are other key components to helping people be healthy.
Since work is where most of are all day - it's a good place to maintain healthy habits. American companies by and large have realized this - and they get a benefit too. The US Department of Health & Human Services reports that, for every dollar invested by employers in Workplace Wellness programs, there is a median savings of $3.14. That savings is due to a 28% reduction in sick leave, 26% reduction of medical costs and 30% reduction in worker's comps claims. When it come to Workplace Wellness programs - a penny earned, is three pennies saved.
Let's hear it for the Stones!
Stone fruit season is here, the peaches, plums, apricots and cherries will be rolling into the FruitCase for the next few months. First to the table are the fruits from orchards in California's San Joaquin Valley. Then each region, in a procession from Central Valley toward the Pacific Coast, will begin popping out fruit. Here and there, micro-climates will be harvesting - each variety having clocked enough chill hours and hopefully winter rain.
Currently the East Coast is receiving peaches and cherries from California. Very soon, South Carolina with be ripening its bounty. We breathlessly wait to see if Georgia received enough rain to send out their famous peaches. But as summer lolls along it should be the distinguished Pennsylvania peach-producing counties like Adams and York that'll be sending out their stone fruits. FruitGuy Erin Mittlestaedt looked into her crystal ball and sees fair weather for Southern New Jersey and a riches of blueberries in July.
Here is a survey of upcoming fruit. Weather depending, of course.
 Cherries
Brooks cherries pop out in Fresno, California, beating Bakersfield by a week. But this isn't the only cherry rivalry. There has been an East Coast - West Coast competition for decades. Of course each coasts' cherries ripen at different times. The season seems too short to spend it fighting. Be it Bing, Rainier or Lamberts, cherries bring out the child in us.
1 cup raw cherries (with pits) - 139g
Calories: 87
Total Fat: 0g
Total Carbs: 22g
Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 18g
Protein: 1g
Vitamin A - 2% Daily Value
Vitamin C - 16% Daily Value
 Peaches and Nectarines
There are hundreds of varieties of peaches and nectarines. They can easily be parsed into a few categories. Clingstone and Freestone. Cut the peach down the cleft and rotate. A freestone peach will fall away from the pit easily, the clingstone will not. Peaches and nectarines are very close cousins. Peaches are pubescent, with fuzz - that's where we get a lot of our wonderful imagery of youthful beauty. Within the peach realm, there are white-fleshed and yellow-fleshed. The white peaches tend to be sweeter, technically they really have less acidity. Some come in fun shapes, these are donut or saturn varieties.
1 cup slices - 154g
Calories: 60
Total Fat: 0g
Total Carbs: 15g
Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 13g
Protein: 1g
Vitamin A - 10% Daily Value
Vitamin C - 17% Daily Value
 Pluots, Plumcots and Aprium
Pluots, plumcots and aprium are a group of new hybrids. This not GMO - but plant breeding and selection. It takes decades and 100s of trees to breed a new fruit. The grand daddies of these fruit are botanists Floyd Zaiger and Luther Burbank. The plumcot is 1/2 plum and 1/2 apricot. The pluot is 3/4 plum and 1/4 apricot. And the aprium is1/4 plum and 3/4 apricot. Within these combinations is a colorful matrix of skin colors, sweet and tart flesh and fantastic names like Dapple Dandy, Flavor Granade, Flavorosa, and Flavorella to name but a few of the delights coming your way this season.
1 cup sliced - 165g
Calories: 76
Total Fat: 0g
Total Carbs: 10g
Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 16g
Protein: 1g
Vitamin A - 11% Daily Value
Vitamin C - 26% Daily Value
Stonefruit are generally climacteric fruits, this means they continue to ripen after being harvested from the tree. The FruitGuys delivers them to you on the firm side so they won't be damaged in the shipping. Ripening can be hastened by placing them in a paper bag on the counter. When they've reached the desired ripeness - refrigerate.
 Check out this week's fruit at work mixes.
Last call!
The deadline for the California Fit Business Award is one week away. The Task Force on Workplace Wellness wants to award organizations that are improving their employee’s health and well being through Workplace Wellness programs. There are separate categories for company size. Previous winners, like Shield Health Care, reported getting ideas of ways to improve their Wellness programs from the application.
The FruitGuys provides clients full access to the Berkeley Wellness Letter.
June’s password is: Coffee
Field Trips
WEST COAST
Palo Alto, CA – Food Films June 12 - 7:30
San Francisco - Urban Alliance for Sustainability Village
June 21-22 Golden Gate Park
San Francisco – Guest Chef - Easy Market Meals
June 17th – 11am Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
EAST COAST
Kennett Square, PA – Nature’s Castles - Tree houses
Now thru Sept – Longwood Gardens
Winterthur, DE – Cut flower garden tour
June 18 – 11:30 – Winterthur Gardens
New York City – Central Park - summer events
If you have any questions, feel free to call us toll-free at 1-877-FRUIT-ME or contact Customer Service via email.
www.fruitguys.com
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