GoGo SqueeZ

It’s official ! GoGo SqueeZ will be on air August 27th, 7:00 am – 8:00 am (EST) for a very special Back-to-School episode of the Balancing Act on Liftetime Network -  “What’s in your child lunch backpack ?” – hosted by Beth Troutman and Kristy Villa.

Together they give the show—complete balance! Just how do they do that? Together they focus on trends and tips that feature advice from the country’s leading experts. They also cover topics, headlines, and the latest innovations in health, family, finances, travel, pets, cuisine, beauty & fashion, and the environment !

Make sure to be there at www.TheBalancingAct.com.

A recent CDC study claims obesity-related diseases account for an estimated $147 billion a year in medical spending—nearly 10 percent of all medical spending in the U.S. Childhood obesity and gratuitous snacking are specific focal points of the new “Let’s Move” campaign, an offensive targeting the high-sugar, high-fat foods schools offer their students. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution also contributed to raise the debate on school food quality and education in America. (Watch the chicken nuggets video if you’ve missed it…).

The simple solution is to buy healthier snacks and meals for our children—but how do we encourage picky, fussy youngsters to actually eat healthier snacks when there are so many unhealthy snacks on the market geared towards children?

GoGo squeeZ is a no-sugar-added, kid-friendly alternative to other leading kids’ snack brands. Equal to a full serving of fruit for children, each GoGo squeeZ squeezable pouch features a fun, engaging design in a no-mess, re-sealable package—perfect for encouraging on-the-go kids to snack healthy and independently. Five all-natural, 100-percent-fruit flavors add variety to the GoGo squeeZ lineup and, believe it or not, taste great.

Parents can’t always be there to guide their children towards healthy foods at snack-time; in fact, a recent UCL Institute of Child Health study found that five-year-olds of part- or full-time working mothers are more likely to primarily consume sweetened drinks between meals. Healthy snacks really have to appeal to children—both visually and in flavor—if parents want them to eat healthy on their own.

With the nation consuming $68.1 billion worth of packaged snack foods in 2008 (according to consumer research group Packaged Facts), the potential for more healthy snack foods for kids is enormous.

Image credit : keys-to-living-a-healthy-lifestyle

Mother’s Day is almost there and running or walking a race is a fun and healthy way to celebrate this very special day. Active.com’s team put together a great comprehensive list of Mother’s Day runs and walks around the U.S. Many of them include kids’ races, so your little ones can join in the fun. The distances tend to range from half a mile to a 5K.

What’s the best way to get your kids excited about the race ?

Kids model what we do. When they see their mom being active and exercising, they will want to do it too. Make sure you bring some GoGo squeeZ pouches with you, it makes the perfect portable snack while running. But you don’t have to use traditional exercises like sit-ups and push-ups to get your kids to be active. Just play with them. Play tag, hopscotch, hula-hoop or jump rope with them, or make an obstacle course in your backyard. Most important, make it fun. Children are never too young to be encouraged to be active. Just like us, kids need to be active most days of the week.

For more information on how to get fit with your children, visit Active.com and join them on Facebook !

Tiffani Amber Thiessen, the ultimate Hollywood Star, soon to be the ultimate Hollywood Mommy !

Known for her roles in 90210 and most recent  USA’s White Collar Tiffani has invited her friends and family to help celebrate.  And GoGo squeeZ was there to help in creating the ultimate shower gift bags for her guests !

The team was thrilled to be a part of Tiffani Amber Thiessen’ Baby Shower at her house in Los Angeles. All guests received a fabulous gift bag including our healthy applesauce pouches — perfect for hip celeb moms as well as their lovely children. Tiffany was beyond excited as were all party-goers including Kat Von D, Brooke Burke (@brookeburke), Alison Sweeney (@ali_SWEENEY), Gilles Marini, Nikki Six, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin to name a few.

Sage and Savvy began blogging in June of 2008 to share stories about her day-to-day life and also to give her honest opinions on some family-friendly products she uses. She defines herself as a “light green” SAHM-by-choice wife and mother of two beautiful boys. A couple of weeks ago, we had a chance to get her to try out our products and she seriously liked it !

Here is her tips and tricks on how to get her ‘Little Music Man’ to eat healthy as part of the #mommyshare experience :

“Getting Little Music Man to eat his fruits, veggies, and other healthy foods can sometimes be a challenge, but all it takes is some consistency and creativity. Snacks and desserts often consist of yogurt or applesauce (like GoGo squeeZ!), and I try to sneak in fruits and veggies wherever possible–blueberries in pancakes or veggies in quesadillas.  I think it’s important for kids to start forming healthy eating habits early, and it’s paying off, as Little Music Man will often ask for yogurt or applesauce instead of cookies or brownies for dessert. And on busy days and nights, having GoGo squeeZ on hand offers an easy and mess-free way for Little Music Man to enjoy fruits!”

We talked with a lot of popular blogging moms across the web for the past months, as they obviously are on the forefront of kid-friendly products consumption and as their mom insights are always tremendous. We asked them to taste GoGo squeeZ applesauce and share their honest sentiment about it only to discover that GoGo squeeZ  is considered in most cases as a valuable option to have children eat healthier snacks during the day, at school, after sport, in the car etc.

