To celebrate Entrepreneur Week we have invited friends and customers to email questions to Learning ZoneXpress founder Melanie Nelson. Melanie is happy to share her take and tips on how to become (and remain) a successful entrepreneur. The third question is: How do you find the talented staff that works with you?
Q2 Did you have a mentor or role model who was helpful to you as you built your business?
To celebrate Entrepreneur Week we have invited friends and customers to email questions to Learning ZoneXpressfounder Melanie Nelson. Melanie is happy to share her take and tips on how to become (and remain) a successful entrepreneur. The second question is: Did you have a mentor or role model who was helpful to you as you built your business?
Q1 How do you remain creative?
To celebrate Entrepreneur Week, we have invited friends and customers to email questions to Learning ZoneXpress founder Melanie Nelson. Melanie is happy to share her take and tips on how to become (and remain) a successful entrepreneur. The first question is: How do you continue to remain creative?
The Woman Behind Learning ZoneXpress
Melanie Nelson leads the team at Learning ZoneXpress. As owner and CEO, her Family and Consumer Science (FACS) background and her passion for nutrition education are the driving forces behind this company. She was a junior high school FACS teacher for 13 years before becoming a serial entrepreneur, now guiding and planning the production of award-winning educational tools. Under her guidance, LZX has become an acknowledged “thought leader” in nutrition and resource development for FACS education.
Although the company is doing great things, she has certainly had her share of challenges. She was cut from her FACS teaching position along with many other teachers due to budget cuts in the mid 1980s. This cut is what led to the beginning of Learning ZoneXpress. The challenges didn’t end there though. She makes it look easy, but it has been anything but. She’s experienced hardships in the forms of a warehouse flood, technology melt down, fire and explosion of her office building, and a divorce. But she prevailed. As she always does. Her optimism is unmatched and her ability to lead a team and resource quality experts has made her transition from teacher to business owner successful. With the talents of a small and mighty staff, she has been able to build LZX from the ground up. Literally, and twice!
“She has an incredible story,” says LZX member Toni Gnasdoskey about Melanie. “She’s endured so many challenges, and not once has she even considered the thought of giving up. Never have I met anyone with so much drive and so much passion for what they do.”
Passion is what sets Learning ZoneXpress apart from its competitors. Melanie believes in the greater good. She believes we can make an incredible difference, and she has instilled that in all of her employees. With the strong loyalty and appreciation of our customers, we are able to do great things.
Melanie has been a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, a recipient of Owatonna Business Women’s “Women of Achievement” award, and a national business in Family and Consumer Science honoree.
Learning ZoneXpress would not be the success it is today without Melanie. Challenge after challenge, she has prevailed. Starting out as a one-person business, she wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. Look at her now. She owns a business that has tripled in sales since 2005 and offers over 1,500 products. She loves coming to work every day, and she could not be happier. I think it’s safe to say she’s earned every bit of that.
If you have any questions you’d like to ask Melanie, please submit them via the comment space below or our Facebook page. We’ll be recording video interviews next week, and if your question is selected for the interviews, we’ll send you a great ‘Business & Entrepreneurship’ prize!
Think Healthy Thursday: Eat Less. Give More. Go Halfsies.
“Halfsies is a social initiative offering healthier meal portions to restaurant-goers while reducing food waste and supporting the fight against hunger and poverty.”
This initiative emphasizes three problems :
- Oversized Portions
- Food Waste
- World Hunger
They point out that there is a common denominator, food.
We’ve all been to restaurants; I think you can attest that the portion sizes tend to be a bit out of control. We seem to think we’re getting more bang for our buck, but are we? If more bang means unnecessary calories and waste, then sure.
How it Works
Participating restaurants will select dishes from their menu and mark them with a halfsies icon. This indicates that a half portion of that meal is served. The customer will pay full price for their meal, but half of that money goes back to Halfsies to fight hunger.
I love this idea, because most of us don’t ever finish the restaurant portions anyway. We say we’ll bring it home and take it for lunch the next day, but it almost always sits in the fridge until we throw it out. What if we could prevent that waste? What if on top of preventing waste, we decreased our portions to a healthier size?
