About 150 people lined up for the 7 a.m. opening to shop or see what the nation’s largest natural and organic foods retailer has to offer.

“Wow!” said Shayne Stambler, a photographer from Diamond Head who almost exclusively buys groceries at natural food stores but had never before been to a Whole Foods. “The presentation is fabulous. The seafood and meat: unbelievable.”

The new store is one of four the upscale retailer based in Texas plans to open in Hawai’i over the next two years, an entry that is bringing new competition to the more than 40 small, independent natural and organic food retailers in the state.

Whole Foods, however, with its big stores located largely in major malls or retail complexes, also is expected to raise consumer awareness about natural and organic foods, something that also will benefit smaller retailers in the industry.

Colleen Conlan, a freelance graphic artist who lives in Mo’i-li’ili, is a regular customer of Down To Earth Natural Foods and Lifestyle as well as Kokua Market near her home. She said she will likely do more shopping at Whole Foods because the store has a broader selection of items such as gluten-free baked goods and nitrate-free meats.

“I have to eat gluten-free stuff,” she said as she placed items, including gluten-free carrot cake and scones, on the checkout conveyer. “You can’t find that at all anywhere (on O’ahu). I have to make my own.”

Scot Kawakami, a 38-year-old mechanic from Waipi’o, stopped by to see what was in the Whole Foods store yesterday after helping fiancee Julie Lee, 35, drop off her two children at school nearby.

Kawakami and Lee, who don’t normally shop at natural food stores, were impressed that they could buy fresh fish and have it cooked for free in the store — pan-fried, baked, steamed or grilled with a variety of seasonings.

“It’s convenient, especially if you’re running late or if you’re lazy,” Kawakami said.

Lee, a postal carrier, said she was also surprised that prices of many items in the store aren’t exorbitant. “We didn’t think we could afford to buy anything,” she said. “But it’s not that bad.”

Lee and Kawakami picked up about a pound of smoked pulled pork seasoned with garlic pepper for dinner, and later filled their basket with more items.

Ine Miller, a student from Hawai’i Kai, said she primarily shops at traditional grocery stores with an occasional stop at a health food store, but will probably visit Whole Foods once a week.

“Just to be able to get everything at one time is helpful,” she said.

Carter Allen, owner of Celestial Natural Foods in Hale’iwa, said he hopes Whole Foods will help accelerate the natural and organic foods movement that has been slow to build among consumers since the early 1970s, when he opened his store.

“They hopefully are going to turn more people on to natural foods and organic foods,” he said. “The proof will be in the pudding in a year or two.”

For other local natural food retailers closer to the Kahala Whole Foods store, especially ‘Umeke Market Natural Foods & Deli across the street from Kahala Mall, there will be more head-to-head competition with the giant.

But Whole Foods also will compete to an extent with traditional supermarkets selling fish, meats, produce, beer, wine and extensive offerings of hot and cold prepared foods.

Whole Foods said its Kahala store features the largest seafood preparation kitchen in the 270-store chain. The store is also the only one in the chain that sells poke. The variety was typical of local grocery stores, and included spicy ahi, ahi with limu and tako poke. The price: $13.99 a pound. More unusual items included smoked bay scallops with Asian spice at $17.99 a pound.

Prepared hot and cold foods ready for eating are a major element in the store. There is a breakfast bar stocked with pans of scrambled eggs, scrambled egg whites, spinach tofu, sausages, fried chicken, rice and oatmeal.

Pizzas are baked and sold whole or by the slice. Sushi is also prepared fresh daily.

An area next to the bakery with seating sells brewed coffee, smoothies, gelato and chocolates.

A couple of bars feature salads and salad ingredients, from raw vegetables and fruits to prepared waldorf salads with tuna or salmon.

A plate lunch station yesterday was selling three plates — curry rice, shoyu chicken and kalua pig — available with two side selections of steamed rice, curry rice, macaroni salad, potato salad or steamed vegetables for $8.99 to $10.99.

Other hot prepared foods are made to order at a stir-fry station, including bowls of beef broccoli, mushroom chicken and hot soba noodles.

