On the Road: Day 3, Is the Tank Half Full of Half Empty?

Today we had to pack up and head on Northward. We've done what we can to introduce Southern California to Maxim's goodies. Now we're going to try our hand at connecting with the lovely populace of San Francisco and the surrounding areas.

The drive was about 7 and a half hours long with traffic and pit stops. This trip has been quite a journey. So many things packed into short drives, short visits, short meals, etc. Processing the events and the things I've been learning is quite the task, but the one thing I'm always sure of is that this trip has been a privilege and a once in a lifetime experience.

Here are a few pictures from our full day drive.

Exhibit A: Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
There was so much zany greenery exploding out of the sides of the trails. The smells of sage, lemon balm, lavender, licorice, chickory, and rosemary were making me delirious. The desert bloom I'm holding in the picture above would be the perfect gift for your most hated enemy.

Exhibit B: The Crazy Trekker ManThis guy seemed determined to walk the entire length of U.S. 101 North by foot. He didn't even stop to see the scenic view for rare Sea Lions! I wish I had that kind of stamina.


Exhibit C: Miles and miles of driving where I simply couldn't tell if I was awake or dreaming, because it was so gorgeous.Exhibit D: A spur of the moment hike that led us to a hidden waterfall.

Exhibit E: Dinner overlooking Big Sur at a restaurant called Nepenthe.
This restaurant was actually a blast from the past for me. I visited this place when I was a wee one with my family. But this is a must see, because not only is this place a restaurant, it's a peaceful green haven that has a gift shop (complete with locally designed crafts and books about Big Sur) and a set of hot springs.

It's days like this that renew my attitude and help me remain optimistic about our cause and our journey at Maxim.


The active question of the day is about the quality of experience and attitude:

Is the tank half full or half empty?

I'm going to go with half full on this one...

On the Road: Day 2, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food"

I know this is a travel blog, so I should be posting pretty pictures of the landscape and trying to make you feel inspired/envious/excited and whatnot, but I also feel responsible to share some lessons that I've learned on this trip. Let's see:
Lesson 1: Never lock your keys in your rental car. Bad things happen.
Lesson 2: Always have towels on hand when taking long drives. You never know when a natural lake or a grassy hillside will tempt you.
Lesson 3: People in California love talking about celebrities and sometimes this can be interesting. So, the first two lessons, basic, right?

~

I'd like to elaborate on the third. As I stood nestled in between two aisles of vegetarian and vegan snacks today, doing in-store demonstrations, someone asked where his favorite brand of Kombucha was, and a store clerk replied that it had to be taken off the shelves because of Lindsay Lohan.

I know… this was weird to me too. What does the freckle-faced actress-turned-pop-singer-turned actress and star of The Parent Trap have to do with a blend of fermented tea that’s great for your stomach?

Apparently, Ms. Lohan was under some kind of physiological surveillance, and the state attached her to an alcohol detector to monitor her. It seems that she drank Kombucha (a fermented tea product that's really helpful with digestion, that some people claim prevents cancer... click here for more info) in a larger than normal quantity. People say this may have set off her alcohol-detection machine (click here for the article). Normally, I would not care what someone famous is drinking, but after this story became public knowledge, the Food and Drug Administration put Synergy brand Kombucha under intense scrutiny and for fear of upsetting their customers, certain health food stores took their Kombucha off their shelves.

I'm happy that the FDA cares to check up on products to make sure they're not dangerous to our health, but Kombucha? Really?!

That's lesson three.

Lesson 4: is still something that I'm working on understanding and that I've heard over and over again when talking to health fanatics in California:

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."

This Maxim (excuse the pun) was made famous by a Greek physician named Hippocrates. Ever heard of the Hippocratic oath? It's in honor of this dude! He was a believer in the balancing the 4 humors of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile), which now that I think about it is a kind of rudimentary or earlier version of the whole eastern belief in healing (yin/yang and chi energy)... But anyway, his ideas were based on maintaining a balanced connection between body systems and that the "humors" your body produced were an indication of how well a person was taking care of her/himself.
I've been musing about this question as we've been traveling around California, and it's only led me to ask more questions...
How often do people sit down at a restaurant and ask themselves how the food they're about to order will effect them in the long run? And I'm not just talking about caloric content... I'm talking vitamins, minerals, hydration... etc. Is it possible for us to think of food as medicine in a culture that constantly scares us about what it means to be overweight and obese? Why does the FDA make "High Country Kombucha" write "These statements [about the nutritious/medicinal value of Kombucha] have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease" when people have found correlations between drinking Kombucha and maintaining a healthy body?

Which leads me to Lesson 5: Be cautious about labels.
People are always trying to sell us stuff, but labels are the easiest way to learn more about what we're being sold.

Fighting To Stay On The Block: Columbus Natural Food

Above: Columbus Natural Food store owner and store front.

I know I've been involved with writing about the West Coast, but here's one East Coast news byte that I've just finished...

