A Healthy Dose of New Orleans

Local businesses focus on keeping New Orleans happy and healthy

tasc and running club
Throwing back and looking good doing it.

If you live in New Orleans, you’re pretty much constantly surrounded by the perfect mix of laziness and temptation that lets your waistline expand a few inches year after year. Our culture is rooted in passive overindulgence like porch sitting, beer drinking, seafood frying, music listening…and don’t even try to argue that the Red Dress Run is a fitness activity!

Fortunately, New Orleans is also a hub for a progressive lifestyle and sustainable change. In recent years many local start-up and entrepreneurial ventures have introduced innovative products that make staying healthy just as fun as overdoing it. Here are a few ways to stay on track local style:

 Tasc Performance

Tasc, like so many great ideas, began with a major problem, and that problem is called Polyester. The founders of Tasc were sick and tired of shiny, stinky, tasc1chaffing, and environmentally unfriendly polyester workout clothes. They set out on a mission to find something softer, better, and fresher. That mission brought them to the Sichuan Province of China where they learned how to turn bamboo trees into stretchy breathable workout fabric. Five years later, Tasc sells thousands of high performance items for men and women through their website and other retail stores.

Comfortable, check. Stylish, check. Moisture wicking, double check! Tasc Performance apparel is made with the softest bamboo viscose and organic cotton and will endure you’re fastest sprint around Audubon. The unique material make up means no stink over time, and the bamboo part makes the fabric earth-friendly and softer than a panda’s bottom. Since I started wearing Tasc goods I actually look forward to those 5:30am workouts. I especially love this bra for its ability to hold everything in without squeezing too tight!

Iconic

iconic2It’s hard to believe with all of the good food in this town that people actually skip meals, but when you’re busy crazy things happen. Luckily the nutrition-savvy people at Be Well Nutrition are looking out for you. In an effort to provide healthy sustenance to New Orleanians on the go they have created Iconic, a hunger satisfying drink that leaves you energetic yet focused.
Be Well was built from the ground up an is currently working on national expansion. There’s no doubt that Iconic has fueled many a late-night product development session! The drink comes in two flavors, Vanilla and Chocolate, and both are incredibly delicious. Since Iconic is a “Healthy Lifestyle Beverage,” it’s a nice reprieve to your beer battered diet.

Your Nutrition Anytime (formerly Your Nutrition Delivered)

So, you’re busy, but replacing meals with liquid is not your style. Your Nutrition Anytime was invented for you. The team of chefs whips up extremely delicious and well-balanced gourmet meals delivered right to your front door or workplace. The company offers various packages from weekday lunches to a full-on spa menu dropped right at your doorstep.YND

Besides the convenience and health benefits, this stuff is mouthwateringly delicious. Dishes like Blueberry Flax Pancakes, Turkey Chapli Kebab, and Blueberry Cobbler dot the weekly menu. The best part? You don’t even have to worry about calories. Just let YNA know your intake goals, and grab a fork.

Not only has Your Nutrition Anytime planned meals for Channing Tatum, but you can also find their meals in healthy vending machines popping up around town. If you’d like to give it a try check out the machines inside Touro Infirmary on Prytania or at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center Downtown.

Explore what these companies have to offer, and enjoy those over-indulgences for many, many more years to come. It’s all about balance, right?!?!

About Lauren

Lauren is an uptown girl that enjoys long strolls in Audubon Park with her lab mix Pongo. Her philosophy on Nola life is that you don't ever really get used to the heat, you just get used to glistening.