Traveling Nutrition Challenges or Creativity? You Choose!

Traveling puts a new perspective on the day to day. Along with new sites, meeting new people, and maybe dealing with language and culture differences, one has to face different habits and practices when it comes to food and eating. Out of the entire month of March, I’ve spent all of 2 nights at my apartment (I just cringe when I think of that fact and my LA rent…ughhh). But, the lack of time in LA, has lent itself to the adventures of 10 days in Italy, and I’m currently finishing up a 19 day work assignment in Rockford/Chicago, Illinois.

When it comes to your nutrition, living out of a hotel, hostel, or spending an entire day on an airplane or wandering airports, creates either challenges or lends a hand to a creativity, depending on how you want to look at it. Sometimes healthy options are not readily available, and you are forced to make the best choice that you can, or you must give yourself full permission to embrace the experience.When you are constantly on the go, it’s hard to plan ahead with your meals, but there are some simple things that you can do, that will save you time, money, and the headache of finding yourself starving, and nothing available to eat.

Here are some tips for when you are on-the-go:

• Pack raw almonds in your carry-on bag. Protein and healthy fats keep you satisfied.
• LaraBars are awesome; easy to pack, all raw, and contain lots of fiber.
• Drink water! It’s soooo easy to let yourself get dehydrated when traveling. Take an empty Klean Kanteen with you through security and fill it up on the other side. You save money and help reduce environmental impact.
• Eat as balanced as possible when you are traveling. You feel more jet lagged and tired when you are just grabbing candy and sweets.
• And probably the best tip, and I’m serious when I say this because I’ve learned from experience; Tortillas are awesome to have in your bag when you travel! It’s so much better than the Kraft packaged snacks that Southwest dishes out or the snack packs that you pay a pretty penny for. Take Justin’s individually packaged Nut Butter’s with you or individually packaged hummus, or of course, I just eat tortillas straight. When you leave for the airport, take your tortillas out of the freezer, and when you eventually reach your destination, just put them back in the fridge…that’s if there are any left after that 10 hour flight:)

Tortillas took a trip to Whistler, B.C.

Best Mountain Snack EVER!

www.thebesttortilla.com

Catch The 96

Did you know that it takes Safeway just one week to do as much business as Whole Foods does in 30 days, or what Wal-Mart does in 60 seconds? Often, when talking with people about our tortilla company, there eyes light up, and they’ll say, “You know what you should do? You need to get into Whole Foods!” This is a little humorous, because they will make the statement with the conviction that the idea has never surfaced ever before.

We have a healthy product, that has a niche in Whole Foods or Trader Joes, but our tortilla is also for those that have never stepped foot into a Whole Foods Market. There is a thriving industry outside of the growing 108 billion dollar organic and health market. 96 percent are currently not buying natural, organic, or healthy products. Now the question is, why spend all the energy and effort marketing to 4 percent when there is a huge potential of people outside of that need to be reached?

These people that fall into that 96 percent may not be engaged in the natural or organic markets, not because of disinterest, but because of mis-information, cost, convenience, or dare we say, taste? We are firm believers that healthy products don’t have to taste like health (i.e. cardboard tortillas or tasteless entrees). What’s great is our tortillas can fit into both the health food markets and the mainstream markets, and the plus side is, we don’t have to educate people on what a tortilla is, because everyone has heard of a tortilla.

Zappos has created a thriving business of selling shoes, along with other items, online. Shoes, historically, are a product that people want to try-on, but Zappos has skirted that issue through free returns, great customer service, and their tag line of “selling happiness.” Some companies are capable of telling consumers what they need, for example, take Apple. No one knew they needed an iPad until Apple told them, and iPod is now synonymous with MP3 player. These companies have not followed the historical way of business, but have created a better way that works. This is something to admire.

An idea for us is to heavily market Created Whole tortillas through our online store. When you think of where to buy whole wheat tortillas, the first place probably is not cyberspace, but why not? It’s convenient, cuts out costs that the consumer won’t have to pay for, and at this point gives us more of a direct relationship with our customers. We hope to be the Zappos of online tortilla sales while developing devoted followers like Apple.

Check out these interesting articles:

The Future of Wellness: Lessons From The 96 Percent
A World of Consumers Exists Beyond Whole Foods Market

Order your tortillas online at http://www.thebesttortilla.com/

Tortilla Development

These days, there are a lot of things in the works for us. For Created Whole, it has been almost two years since our first production day, production that happened and for only a short while longer will happen at a small tortilleria, one that we don’t own. To finally have purchased our own tortilla equipment is a huge and exciting step for us.