Halfsies is a program that is bringing these issues full circle. This social initiative not only helps customers by offering them a healthy portion, but it’s a way for them to give back to something greater than themselves.
“Hunger is the world’s number on health risk. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.” Halfsies has taken on the challenge of changing that, and they are doing it full force. The program will launch in Austin, TX this spring. From there, we have high hopes that it will spread to other communities and create a movement.
To learn more about Halfsies and how you can get involved, visit their facebook page.
Meet the Grapefruit – win a Grapefruit Hero
February is National Grapefruit month. To celebrate, we wanted to peel this tasty fruit to learn more about it.
The grapefruit enjoys either the best or worst PR team – depending on how you feel about the infamous Grapefruit Diet. It’s a 12-day, low calorie diet that promises participants a loss of up to 10 pounds. The diet has been around since the 1930’s. As is the case with most “get thin quick” diets, the results are more successful in the short term and don’t really promote long term weight loss or health. But that doesn’t mean the grapefruit isn’t a valuable and delicious part of a healthy diet.
History
Developed in the West Indies in the 18th century, Grapefruits are now grown all over the world. Although according to the USDA, the United States is the world’s number one producer of grapefruits. Florida produces about 75 percent of the total grapefruit crop grown throughout the United States. And here’s a fact that surprised me – the sweetest and juiciest grapefruit can be found in supermarkets from December to June. They come from Florida and Texas. The grapefruits from California are easier to peel and segment, but they are not as juicy and their flavor is (again according to the USDA) only fair.
Grapefruits grow in bunches in trees, like grapes. Sometimes as many as 25 fruits in a cluster hang from a tree. In fact, that is the origin of the name.
Nutritional Value
According to the Fruits & Veggies More Matters website, grapefruits are fat free; saturated fat free; sodium free; cholesterol free; high in vitamin A and high in vitamin C. Did you know that half a grapefruit provides 80 percent of an adult’s recommended daily vitamin C? Grapefruits also provide pectin, a soluble fiber which may lower cholesterol. Finally they are a good source of vitamin B6, potassium, thiamin and niacin.
Tips
When selecting a grapefruit, the USDA suggests you choose the ones that are glossy, round, smooth and choose grapefruits that are heavy for their size. Once you select your grapefruit and bring them home, store grapefruits at room temperature for 1 week or under refrigeration for 2 to 3 weeks.
Win a Grapefruit
I feel smarter, healthier and hungrier now. If only I had a good recipe. That’s where we’re hoping our readers can step in. We’re looking for some good grapefruit recipes. Post a recipe in the comments below or on our Facebook Page for a chance to win Gracie Grapefruit Garden Hero – pictured above. Please post recipes before 8:00pm CST Wednesday, February 8th, and we’ll announce the winner the following morning!
Think Healthy Thursday: Swap It, Don’t Stop It
Earlier last year, the Australian government started an initiative to promote healthy choices. The goal is for individuals to make “healthier lifestyle choices to reduce their risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.” It’s called Swap It, Don’t Stop It.
It reminds me a little of the USDA’s newest MyPlate message, “enjoy your food, but eat less.” You don’t have to completely give up the things you love. It’s when those things become habits that we start to worry. This program encourages individuals to gradually swap those bad habits with healthy alternatives.
They’ve created an extremely thorough 12 week plan available for anyone to use. They’ve also gone as far to create resources for health professionals to utilize with their patients.
The first part of the plan allows you to establish a start date as well as short and long term goals for yourself. You are encouraged to create a list of your current eating habits and what you plan to try to swap it out with.
I like the idea of swapping, because it seems more attainable. They don’t ask you to give anything up completely. You’re simply encouraged to make small changes that can create big results. The 12 week plan includes a weekly activity planner and a meal diary to keep track of your eating habits for the week. It also contains a shopping list for every week categorized by the various food groups. Each category has great suggestions for items to swapping. The choices are endless. And in the unlikely case you run out of swapping ideas, they have an unlimited supply of recommendations from others users on their website. (I told you it was thorough!)