Here is a selection of ten of those encouraging feedbacks. It will give you a sense of what GoGo squeeZ is about :

1. “ neat, portable, non-perishable. That means it can sit on my pantry and I can grab one whenever i need it! No need for cooler thingies taking up room in the lunch box ” Janine , Twofer Mom, @twincident

2. “ DELICIOUS OR SUSPICIOUS?: Delicious. The kid loved the thing; when I asked her if she liked it, she just handed me the deflated pouch and said, “More.” ” Felicia D’Ambrosio, Citypaper, @mealticket

3. “ What I also love about it is how it’s easy to squeeze, not messy, and is made from 100% fruit with no sugar added. ” Gem, Sage and Savvy, @SageMom

4. “ But applesauce is applesauce, right? I sure thought that would be the case. But, and I kid you not, my children loved this snack so much they invented a ” GoGo SqueeZ dance.“  Amy Ellen, Health Begins With Mom

6. “ I love everything about it from the packaging, taste, overall concept. ” Tanya, Mommy Goggles, @mommygoggles

7. “ This product has helped me in making sure my toddler gets her fruit intake that she needs by making it a fun way to eat ” Jen, The Dirty Shirt, @jentifa

8. “ usually the healthier a food is, the less likely it is that a toddler will eat it!!! But those who tried it absolutely loved it and the moms were thrilled that the kids liked something healthy.” Lori, If moms ruled the world

9. “ on the go. I put it in their lunches My boys LOVED this applesauce and they devoured it for after school snack too. They really couldn’t keep their hands off of it.” Jenny, Picky Palate,  @pickypalate

10. “ Also, it’s great to know that eating one pouch is equal to eating one fruit serving for the day. I think this is very helpful. ” Amy, Coffee with the Mrs, @TheMrsC

11. “ when my mom tried to give them the old brand of applesauce, they waved frantic little hands in the air and said “No, no, Wela, we don’t yike dat kind anymore. Heh heh.” Mary-Mia, Do they have salsa in China ?

Find this article in the form of a presentation on Slideshare and let us know your opinion @gogosqueez !

Check out what Amber thought about us : “squeezable yummy fruit in a pouch, what a perfect snack to go for tots ! Who says it’s just for kids !! ”

HBTV Reporter Amber Goetz ( @HealthyBelly ) was at ExpoWest, one of the world’s largest food show, and discovered a revolutionary way to make your kids love fruit, GoGo squeeZ ! During the interview, David from GoGo squeeZ talks about the concept brought from France, the distribution aspect and off-course all the delicious flavors available on shelves !

Watch more videos from Healthy Belly TV on Youtube.

After laying the foundation for our success on the East Coast, we had the pleasure to head west and attend to one of the largest food tradeshow in the world — Expo West –  taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

The event was particularly crowded this year and a record was set with nearly 56,000 people composed of food enthusiasts, industry experts, families and entrepreneurs seeking for the latest trend in natural food.

This is a very encouraging sign for brands like GoGo squeeZ and one more proof that the food industry is moving toward more healthy products for children.

Expo West is also a fantastic occasion to engage in a conversation with our consumers and have their direct feedback. We gave away more than 10,000 pouches ! And once again, the response was super positive : “applesauce in a pouch, that is hilarious !!”, “I love the concept”, “my kids always loose their spoon, this is such a great item !”, “It’s such a great idea…a clever way to reinvent applesauce ! “.

Our team had a booth, a sampling station and a special guest : the GoGo Mascot who had a blast and kept walking around, giving away pouches, dancing and posing with kids for the photo !

Check out his photo album on Flickr

Good news ! GoGo squeeZ travels over the country and is now available in 300 more stores on the east coast including Harris Teeter with 4 flavors (apple apple, apple strawberry, apple peach, apple banana) and Giant of Carlisle with 3 flavors. You will find GoGo squeeZ pouches in the canned fruit and applesauce aisle. To find the closest store please click on the “where to buy” next page.

Harris Teeter is the largest supermarket chain in North Carolina with around 200 stores and was the first in North Carolina to allow customers to select their own groceries off shelves in the 1930’s. Giant-Carlisle is another well-established supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

We believe that our mission is to encourage more picky, fussy youngsters to eat healthier snacks when there are so many unhealthy snacks on the market geared towards children. And with the nation consuming $68.1 billion worth of packaged snack foods in 2008, the potential for healthier snack foods for kids is tremendous.

There will be more to come in the upcoming months…

Jenny (@pickypalate) was next one on the list for the #Mommyshare experience. The idea behind this initiative is to get funny tips and anecdotes from talented bloggers as well as dedicated moms on how to live a well-balanced healthy life with kids. If you don’t know her yet, Jenny is a passionate award winning cook who’s expertise is ranging from tasty Italian sausage lasagna stuffed pizza (See the picture above…) to delicious caramel turtle sugar ‘brookies’ ! She spend a lot of in the kitchen “loving every minute of it”, always trying to be creative in order to satisfy her two little boys with picky little palates. Jenny started her own blog in 2007 at Picky-Palate.com.

Following are her tips on how to cook delicious food and stay in shape :

“To cook great meals and stay in shape I make sure I buy fresh and flavorful fruits and vegetables every week to include in my cooking.  Farmers markets and health food grocery stores are great!  Keeping dinners simple with intense flavor is key!  Exercise is a must, I exercise 4-5 times a week and take 20 minutes to do some cardio.  20 minutes is do-able even with a busy schedule.  Prioritize your time wisely, menu plan for the week and keep your cooking fresh and simple.”