On the final day of the POM Harvest Tour, the group toured the POM Wonderful offices, the fruit sorting and packaging plants, and the juicing and bottling plant.

I’m honestly surprised by how fascinating I found the experience. The POM Wonderful process is incredibly interesting!

The tour started in the main office where we outfitted ourselves for the tour.

Hardhats and hairnets are sexy!

The first area we toured was where the pomegranates are stored from the day’s harvest.

The pomegranates are stored in large containers until they are transported to the sorting area. The fresh fruit rarely waits more than a day or so in this location.

The next stop on the tour was seeing where the fruit entered the sorting facility.

The pomegranates are loaded on a large conveyer belt that travels inside the plant.

A gorgeous sea of red!

Inside the plant is where all of the magic happens!

After entering the plant via conveyer belt, the fruit passes under a camera, which rapidly takes 25 photos of EACH piece of fruit. In seconds, a computer analyzes each pomegranate for factors such as size, color, and imperfections (i.e. scarring, sunburn), and sorts each fruit accordingly.

Once the fruit is sorted, they are destined to be sold as whole fruit, turned into juice or another POM Wonderful product.

After the sorting process, the fruit is inspected by hand. Workers check for imperfections– particularly scarring– that the cameras may have missed.

The pomegranates that will be sold as whole fruit are then washed, dried, coated with a fungicide wash to prevent the spread of disease or bugs, coated with a light wax, dried again, stickered, and finally packaged for retail sale.

During the harvest season (just 15 weeks out of the year), millions of pomegranates are processed in this high-tech facility each day. But, it only takes about 15 minutes for a single piece of fruit to pass through the entire process. Holy technology!

POM also has a traditional sorting facility where about 200 workers sort each fruit by hand. This plant processes about 25% of what the computerized plant processes and employs four times as many workers.

If a pomegranates is destined to become POM Wonderful juice, they are transported to the juicing room.

Our group also toured the juicing and bottling areas, but we were not allowed to snap photos there for privacy reasons. Let’s just say that the POM bottling process is really COOL!

To read more about the POM Blogger Harvest Tour, check out my previous posts:

Day 1:

• Boston to Fresno
• Welcome to Fresno
• Welcome Dinner

Day 2:

• The Bloggers and Agenda
• On the Road
• Orchard Fly Overs
• The Orchards
• Picking and Harvesting
• Afternoon Downtime
• Dinner at The Vintage Press

Day 3:

• The Final Day

I can’t believe today was our last day on the POM Harvest Tour. It’s been such an amazing experience! I’m really not ready to go back to the “real world.”

Workout

Again, I woke up before the sun this morning (darn East coast time), so I hit the gym for a quickie workout. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 15 minutes on the treadmill. My hip has been sore from all of the running that I’ve been doing lately, so I alternated 3 minutes of running with 2 minutes of walking. I’m glad that I managed to fit in some sort of workout today!

Breakfast

After showering and some blogging, I met the group downstairs in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I was happy to see that there was a healthy selection of foods once again.

The fresh fruit bar was awesome! It was just what I wanted after such an indulgence meal last night.

California strawberries!

I considered oatmeal for breakfast again, but decided on whole wheat toast with peanut butter instead.

It was a good decision, especially since I had a serious craving for peanut butter.

And, of course, I drank a couple of cups of coffee with breakfast. The caffeine was much-needed!

After breakfast, the group hopped into the rental vans and drove to the POM facility to learn about juicing and bottling the wonderful pomegranates. (Post coming soon about the tour!)

Our tour at the POM facilities ended just before lunchtime, so we dug into our packed lunches a little early.

Lunch

For my lunch, I ate half of a turkey wrap, drank some POM juice (the first of the whole trip!), and finished with dessert: a wonderful white chocolate cookie.

The POM team was actually in a bit of a rush to get us to the airport to catch our flights, so we said some quick goodbyes and drove straight there.

There was a little confusion with my fight, so it got re-routed through Dallas instead of Las Vegas, but I’ll get home to Boston at the same time. Thank goodness!

Dinner

At the airport, I gathered a bunch of essentials for my travels home.

On my layover in Dallas, I grabbed Starbuck’s Perfect Oatmeal as another snack/dinner, but I didn’t snap a photo. I actually boarded the plane while eating it!

I still have a couple more POM posts to write, so be sure to stay tuned!

And, I have lots to catch-up on! It’s crazy what 3 days away can do!

Feel Great Weight

My newest post for Health features some of my favorite fall recipes: 3 Fall Comfort Foods Get a Diet-Friendly Makeover

Healthy Living Examiner

Check out my newest post for the Examiner: The Importance of Recovery Days

Amplify Your Life

Want to enhance (or streamline) your life and win $5,000? Check out Divine Caroline’s Life Amplified program.

Win an Ice Cream Maker

Shannon of Tri to Cook is celebrating her 1-year blog anniversary by giving away a Cuisinart ice cream maker! Be sure to check out her giveaway!