There even was something in the deli case created by Whole Foods as a healthier alternative to Spam — thick slices of “Hawaiian Style Ham” made from pork butt, ham, cornstarch, beet juice, sugar, water and salt, for $11.99 a pound.

“It’s a little hammy,” said Andie Lee, a Honolulu housewife. “It’s not like Spam, but it’s very delicious, like turkey meat loaf.”

“It tastes like chicken,” countered Lee’s husband, Rob, a Hawaiian Airlines pilot. “Pretty good.”

The Kahala Whole Foods also has a body-care products section that’s the size of a small specialty store. The whole store, which covers 28,000 square feet previously occupied mostly by Star Market, will be the second smallest for the chain in Hawai’i.

A 26,366-square-foot store is slated to open in Kahului, Maui, next year.

The biggest store is planned for Kailua, at 40,000 square feet. That’s projected to open in 2010.

A store at Ward Centers initially was slated to open this year, and be 67,000 square feet on two levels, but recently was scaled back and delayed. It will be 35,000 square feet on one level and open in the first quarter of 2010.

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WASHINGTON, July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world’s largest-circulation magazine with more than 34 million readers, today announced the top ten healthiest cities to live and retire in with Ann Arbor, MI, Honolulu, HI, Madison, WI, Santa Fe, NM, and Fargo, ND taking the top five rankings.

Featured in the September/October issue, the magazine also named five additional cities that received high marks for vitality and great living conditions including Boulder, CO, Charlottesville, VA, San Francisco Bay Area, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, and Naples-Marco Island, FL.

AARP The Magazine evaluated over 20 measures of vitality to help make its decisions and incorporated not only the physical aspects of a community (clean air and water), but also the health and habits of people who live there, taking into special consideration the health needs of people age 50+. Communities were chosen based on various criteria including opportunities for exercise, number of doctors in the area, availability of healthcare, diagnosis of health problems, healthy eating habits, and more. The magazine also evaluated quality of life measures such as housing affordability, the local economy, educational resources, crime, climate, recreational amenities, and arts and culture to help make their selections.

‘The cities we chose are ahead of the healthy living curve with access to healthcare facilities, numerous options for exercise, activities, volunteerism, and a culture that supports vitality,’ said Nancy Graham, Acting Editor of AARP The Magazine. ‘This has become one of AARP The Magazine’s most popular annual features and it’s exciting to be the authority on the top cities for retirement at a time when more Americans than ever are approaching that milestone.’

AARP The Magazine’s Top 10 Healthiest Cities to Live and Retire for 2008:

1. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Fully 86% of residents exercise daily; the city boasts 580 physicians per 100,000 people, compared to the U.S. average of 223; it is home to The University of Michigan Health Center – one of the largest university medical centers in the world and creator of the first human genetics program in the U.S. in 1940.

2. Honolulu, Hawaii: An impressive 95% of residents are covered by health insurance; residents spend more time exercising than almost any other city surveyed; locals have one of the highest rates of life expectancy among surveyed cities.

3. Madison, Wisconsin: Residents have low rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol; here you’ll find big city advantages with a small-town feel; Madison hosts an extensive bus system, numerous bike trails and a wide-range of sporting activities.

4. Santa Fe, New Mexico: The city ranked #2 in the U.S. in air quality by the American Lung Association; the rates of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol are among the lowest in the country, in part because of a city-funded health campaign aimed at older residents.

5. Fargo, North Dakota: Ranks #9 in the nation for regular flossing and brushing; it has one of the best air-quality-index scores, uses biodiesel fuel to power its transit buses, and it has made a serious commitment to incorporate methane-powered generators, solar panels, and wind generators into the city’s infrastructure.

6. Boulder, Colorado: This home to more than 130 miles and 45,000 acres of open space and pristine wilderness at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains attracts environment and health-conscious residents; it is one of the nation’s healthiest cities with extremely low rates of smoking and obesity (BMI of 24.94).

