5 startups that are redefining the way we think about health and wellness

The problem: There is an abundance of vitamins with nuanced labeling and confusing language that makes the shopping process intimidating, leading consumers to buy blindly.

Ritual's solution: This female-centric vitamin brand is all about transparency — in everything from its brand values to its see-through vitamin capsules. When Katerina Schneider, Founder and CEO, was pregnant, she began purging her home of products with questionable ingredients. When it came to finding a prenatal vitamin, she came across a plethora of ingredients she was wary of. Her failed quest ultimately turned into an exciting opportunity — to create better women’s vitamins.

Since 2015, Ritual has been committed to providing women with essential vitamins that are traceable, transparent, and made with high-quality ingredients. These aren’t just meaningless labels, though — Schneider worked tirelessly with doctors, scientists, and nutritionists to settle on the right formula. If you’re still a skeptic, Ritual will help you actually understand what you’re putting in your body. The company offers an essential women’s vitamin and a prenatal option, each made with a minimal number of ingredients (9 and 12, respectively). On the website, you’ll find an in-depth background of each ingredient explaining the benefits and even where it’s made (down to the exact factory), plus you'll find an interview with the producer.

If you’ve ever struggled to shop the vitamin aisle, let alone try to understand the ingredients list on a particular bottle, Ritual can help. The company takes out the guesswork by offering only two options — essential women's and essential prenatal — and they use a subscription service model to make vitamins a mainstay in your daily routine. Pricing is $30 a month for their regular vitamins and $35 for the prenatal. Each month you'll get a clear bottle filled with transparent capsules, in which you can actually see all of the ingredients in your vitamin — all wrapped up a bright, yellow box that’ll make you actually want to take your vitamins every day, two times to be exact.

The problem: The one-size-fits-all approach to taking vitamins doesn't work for everyone.

Care/of's solution: We all lead unique lives, and just as our approach to eating and exercising is tailored to our way of life, our vitamins should be too. The assumption that gender or age alone can determine exactly what kind of vitamins we need is inadequate, according to Care/of. A more holistic approach to vitamins, one that considers your needs and preferences, is necessary. That's why Care/of is making vitamins personal.

It all starts with a quick, but in-depth questionnaire. You'll find questions about more basic things like age and gender, but also more specific ones that address your physical activity, diet, and specific health-related improvements you're looking to make. After you complete the questions, you'll get your recommendations. While reading about vitamins isn't something I would usually find interesting, the site is kind of mesmerizing — providing vital information in a way that is so aesthetically pleasing you won't be able to look away. With each vitamin recommendation, you'll get information on what it does, what ingredients it contains, how it's been researched over the years (and how conclusive this research is), and how it can help a specific concern you addressed in the survey, among other facts.

You can purchase your recommended doses through a monthly subscription service, which will vary in price based on what you have in your box. For reference, I took the quiz and my box came out to be $57 a month. The good news is, if you find the price to be too steep, you can remove any vitamin from your box, for a set of vitamins that works for your body and budget.

The problem: Accessibility and affordability (or lack thereof) serve as major obstacles to healthy eating.

Thrive Market's solution: For most people, shopping for groceries wholesale conjures up thoughts of buying rice and soda in bulk at Costco, while shopping for organic food brings to mind small grocery bags that come with long bills attached. There's a reason people like to call Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck" instead. While that misnomer is funny, it speaks to the high cost of buying foods that align with our values. Yet, so many of us want to do this — whether that means shopping from fair-trade purveyors for ethical reasons or only buying foods that are paleo for health purposes.

Thrive Market wants to make grocery shopping simple and more affordable, with radically transparent labeling coupled with wholesale prices. It's a membership service, and a year costs $59.95, which comes down to just $5 a month. From there, you can shop your favorite healthy brands at a fraction of the price. On average, you'll save between 25-50%. If you grocery shop often, or for a big family, you'll likely make up the yearly membership fee in savings from your first two orders.

Thrive is committed to doing better in more ways than one. Every product on the website is GMO-free, as Thrive believes that we should know everything we're putting into our bodies, and deserve to know about chemicals in our food that we wouldn't be comfortable ingesting. Additionally, Thrive is extending its mission to make healthy eating more affordable and accessible with its Thrive Gives memberships. When you buy a membership to Thrive Market, Thrive will donate a membership to a low-income family, along with educational content and grocery stipends.

The problem: Taking the time and money to prep healthy, satisfying meals can be inconvenient and exhausting.

Daily Harvest's solution: Making a smoothie should be easy enough, right? Just throw in some fruit, maybe a scoop of nut butter or a dash of almond milk and call it day. In reality, mindlessly tossing ingredients into a blender can make for a smoothie that's a lot less healthy than you intended. And, for many of us, busy schedules make the prep time of chopping fruit, freezing it, and measuring out ingredients feel like a chore.

Daily Harvest makes the process more efficient, sending you cups full of prepped ingredients already perfectly portioned. For most, all you need to do is add is add some liquid and blend or heat up. Daily Harvest has a range of products including smoothies, soups, harvest bowls, and even plant-based cookies. The recipes are crafted by chefs and nutritionists, so they're just as tasty as they are healthy, and they're all made with organic ingredients.

Daily Harvest offers a few subscription options that you can cancel, skip, or change at any time. You can choose from a weekly or monthly plan, and then choose how many cups you'd like with each delivery. The least you can get is 9, the most you can get is 24. Prices range from $6.99 to $7.75 a cup based on how big your order is. Online, you can check out the ingredients, nutritional info, and how to prepare your cups, so you're ready to go when they arrive at your doorstep.

The problem: The sexual health and feminine hygiene space is a bit taboo, and thus, many women don't know or think about what's hiding in the products they put in, or near, their bodies.

Lola's solution: Simple products, modern convenience, and total transparency are the basis of Lola's mission. It all started in 2014, when co-founders Jordana Kier and Alexandra Friedman got to talking about tampons. When the women realized they had no idea what was actually in them, and once they figured it out, they knew there had to be a better option. The two sought to make a brand that looks nice, uses simple, better-for-you ingredients, and can be delivered right to your doorstep — meaning no more awkward stints at the drug store.

Lola offers a variety of sexual health products and sends them via a subscription service, though some products, like a first period kit, can be bought on a one time basis. The products are made without toxins, dyes, or synthetic fibers, and you can find the ingredients in each item clearly listed on the product page. The subscription can be completely customized. Just fill the box with the products you'd like to receive (including tampons, pads, condoms, wipes, and lubricant), choose whether you'd like them delivered every four or eight weeks, and feel free to adjust any of this information at any time.

When the time comes, your box comes delivered conveniently to your door. The packaging is simple and discreet. It's not only a convenient way to make sure you're always stocked with sexual health products, but a great way to know you're using products that are actually good for your body.