Healthworks Open House

Boston ladies: Healthworks is having an Open House this week until Friday, October 23rd. All women are welcome to attend. The Open House will be at all 5 Healthworks locations (Copley Square, Brookline, Chestnut Hill, Porter Square, and Salem).

Click here to view the invitation.

More details and to register: www.healthworksfitness.com/openhouse

In the News

Is it the exercise or the diet that drives weight loss?

Move over, mangosteen, here comes yumberry

Food index looks at nutrition and cost-value

Soy foods may cut risk of hip fractures in women

A little cloudy on the exercise cool-down?

Study: People who drink mostly water tend to have better diets

Connecticut investigates Smart Choices program

Restaurants celebrate heirloom veggies

Yowsahs! Today has definitely been a whirlwind! I need to play a little catch up on CNC to get you guys up to speed.

After touring the POM orchards, the group drove to Visalia to check-in to a new hotel for the night.

Even though I’m a serious slob when it comes to staying in hotel rooms, it wasn’t any trouble to pack up my things and move to a new location for the night.

The other bloggers didn’t seem to mind either.

Especially when we realized that our new hotel was super nice!

Check out this plush king size bed that I get to sleep in tonight! I seriously cannot wait to climb in and pass out! I just wish my hubby and puggy were here with me too!

Is it strange that I love hotels so much?

After settling into my hotel room, I hit the gym for a speedy workout. I didn’t have much time, so I maximized my workout by doing intervals on the elliptical. I used MotionTraxx’s “30-Minute Cardio Machine Melter,” which I followed-up with 15 minutes of upper body free weights and some abs.

I returned to my room, blogged, showered, and put on a pot of coffee. I NEEDED the caffeine to keep me going!

Just before the group was scheduled to meet, I received a text message from Caitlin and Eric, who invited me to enjoy a cocktail with them in the hotel bar. Of course, I joined them for a glass of wine. Who am I to turn down a drink with friends?

Then, we headed upstairs to a conference room to hear Janel (my favorite RD!) give a fascinating presentation about anti-aging and antioxidants. I wish that I had taken notes because Janel had so many interesting things to say! Check out Caitlin’s blog for some of Janel’s top tips.

Everyone really seemed to enjoy Janel’s presentation. I know that I definitely learned a lot!

I would love to blog about the amazing dinner that I enjoyed tonight, but I am completely and utterly exhausted. It’s almost midnight here in California, which means it’s close to 3 AM for us East coasters. WHY am I still awake!?!

Tomorrow is our last day in California, and we’re going to the POM plant to see how the juice is produced and packaged. I’m heading back to Boston on a very late flight– and somehow I need to work at my full-time job bright and early on Thursday. Wow, I’m tired just thinking about it!

Good night, guys!!!

Brad, the Vice President and General Manager for POM Wonderful’s produce business, shared his knowledge of the POM harvesting process while we toured the orchards.

The POM pomegranate orchards were SO COOL!

The orchards were absolutely gorgeous!

I still can’t believe that I spent the afternoon in a pomegranate orchard in California!

The group spent a couple of hours in the orchard learning about pomegranates from the POM team.

We got to pick them right off the trees!

And taste them!

The pomegranates were so vibrant and fresh! And, of course, delicious!

The bloggers were in full action in the POM orchards!

I love POM!

I loved learning about pomegranates and POM’s harvesting practices. I find it all so interesting!

I’ll post some videos later tonight about what I learned while touring the orchards this afternoon.

We’re off to hear a presentation about the health benefits of pomegranates and then to a fancy-schmancy dinner.

There’s even more to come!

After our two-drive, we arrived at the POM pomegranate orchards.

Or so we thought!?!

We actually arrived at an orchard of almond trees! Cool!

Most of us had never seen an almond tree, so we were thrilled to experience one up close and personal.

Yay for almonds (and pomegranates)!

We love almonds!

After having fun with the almond trees, it was time for the fly overs of the POM orchards.

I was already pretty nervous, so seeing the tiny 6-person plane didn’t help!

Eek!!!

But soon the other bloggers started to get really excited about seeing the orchards from high above and their enthusiasm rubbed off on me.

Flying over the POM orchards was obviously a great photo opp for us bloggers!

We snapped tons and tons of photos!

And then it was time to take off!

Flying 1,000 feet above the orchards was such an amazing experience!

It’s definitely one that I will never forget!

Here’s our take-off! It was super exciting!!!

Once we landed, Caitlin and I immediately broke out our laptops and blogged about it!

We’re such dorks!

And then it was time for lunch!

The POM team packed bagged lunches for us, so I had a turkey sandwich with Sun Chips, a chocolate chip cookie, and a bottle of FIJI water.

I wasn’t really in the mood for turkey, so I replaced it with a layer of Sun Chips instead.

Sun Chips are awesome inside sandwiches!

Stay tuned! More to come!

Bright and early this morning, I met the POM bloggers for a continental breakfast in the hotel lobby. I never know what to expect with continental breakfasts, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a huge spread of healthy options!