7. Charlottesville, Virginia: The one-time home of Thomas Jefferson ranks in the top ten cities for family-practice doctors, oncologists and cardiologists; it ranks fourth among U.S. metropolitan areas in the number of physicians per capita.

8. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota: Residents rank among the top ten in the country for share of residents who exercise regularly; Minnesota is ranked the #1 state in the nation for the overall quality of its healthcare by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

9. San Francisco Bay Area, California: Residents are among the least likely to be overweight and smoke; last year, the city of San Francisco launched Healthy San Francisco, an initiative that offers free or subsidized health care to uninsured residents.

10. Naples-Marco Island, Florida: Residents received very high scores for regular exercise, healthy eating and not smoking; the area has one of the lowest cancer mortality rates in the country; Naples-Marco Island has the second most golf holes per capita in the country.

AARP The Magazine‘s special report examines which cities excelled in key areas of longevity, vitality, and wellness. Ames, IA was the city with the longest life expectancy, 81.02 years, followed by Naples-Marco Island, FL with 80.97 years. Ames, IA, also topped the list of cities with the highest percentage of people able to afford healthcare, at 97.9% and Johnston, PA, was second on that list at 96.2%. In a key measure of health, average body mass index (BMI), Boulder, CO topped the list as the skinniest city, with a 24.94 BMI, followed by Santa Fe, NM, which had an average BMI of 25.50. Of cities with the greenest commuters, Ithaca, NY, was highest on the list with 16.88% of commuters biking or walking to work.

Full criteria included: Cardiac mortality rates (age-adjusted), prescriptions for control of hypertension, cholesterol (per capita), physician diagnoses of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity (BMI), smoking cigarettes, alcohol use, access to affordable healthcare, physicians and cardiologists in area (per capita), fast food outlets (per capita), state legislation for smoke-free workplaces and public places, percent having a health plan, percent unable to afford health care, percent of residents who had a recent routine checkup, healthy eating (salads, fruits, vegetable servings per day), regular exercise, commuting by bicycle or walking, stress index (indicators include depression, divorce, suicide, crime, unemployment, etc.), teaching hospitals (per capita), hospital beds available (per capita), and hospitals with emergency rooms. Sources included CDC WONDER Compressed Mortality File (2000-2004), Medical Marketing Services, CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey (2004-2006), AMA membership rolls (2007), Info USA, database of establishments (2007), Americans for Nonsmokers Rights – compilation (2007), U.S. Census, Claritas, Inc., Sperling’s BestPlaces analysis, American Hospital Directory (2008).

Additional information about this year’s selections can be found in the September/October issue of AARP The Magazine or online at www.aarpmagazine.org.

About AARP The Magazine

With more than 34 million readers nationwide, AARP The Magazine (www.aarpmagazine.org) is the world’s largest circulation magazine and the definitive lifestyle publication for Americans 50+. Reaching over 23.5 million households, AARP The Magazine delivers comprehensive content through in-depth celebrity interviews, health and fitness features, consumer interest information and tips, book and movie reviews and financial guidance. Published bimonthly in print and continually online, AARP The Magazine was founded in 1958 and is the flagship title of AARP Publications.

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Honolulu ranked No. 27 and received a B for its number of fuel efficient vehicles, miles driven and other criteria, according to the July/August issue of Men’s Health magazine.

Seattle has the nation’s "greenest" drivers, while Arlington, Texas, has the nation’s least "green" drivers.

The magazine said it ranked 100 U.S. cities by using data including gas consumption, miles driven annually, air quality (ozone and particle pollutants), vehicle efficiency (size, age, and frequency of tune-ups), mass transit quality and usage.

Data was gathered, according to the magazine, from the National Transit Database, the American Lung Association, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, SimplyMap, and the Energy Information Administration.

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Much of what goes down our drains winds up in the environment and potentially nasty chemicals from common soap residue are no different. There are greener ways to stay clean!

Most of us use "normal" soap on a daily basis, so literally millions of tonnes of soap is flushed the gurgler every year. It’s an added threat to an already stressed aquatic environment.

