April 23rd is National Picnic Day!  While the weather is still hit or miss, we want to make sure you’re ready when the sun does comes out so you can spend some time with loved ones at your favorite outdoor spot.  Tell us about your favorite picnic food creations and be entered to win the following picnic supplies:

Picnic Day Giveaway (value $150) includes:

BlueQ Bag
5 Sistema Containers
2 Preserve Containers
World Centric Cups, Cutlery, and Plates
Coola Sunscreen
Matt’s Organic Lemonade
Tyrrell’s Chips
AND a $50 Gift Card to purchase your fave picnic foods!

Looking for more ideas for perfect picnic foods? Check out our Picnic Pinterest Board!

Okay, so we’ve all heard of SuperFoods, things like berries, nuts, honey and green foods, but did you know you can get the same kind of health benefits from chocolate? Yes, we said it. Chocolate! The newest trend in confections is functional chocolate.  It’s about time, but it was well worth the wait. Chocolate with added health benefits is showing up all over the shelves, and we haven’t missed a beat.

Good Cacao is a prime example of how to promote overall health and satisfy your cravings for chocolate. They offer bars with coconut and Omega-3. These are all-natural, gluten free and vegan.

Good Cacao also has a Lemon Ginger Dark Chocolate Bar to support Immune health. It’s high in antioxidants and probiotics. Good Cacao is a product you can feel good about buying, with 97% certified organic ingredients and biodegradable packaging.

Xan Confections (pronounced Zan) offers a special collection of satisfying, all-natural chocolates, called CocoXan. They boast products like CocoHeart and CocoBrain, infused with CoQ10, an antioxidant that helps support healthy brain, heart and digestive functions. Xan even sells chocolate to help satisfy cravings while minimizing PMS systems! Hold your applause please, ladies.

Sacred Chocolate is slowly stone ground below 115 degrees Fahrenheit and hand poured in a small, certified organic, vegan, and carbon balanced factory in California. Why, you ask? Because unroasted cacao (raw chocolate) contains countless health benefits and traditional roasting methods can destroy these “sacred” properties.  Sacred Chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and, with flavors like Mint and Coconut & Nibbs, this is one tasty Super Food!

Raw Chocolate by Gnosis is made from ethically sourced Raw Cacao from Bali, Ecuador, Peru, Grenada and Madagascar. These bars are certified organic, vegan, kosher and are free of gluten, soy and dairy.  Because Gnosis chocolate is never headed above 118 degrees, all of its valuable nutrients, antioxidants, and vitamins are protected. At Gnosis, they believe that chocolate is food, not candy, and it should be enjoyed regularly. No arguments there!

German-based Beauty Sweeties makes Pure White Chocolate Bars with Q10, Aloe Vera and Collagen. With flavors like pomegranate/raspberry, acai, and mango/peach, each bar has a purpose, providing Vitamin E, antioxidants and beta carotene. This beautiful treat is all-natural and good for you, and even claims to provide cellular energy and neutralize free radicals. Imagine eating chocolate and looking and feeling better! Guess you really can have it all…

All About Antioxidants
Help your body fight disease, and look younger doing it. Here’s a chart to help you select which foods you’ll want to start eating, and the benefits they’ll add to your lifestyle.

“The amount of antioxidants in your body is directly proportional to how long you will live.”- Dr. Richard Cutler, former Director of the National Institute of Aging, Washington

You’re starting to feel it—the watery eyes, itchy nose, and sneezing.  Spring is here and the flowers are blooming, the grass is growing, and trees are blossoming.  It’s okay, you can enjoy all Springtime has to offer thanks to some of our favorite All Natural remedies.

New Chapter Sinus Take Care:  The name pretty much says it all, but in case you’re wondering, this herbal supplement will take care of your sinuses.  How?  The time-tested herbal defense system optimizes wellness by stimulating the immune system.

Garden of Life Immune Balance Sinus:  If the problem goes beyond your sinuses, this herbal supplement will provide seasonal sinus and upper respiratory system support.  The special blend of herbs and whole foods will naturally support your immune system to respond and fight off the symptoms you’re feeling from allergies.