The last weekly item is a healthy checklist. This is a series of questions to evaluate your week. The number of questions you answer yes to will determine your score. This is a great weekly item, because you can track your progress based on these numbers each week of the plan.
This YouTube video they used to kick off their campaign explains the program quite well.
The 12 week plan is available as a printable PDF, an iPad app, or you can track everything on Swap It’s online version of the plan.
So what do you say? Is this something we should start trending in the US?
Movie Monday: Kitchen Fundamentals
Sometimes, it seems as though recipes are written in another language. Slicing, dicing, mincing, paring, what’s the difference?
In our Kitchen Fundamentals DVD, Chef Dave Christopherson from the University of St. Thomas demonstrates a wide variety of food preparation techniques. He covers fundamentals of preparation including types of knives, proper hand washing, and the difference between various cuts.
The second half of this 40 minute DVD reviews the basics of cooking including broiling, braising, steaming, and more! This video is age appropriate for grades 6 to adult. The clip below, compliments of SeeMe Productions, is a great overview of the material covered in the full length DVD. Being able to see what Chef Christopherson is doing as he explains it really helps the lessons resonate with viewers.
Customer Reviews:
“Frequent onscreen captions reinforce both safety and technical tips, and good camera angles make the lessons easy to follow. This well-constructed program touches on all the basics and is a useful classroom resource.” – Booklist
“What better way to learn basic food preparation techniques than from a professional chef demonstrating from his own home? Christopherson performs demonstrations in real time, making the steps and methods easy to follow, while also peppering his instructions with plenty of practical tips…” -Video Librarian
Think Healthy Thursday: Happy Hour? Water May be the Best Boost
Water is essential to health and well-being. But do you know the effects of not drinking enough water? A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition demonstrates that there is a connection between dehydration and a number of ill effects, as reported in Time Magazine…
The small study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, tested mood, concentration and mental skills in 25 women who either were given enough fluids to remain optimally hydrated or were induced into a mildly dehydrated state. Dehydration was achieved through either exercise alone or by using both exercise and a diuretic drug that increased urination.
The women’s mood and cognitive abilities were tested during exercise and at rest under the different hydration conditions. On most mental tests, the women’s state of hydration didn’t affect performance, but being dehydrated did cause headache symptoms, loss of focus, a sense of fatigue and low mood both at rest and during exercise. The dehydration induced in the study was not severe: it was around 1% lower than optimal.
They offer a telltale clue to help – in case monitoring your own mood wasn’t enough…
To check your own hydration state, peek at the color of your urine: if it’s darker rather than nearly clear, you need more water.
Water is often a neglected ingredient in a healthy diet. It’s why we’ve made it one of the highlights in our new Countdown to Health 54321+8 product line, which promotes:
- 5 servings of fruits and vegetables
- 4 glasses of water
- 3 good laughs
- 2 hours of screen time (or less)
- 1 hour of physical activity
- 8 hours (or more) of sleep
These portions are for kids – but when you are thinking about kids, but sure to think about your own needs too. It’s important to Think Healthy for everyone!
Movie Monday: Smart Nutrition
This week, we thought we would focus on teenagers. This time of our lives is both exciting and confusing. So many choices. Even decisions like what to eat and what not to eat can prove difficult and overwhelming.
In Smart Nutrition, host Wes Halula and two teenagers break through the clutter and confusion with facts about breakfast, portion size, physical activity, the importance of fruits and vegetables, significant nutrients, late night snacking and more. They offer tips to help teenagers make the right decisions about their health and wellness. They present it in a fun and interesting way keeping the audience entertained.
It’s important to communicate these messages to teens early, because the choices they make now can affect their adult life. We want to cut bad habits early and pick up good ones.
In this teaser clip, Wes explains three important vitamins and minerals for teens. Calcium, Iron, and Vitamin D. Although this video is intended for a teenage audience, I think we can all learn a little something from it.
WELCOME TO MELANIE'S CORNER
Business owner and former FACS teacher, Melanie has been creating life skills products for 27 years. Visit Melanie’s Corner often to get the insider news on Learning ZoneXpress, life skills tips and the occasional bargain.
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