So many soaps contain a variety of fragrances and chemicals that have the potential to harm the environment. Some chemicals used in soap fragrances have been proven to cause birth defects and liver damage in animals.

It seems that many cleaning fluids and stuff we apply to our skin also carry the "anti-bacterial" label these days. Is this really necessary and what are the effects on the wider environment? We seem to be really fixated on bacteria and these poor little critters really do get a bad rap. Sure, there’s bad bacteria, but there’s also many kinds of good bacteria that we couldn’t live without.
Some anti-bacterial soaps contain MIT (methylisothiazolinone), which some studies have found to be allergenic, cytotoxic and linked to nerve cell death. Another anti-bacterial chemical commonly used is Triclosan. This chemical is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as being a pesticide and is believed to destroy fragile aquatic ecosystems. Yet another agent is the similarly named tricloban.
While triclosan and tricloban do play a role in professional health settings, residue from these substances do continue killing bacteria once hands are washed, but at a low rate – which can play a role in making bacterial more resistant.
These chemicals aren’t the type of thing you want to risk using on your body unless absolutely necessary, let alone escape into our waterways.
Even if the potentially toxic chemicals are in minute amounts and they may not build up on or in our bodies, they can accumulate in the environment. What goes around, comes around.

Other ingredients often found in soap include paraffin wax, ozokerite, other crude oil derivatives and animal tallow (fat). This is just scratching the surface; the ingredient list of so many personal care products these days read off like a chemistry lesson.

Added to all that, in most commercial soap making processes, at the end of the process what’s left is the basic soap  product and glycerine. The glycerine, a useful emollient, is often sold separately as a moisturizer. This is rather ironic as soap with glycerine removed can dry out your skin.

Thankfully, there are more natural alternatives to using these chemical cocktails. After my run-in with the ingredient list of my shampoo bottle, I decided to kill two birds with one stone (I know, a rather inappropriate saying) and try out the vegetable soap we had. I’m not too sure how it would be on long or color treated hair, but it’s been great on my hair and I do feel very clean after using it! Even my hairdresser commented on how soft my hair was.

Vegetable soaps contain no animal products, so they are also a great choice for vegans. The types of vegetable soaps available would be far too long to list, but they are made with plant oils and natural fragrances only and the glycerine is usually left in. The soap we buy is actually cheaper than the "normal" brand we used to purchase.

You shouldn’t need to go to a specialty store to buy vegetable soap – I’ve found that most supermarkets now stock it.
As far as I know, sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is still needed to make any kind of useful bar soap, including vegetable soap; but once the lye has reacted with the plant fats and oils, their chemical structures are changed and there’s no harmful residue. This chemical reaction is called saponification.

I guess the modern methods of creating sodium hydroxide may not be all that earth friendly, but there’s a line for everything and I do like to stay clean . Soap free alternatives such as scrubbing with sand and hot cloths I’m not quite ready for, nor are our drains.
Anti-bacterial soap is really an overkill it seems. The common sense practice of hand washing with normal soap is sufficient according to many health authorities, including the Center for Disease Control – normal soap dislodges bacteria which can be then washed away with water.
If you’re really adventurous you could try researching the following plants, said to be good soap alternatives:

Philadelphus lewisii
Yucca root
Soap Lily
Horse Chestnut
Bracken
Saponaria officinalis
Christmas Rose
Asparagus fern
Daisies
Ivy

… and the list goes on – search for plants that contain high saponin levels as saponins are natural detergents. Be careful in your experimentation though and research thoroughly!

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While Hawaii’s smoking ban is not new to us, for some visitors coming to the islands, there is still uncertainty over where they can and cannot smoke.

And breaking the rules could cost big bucks.

Thousands basking in the sunshine in Waikiki, are also enjoying the fresh air found here, especially since Hawaii’s smoking ban has been in place.

Many major hotels are happy about setting smoke restrictions.

“Hawaii is about fragrance and aromas as it is about anything and to have the smoke drift through, that it’s never been an attractive addition,” said Barry Wallace with Outrigger Hotels.