Neti Pot:  Nasal irrigation sounds scary, but it’s really not.  You may be wondering how flushing your sinuses out with a gravy boat-like device can help relieve allergy symptoms, but there is a biological explanation.  The solution that goes through the sinuses can increase the speed and coordination of the hair-like structures (cilia) to more effectively remove irritants from the passageway.  Now, go on, breathe out of your nose again!

Boiron Sabadil:  For many, homeopathic medicine is the way to go, especially when it comes to allergy problems.  Sabadil will relieve runny and itchy noses, burning and irritated eyes, sneezing, and other allergy symptoms.

Ask one of our Apothecary team members to help you find these products next time you’re in so you can be prepared for Allergy Season.  Interested in learning more about allergy symptoms and integrative care?  Check out our Reference Room and search for Allergies under ‘Conditions and Allergies’.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

March Special: Save up to 25% on Essential Living Foods Products!

Start the year with healthy Essential Living Foods products available at all locations! Essential Living Foods offers premiere raw and organic SuperFoods in recycled and biodegradable packaging. All of the products are Vegan, Gluten Free, and Non GMO. Most of the products are Organic, Raw, and Kosher. Essential Living Foods works directly with farms and gives 1% of their sales to the small farms and indigenous groups they work with to support development in their communities and contribute to a higher quality of life.

Dr. Oz has been talking about SuperFoods such as Goldenberries, Sacha Inchi Seeds, Maca, Goji Berries, Chia Seeds and Essential Living Foods has all of these SuperFoods in their product line. Dr. Oz named Goldenberries the #3 Top SuperFood for trimming belly fat. He named Sacha Inchi Seeds (Incan Peanuts) as one of the best weight loss snacks and highlighted the seeds’ high omega 3, fiber and vitamin A content. Maca Powder and Goji Berries are in Dr. Oz’s Longevity Shake recipe below.

You can also make and enjoy delicious and nutritious fudge for the whole family using Essential Living Foods Organic Coconut Oil, Truly Raw Cacao Powder & Agave Syrup.

For Raw Chocolate Recipes

The Longevity Shake by Dr. Oz, featuring *Maca Powder

Ingredients (Serves 1):

1 cup almond milk

Fresh blueberries (Use the equivalent of 1 freezer pack of frozen berries – and use frozen blueberries when they are out of season.)

1 handful dried Goji Berries

Heaping tbsp of powdered MACA

1/2 a banana Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

*Join nationally acclaimed nutritionist and raw food expert, Andrea McNinch (owner of Regeneration Raw+ Heal Yourself Institute) at all 3 Plum Market stores during the month of March  for samples and a demo of her delicious & nutritious creations using Essential Living Foods products:

Wednesday, March 14, 4-6pm in West Bloomfield

Saturday, March 31, 1-3pm in Ann Arbor

If you are a tea drinker, you absolutely must try Tea Haus loose teas available in Plum Market Ann Arbor and West Bloomfield (packaged loose tea is sold in Bloomfield).  Learn more about the story and quality of Tea Haus…

From Tea Haus Website:

Lisa McDonald, owner of TeaHaus, has an exorbitant amount of knowledge of all things tea and began the TeaHaus in Ann Arbor with the mission to provide experience and education along with the highest quality tea available on the market. Plum Market is now partnering with TeaHaus to provide more people with the experience.

TeaHaus is a privately owned small business by Lisa McDonald and her husband Marc Hewko.  After a ‘backpacking trip’ though Europe which became a 14-year residence in Germany and Sweden, Lisa returned to the US with her husband, Marc (an Ann Arborite she met in Germany) to start a family.  After a few months though, she began to miss getting quality loose tea in any village she visited.

Inspired to open TeaHaus, Lisa chose to work with Europe’s most reputable and highest-quality tea company, located in Germany for her tea. They are the only tea company that has their own testing facility testing for both pesticides and heavy metals residues.  Also, the company does not use tea brokers or buy tea in the markets. They go straight to source, the gardens. Germany is the world’s largest tea purchasing country and has the a long standing tie with the tea world.

The TeaHaus mission is to provide experience and education along with the highest quality tea available on the market.  For more information visit: www.teahaus-annarbor.com