I read an interesting story in the New York Times last wee entitled, Fear (and Shopping) When Big Stores Move In by Joseph Berger. The article is about some of the obstacles that small organic businesses face, specifically one store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, named Columbus Natural Food. To my surprise, I realized that Maxim Hygiene Products is connected with this story. We're on their shelves!

I interviewed Columbus Natural Food's owner, Anne, to find out a bit more about the struggle of her Upper West Side health food store.

"I opened [Columbus Natural Food] 17 years ago. It was the beginning of the health food store movement and there was an expansion of health consciousness in the mainstream... I knew it was the right thing to do." These were Anne's words as we discussed her way into the Organic and natural food world. She told me that growing up her father was a farmer in the French country side and that she studied Agricultural Engineering before she came to the United States and founded her small business-style store. While her store doesn't carry the same stocks of the infinite aisles of a bigger "box-store," there is a great deal of thought and dedication that's put into selecting the choice products (grocery and personal care mostly) that Anne and her co-workers lay out on their shelves. In addition the store has a fresh and organic salad bar and a selection of prepared foods made daily on the premises for an alternative “fast food” experience that is a given part of the urban life.

" By shopping in small stores people make sure they are able to enjoy a humane environment and keep their neighborhood vibrant, says Anne. Mom-and-pop stores may be less monolithic in their approach to facilitating supply and demand, but that shouldn't make them a less appealing shopping spot.

There are many perks to having a smaller store or a concentrated variety to choose from. One of them is that store owners like Anne at Columbus Natural Food can give shoppers personal recommendations and advice for products that she may have personally selected from the sea of stuff that's floating in the health foods/ organic + "green" categories. Another perk is the attention that customers can receive on the store floor.

In an article entitled, "The Importance of Customer Service," Ryan Schuster conveys a message about diminishing positivity between store employee-customer interactions:

"What really surprises me about the experience and others like it is how rare really good customer service has become. Whether at a restaurant, a big box store or a niche business-to-business firm, really memorable customer service is becoming more difficult to find.

Some businesses still go above and beyond for their clientele. Customer service is one of the key factors that help mom-and-pop operations build loyal followings and word-of-mouth advertising."

When the Maxim crew took a field trip to visit Columbus Natural Food, I noted how Anne was scarcely available for phone calls, but spent ample time discussing the layout of her store, the rarities on her shelves (Vegan Foie-gras?!), and herbal knowledge. The attention we received and the expertise Anne demonstrated about her products made is evident: Though she may be slender and as gracefully put together as the shelves in her store, Anne is not a fabled fairy-like French woman, but a passionate powerhouse of information regarding healthy lifestyles and a great asset to the Upper West Side.

Small business stores like Columbus Natural Food build bonds of familiarity and respect between people whose paths are less likely to cross without a common link like an interest in kale or a desire to invest in a healthier lifestyle. There is an inspiring power that emerges when communities can share something in common, and what better interest is there than developing a collective interest in health?

You could imagine my chagrin when I read the article out of the Times, and discovered that Columbus Natural Food's Landlord has decided to tear down Anne's store in 2013. The community has been putting pressure on the local government to put the shop in a different location, but the Landlord insists on tearing down the small stores in the building in order to build a lucrative residential building with a commercial extension. Problem is he's not promising any of his current tenants that they can remain a part of his big plans.

Some of the Issues that allow this to happen are:

-Competition from larger stores

-Imminent threat of the alteration of zoning laws

-Local governments turning a blind eye to the struggles of independent business owners

When I asked Anne what kinds of things are being done to ensure that Columbus Natural Food will survive, she said that the store has put together a petition to demonstrate the importance of this store to the surrounding neighborhoods. To date, Anne and her co-workers have collected 4,000+ signatures.

The next step in the review process and potential approval of the development planned by Anne's Landlord will take place at City Planning, Manhattan, located at 22 Reade Street. To date, we do not have a confirmation of the scheduling of this case, named Columbus House, 95 W. 95th Street. It could be as early as June 21 but may only happen on July 12. Please go to the City Planning website to check the meetings agenda.

What can you do to help?

-Shop at smaller stores! As Anne points out “Over the medium to long term this is the only way they are going to thrive and compete with larger stores despite the higher rents that can be expected in the future due to the large retail chains being able to ‘pay more’

-Sign Columbus Natural Food's petition at their store located at: 725 Columbus Avenue between 95^th and 96^th
Street

- Send e-mails to city planning's official, Amanda burden, chair of city planning commission. Click here to do so

-Read the following story for more information on Columbus Natural Food's fight in the New York Times:
Fear (and Shopping) When Big Stores Move In
by Joseph Berger

Additional Sources:
-Prairie Business "The Importance of Customer Service" by Ryan Schuster

On The Road: Day 1, Mother's Markets

So, we set off early this morning in our car, known as "The Avenger" this morning to our first set of stores.