You can still smell smoke in the air in Waikiki, there are about two dozen hotels here that allow some smoking, either in the rooms or on property, and smoking is still allowed at the beach.

But a number of hotel chains, like the Outrigger, have gone completely smoke-free for their guests.

“It is critical, they are passionate about smoke free environments, like when you rent a rental car and you can smell that smoke, there is nothing worse, and many people tell us they love our new policy,” said Wallace.

Part of that policy includes hefty fines for those that light up in non-smoking rooms.

“We generally charge a $250 clean fee cause we have to shampoo the carpets, clean the drapes bedspread, depending on as much needs to be done,” Wallace said.

Other hotels in Waikiki charge up to twice that amount.

For smokers, just finding a place to light up makes takes away from their relaxing habit, and snuffs out some of the fun of their Hawaiian vacation.

“A little restrictive in the smoking areas, as far as where you can smoke and where you can’t , inconvenient to come out of your hotel room just so you can smoke,” said Doug Quick, a visitor from Tennessee.

But smokers we talked with, say even the restrictions aren’t enough to keep them from coming back to Hawaii.

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1. Food

Start eating whole foods (as close to how it came out of the earth as possible), paying attention to which items are more and less toxic. Meat is high on the food chain and therefore more toxic; vegetables are lower. For information on joining a community supported farm check out Local Harvest. Avoid packaged foods and try to eat a varied diet that includes plenty of protein, calcium, whole grains and folic acid. (Take a daily vitamin with folic acid as well to be sure you’re meeting the requirement.)

2. Water

Test the tap water at home for contaminants and deal with it – a Brita-style carbon carafe pitcher will take care of most issues. Stop drinking bottled water and carry your beverages in something safer like glass or stainless steel – there are great water bottles at SIGG and Klean Kanteen – to avoid chemical-leaching plastic, as well as help save some earth.

3. Air

You can’t always control what you’re breathing – the carpet at the bank or toxic bathroom cleaners at work – but wherever possible (in the car, at work, at home) open the windows and keep your environment as well-ventilated as possible.

4. Kitchen

Lose the Teflon and nonstick pans because they cause cancer in mice and rats and are a probable human carcinogen. Store food in glass instead of plastic (Pyrex is cheap and nice-looking), and never microwave food with plastic wrap on it or in plastic containers.

5. Beauty Products

Take stock of your arsenal of beauty products – everything from zit cream to moisturizer to nail polish – and stop using the ones with chemicals that are potentially harmful to a fetus (who has much greater exposure to toxins pound for pound than you do). This takes more effort than eating organic because, regardless of what their label claims, there’s no certification process for these products. Do your own homework by going to Skin Deep at the Environmental Working Group and enter the name of your preferred cosmetic into a database for a rating of its ingredients.

6. Cleaning Products and Insecticides

As with your beauty products, you need to consider your conventional cleaning products and laundry detergents and replace them with green versions. (The ingredients in non-green cleaners are often toxic, not to mention considered trade secrets and rarely listed). Most green products will list their ingredients, and less is usually more. Apply the same approach to any fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides you use to garden.

7. Renovation
This is a tough one because there’s something about having a baby that makes you want to head down to Home Depot and build something, or at least rip up a carpet and throw some paint on the wall. Resist the urge to renovate, unless you’re able to be out of the house for the duration of the work, and then some. There are toxins in the paint, dust, caulk and glue that you shouldn’t inhale while gestating, and there are too many potentially toxic dusts and chemicals unearthed when you start tearing things apart. Also replace crumbling foam in cushions – they contain brominated flame retardants (PBDE’s) that can negatively affect brain function.

8. Testing
Test your home for contaminants like radon and lead and carbon monoxide, and paint over any chipping lead paint with a zero-VOC fresh paint — Home Depot introduced a no-VOC version last month. This is probably going to be cheaper than having it professionally removed, although green cleaning is more accessible than ever and can probably be located close to home with the help of Google.

Photo Credit: Tom Merton/ Getty Images

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