I was especially psyched to see a mini oatmeal bar!

I swear, oatmeal is the only meal that holds me over for hours.

I also helped myself to some fresh fruit: cantaloup, watermelon, and orange slices.

The oatmeal was delicious– hearty, warm, and creamy. I added chopped walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, and brown sugar to my bowl.

I also added a couple scoops of peanut butter for some serious staying power.

After breakfast, the group split-up into two vans to make the 2-hour long drive to the POM orchards.

Road trippin’!

There wasn’t anything for miles and miles, except gorgeous scenery.

On the drive, Caitlin and I sampled a peanut butter flavored POM BAR X.

Check out the video below for our reactions to this new bar!

Good morning, bloggies!

I woke up almost 45 minutes before my alarm was scheduled to go off. Darn East coast time! Being up so early, I figured that I might as well seize the day with a blog post.

So, we’ve got a busy (and exciting) day ahead of us!

After breakfast at the hotel, we’re headed to the airport for the POM Orchard Fly Overs. Eek! I already have butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it! But, I know it’s going to be awesome!

After the Orchard Fly Overs, we begin the POM Orchard Tour, which includes a drive to Visalia, California. There, we’ll learn about POM, tour the facilities, talk about pomegranates, and have our questions answered. And, my favorite RD, Janel Orvut, is giving a presentation about the nutritional benefits of pomegranate juice. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say. Remember her from the Healthy Living Summit? She’s great!

The final activity of the day is a group dinner at a nice restaurant in Visalia. I even brought a dress to wear!

As I mentioned in my post last night, there are so many wonderful bloggers on this trip. Here are links to their blogs:

• Roni – GreenLiteBites
• Coco (Qian) – Balance Joy and Delicias
• Gina – Fitnessista
• Kristy - This Wicked Noodle
• Sagan - Living Healthy in the Real World
• Bren – Flanboyanteats.com
• Pace – Taste of Pace
• Caitlin - Healthy Tipping Point
• Janel – Dine Dish Delish
• Shirley – Gluten Free Easily
• Susan – Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy
• Emily – Visions of Sugarplum
• Eric – Eric Rivera Cooks
• Heather – Heather Eat Almond Butter

Thanks for welcoming me to your city, Fresno! I’m psyched to be here! Yay!

I met Caitlin at the airport just seconds after finishing my previous blog post. She actually caught me in full blogger action!

After grabbing her luggage, we took a taxi to the hotel where we bumped into a few of the other bloggers, who are attending the POM Wonderful Tour too. I was especially excited to see Gina and Heather! I’ve read both of their blogs for many months now, so it was nice to finally meet them in person. I also met a couple of new blogger friends: Emily and Shirley. I can’t wait to get to know them better too!

Upon checking into our rooms, we received some sweet POM swag bags!

There were so many goodies inside!

I especially love the adorable American Apparel POM Wonderful t-shirt in size small! Don’t you hate it when you get a cute free t-shirt and it’s an extra large? I usually end up giving them to my father-in-law, so now he has tons of random t-shirts from me!

The bloggers are staying at a Courtyard Marriott, so our rooms a pretty nice.

Nice and neat.

And clutter-free.

And 5 minutes later, my room looked like a bomb went off in it!

I can be such a slob sometimes!

After getting settled in my room, I met Caitlin for a quick workout in the hotel gym.

Obviously, I brought my camera with me!

I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill and then jumped on the elliptical for 15 minutes. I’m glad that I broke a sweat after sitting on a plane all day. I feel so much better!

I just took a shower and now I’m snacking on some POM Iced Coffee while I blog.

We have a group dinner at BJ’s Brewery in a little over an hour, so I’m off to relax and get ready!

I can’t wait to meet everyone!!!

Hi, guys! I’m blogging from high in the sky somewhere between Colorado and California on my way to Fresno. I still can’t believe I made this flight on time!

My morning flight from Boston to Denver was so incredibly relaxing. I did some work on my laptop, enjoyed a hot cup of Starbucks coffee, and listened to music– I even took a little nap.

It was the perfect flight. All travel should be that way!

I arrived safe and sound in Denver, but, unfortunately, our “taxing” on the runway took a lot longer expected. My layover was already pretty short, so when I finally got off the plane, it was a mad dash to Gate B84, which was located at the complete opposite end of the airport! I broke a sweat by the end!

Luckily, I had just enough time to make a quick pit-stop for lunch.

This particular Starbucks location didn’t have a lot of choices for a healthy lunch, so I went with an old standby that I knew would fill me up and keep me satisfied until my next meal.

I also grabbed an iced coffee with milk and cinnamon.

I added dried fruit and nuts to my bowl of perfect oatmeal and then chowed it down in about 5 minutes before we boarded the plane.

It hit the spot!

I just landed in Fresno and Caitlin texted me to say that she is at the airport too. Good timing! I’m going to wait for her and hop in a taxi to the hotel.

I’m so excited to be here!!!

Stay tuned!