---------> Our Maxim Mobile doesn't exactly speak, but he definitely reminds me of David Haselhoff's Night Rider.
As is typical with Southern California, traffic was brutal and there was a lot of extra time for music & existential musing about the purpose of my trip to the West Coast. With the sun streaming in through the windows, and the sound of Woodstock album in the background, the VP and me spoke at length about what good could come out of our in-store demonstrations and general schmoozing with West Coasters. We're very excited to teach as many women about Maxim's organic and natural cotton products as we can, because having choices and creating understanding about periods and products is what Maxim is about at its core.
Today we visited a unique brand of health-oriented and eco-conscious stores called Mother's Markets in Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Anaheim Hills, and Laguna Woods. When I walked into each store it was hard to miss Mothers' tag line written in big red letters near the doors:

"Mother's Loves You"

I was surprised to see that each store had its own unique personality, but all of them had fresh juice bars and some type of healthy lunch provision station. While we were at the Mother's in Huntington Beach, I got to talk to many different women about their feminine hygiene product preferences, periods, and general experiences as women.

There were three main points about our products that I made sure every woman who came over understood. They were about how Maxim products are:
1. Synthetic Free 2. Chlorine/Dioxin Free 3. Made with Natural & Organic cotton products and not tree fluff pulp

As I stood there, though, all of my demos evolved into conversations...

There was one gorgeously pregnant woman who, after I told her about our natural cotton maternity pads, spoke to me about the medicinal qualities of an herb called "Blue Cohosh." Apparently, some women who are in the final weeks of their pregnancies will take blue cohosh tincture to help induce labor. She also told me that she'd been drinking red raspberry leaf tea throughout her entire pregnancy as a way to tone her uterine lining and keep her blood healthy. It was good to chat with a woman who felt so confident and empowered by her pregnancy.

There was another bright-eyed young lady that came over to my demo table and told me about how strongly she believed in the power of positivity as a part of maintaining woman's health. This young lady had just finished nursing school and was on her way to becoming a holistic healer. She said she'd take all of the points I'd shared with her and pass them on.

------------> Me and my demo table at the Mother's Market in Huntington Beach

Then, soon enough, it was lunch time, which is just about my favorite part of the day. And man oh man was I surprised! About a year ago I became a vegetarian. I won't go into the politics and the nitty-gritty bits of my decision right now, but I will tell you that it's kind of a nightmare to have to eat on the road and that I often end up eating rice and salad. So when I walked into the Cafe at Mother's Market in Huntington Beach, and there was about fifteen different kinds of fake meat, thirty kinds of vegetables and greens, fresh fruit smoothies, quinoa, brown rice, and a whole host of other "crunchy" (Urban Dictionary defines "Crunchy" as: Adjective. Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons) delights featured on the menu, I felt elated!

<------------- Vegan Lentil Nut Loaf, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Gingered Greens, Vegan Cob Salad, Vegan Biscuit with homemade grape jelly

Fun for my mind, heart, belly, and soul... First day down, ten more to go!

Maxim's Green Feminine Hygiene Queens On The Road: California

<---- A glimpse of Venice Beach at Sunset... Where we'll be soon!

Hello everyone! Sharon here. I'm a new Green Feminine Hygiene Queen. Just got on with the Maxim Team and I've been learning all about the details that go into having an eco-conscious product line. What a journey it is and what a journey it's becoming!

Maxim has offered me to pack up my bags and head on West with the Company's VP and meet with people who share the same interests as we do in the organic market. So for the next two weeks you can follow our Green Feminine Hygiene Queen Blog for insight into the Organic world in California and to find out more about my experiences as a Green Feminine Hygiene Queen.

Cotton to the Rescue

Maxim has been using cotton as a natural solution in the feminine hygiene world, but could cotton be the solution to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

Texas Tech Professor, Professor Ramkumar, suggests that rather than spending tons of money on building containment structures and using synthetic materials to control the oil spill, we should be using cotton. Ramkumar was inspired by the idea when working within his lab where he creates rolls of nonwoven cotton. "We are the only ones - actually, I think, to my knowledge - focused on taking cotton to oil absorption using nonwoven technology," says Ramkumar in an interview with Lubbock Online.

It is the chemistry of cotton that makes it such a gift within this situation - its waxiness, incredible strength when wet, absorption ability and biodegradability. Cotton can soak up 40 times its weight naturally, enhancing it with chemicals making it sort of super cotton will allow it to soak up to 70 times its own weight. If you ask me, that would make for one heck of a pad in the world of oil spills!

Sources say they are currently using synthetic made booms to soak up the oil; the problem is that they are not biodegradable. Using cotton can be a natural solution that might just save us money and time. Kudos to maxim for using cotton in feminine hygiene to have less of a negative environmental impact; let’s see if cotton can save the environmental disaster in the Gulf!

For more information about the possibilities of using cotton to help with the oil spill,click here .