We’ve only just begun the journey, and at this point, our business is undergoing many changes. What we started out thinking, believing, and focusing on, has adapted and changed. We’ve tested the market and we have a different plan in how and where to market than when we started. It in a sense feels like we are only now launching.

There’s interesting balance between feeling like Created Whole is not progressing and then questioning how we are going to be able to keep up. The growth of the company is insignificant in comparison to the growth that has been seen in our individual characters. God has been opening doors and events and situations have happened that only can be attributed to divine appointments.

To give a brief update on some areas we are working on right now is the manufacturing side of things, where a lot of work has to be done in setting up the factory. Working out supply and distribution. And the major area of focus is marketing. We are focusing on creating a better website, one that looks professional, credible, is easy to navigate, and has an awesome store front. We plan on relying heavily on online orders. You can see the website we have right now at www.thebesttortilla.com. We are also putting together press kits and marketing plans to get our name out there. And, we are looking for people with talents and skills that can be utilized in this growth stage of the company and that would be willing to donate their time and strengths on a volunteer basis. If you want to be part of the growth, let us know. Email Tim@thebesttortilla.com.

Why Not Tortillas?

A similar post has appeared in our blog addressing howwe got started in the tortilla business.When people ask us how we got into the tortilla manufacturing business, they are often searching for some explanation regarding a certain ethnic background. It only makes sense, right? Well, we don’t have any Central or South American background. Our background is living on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley, driving tractors through the fields, and flying airplanes. What we do have is a knowledgeable dietitian on staff and an interest in health.

Typically, people with our background, don’t make tortillas. Created Whole is nothing typical. We are breaking stereotypes. We are going to big manufacturers who tell us that what we are doing is impossible, but we know it’s possible. We have people that have grown up eating “mama’s tortillas” tasting ours and telling us Created Whole Tortillas are incredible! A product like this has to go to the masses. We are determined not to waste the potential at our fingertips and what God has blessed us with.

Wheat tortillas are the fastest growing product line, not only in the tortilla industry, but in the entire grain products industry. 62 percent of the food industry, both commercial and non-commercial businesses, reported using tortilla products in their operations. People are requesting whole wheat tortillas in restaurants and food establishments. People are expecting great tasting products that are also healthy. Tortillas are versatile and consumable. They are eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as an appetizer, entree, dessert, or snack. With our background in health, along with an exceptional product, and industry timing, it’s only natural that we should enter this market.

So maybe instead of asking “Why tortillas?”, we should ask, “WHY NOT TORTILLAS?

Get To Know The CEO

With his contagious laughter and “kid-at-heart” personality, he’s more than just fun to be around. He can be an all out riot! He’s easy going, but far from lazy. He’s sharp and determined, displays strong character and kindness in all that he does and pursues. He’s the owner. He’s the tortilla recipe master. He’s Tim Mulder.

Tim Mulder is a professional pilot, lover of the outdoors, and a health enthusiast. Before he was old enough to drive a pickup truck, he was driving a large wheat harvester in the dusty wheat fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Early on in his married life, Tim became captivated by a study of the ancient scriptures and the health secrets found in them. Combining this study and the science of health he began living and sharing what he discovered.

Convinced that if people would live more closely to the way God made the foods found in nature, he dreamed of one day creating a food company that lived and practiced in their manufacturing methods the health principles that he found to be true and that he practiced in his own life. With the abundant refining of grains and cereals in the American diet, he was sure that manufacturers needed to reduce the use of preservatives and the refining of wheat.

“For years I felt a need and urge to manufacture food the way you would if health were your primary value instead of shelf-life or simply profit,” Tim explains. With this in mind, he dreamed of creating his own food manufacturing company. So, with the encouragement of his wife Brenda, daughter Kara, and son Bryan, Tim began tinkering in the family’s kitchen, perfecting and scaling the whole wheat tortilla recipe that he had been making in his own home for over 25 years. A simple, yet nutritious recipe became “Created Whole”. Tim’s dream of becoming an industry leader in freshly manufactured food products began moving towards reality. The journey is only beginning, and Tim believes that someday, through Created Whole, he and his family will be able to touch many peoples’ lives with the truths of health in countries all around the world.

Tim’s life is more than just tortillas. He also enjoys working in his garden and tending to his orchard of fruit trees, and recently became a certified grower, which enables him to sell produce at farmer’s markets. He loves to backpack, windsurf, play tennis, hang glide, and spend time with his wife Brenda. He’s an amazing man, an amazing husband, and an amazing father. As the CEO of Created Whole, this company is in good hands!