This Week in Fitness: Health Week Sequel, an Artisanal Energy Bar, and Obentos' New Menu

This is the first edition of a new feature, This Week in Fitness, looking at what's available and what's happening in various areas of fitness and health around Beijing.

Fresh off the end of the first Beijing Health Week, Juice By Melissa Founder Melissa McKenna is already looking to the next one. Elements of the event – which featured trial classes in pilates, yoga, Crossfit, and kickboxing, along with vegan and paleo meals – will be carried forward on an occasional basis, including organized runs starting and ending at Juice By Melissa locations. Expect another Beijing Health Week in the autumn, McKenna said.

A new entrant in Beijing's widening health food market is making its debut. The Mantra Bar is just one vendor in a rapidly expanding artisanal health food market, such as vegan coconut yogurt Yeyo. Made with fruit and nuts, with no refined sugars or "mystery additives," as the label indicates, we found the Mantra Bar to be quite tasty, and a quick pick-me-up after a workout.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is making another push to reduce smoking in China, following the initiation of the Beijing smoking ban in 2015. Plain packaging is on the way, meaning little more than a brand name on cigarette packs in China, designed to reduce the appeal of tobacco for young people.

Healthy food purveyor Obentos has a new menu and a new website, which we learned about just before press time. We got a sneak peek (but sadly not a sneak taste) of one new dish, called people's teriyaki salmon, which looks not only delicious, but also quite substantial, with three sides plus brown rice. The new website and move onto WeChat (ID: bentopusher) is designed to make ordering more picture-based for easier selection. Check out the website by clicking here.

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Photo: Mantra Bar/Rory Van Den Berg