Natural Products Expo West

What a week of GREEN! We (Desi and Aubrey) had the opportunity to attend the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California. We rocked those press badges :) This was our first expo, so we were a little apprehensive about what to expect. There were HUNDREDS of people and HUNDREDS of vendors! It was a MAD HOUSE! (Parking alone took over 30 mins) And we were on a time crunch with lovely babysitters to get back to. After waiting for our press badges we only had a few precious hours to skim the endless sea of booths.  Once inside as press we were generously treated to product samples and I'm not talking itty bitty get of whiff of this sample. The full fledged product as a sample. Our bags were packed! Props to the expo for treating us soooo well. 

We felt the need to share our experience and want to go back for more!  Besides the product sampling, we were able to meet some amazing companies and businesses. They were real people, real owners, with some incredible stories of starting from scratch to create a product that they put their soul into. They were truly inspiring. Just meeting so many people was pleasure enough. 

 

One lady had just completed a juicing book and hopes to have it published in the next year. (I wish I had gotten your card!! If you are reading this send us an email!) Another group of brothers formulated their own dairy-free yogurt.. whaa? Amazing. Another sweet woman, Jane, had a fantastic artichoke product from Monterey Farms. After meeting so many great people and understanding the story behind the product I am compelled to try new brands and support the organic and whole foods industry. It may seem like a trend for many to "eat clean" or branch out into new eating habits. For many consumers I assume it must be. It is not about trends to these people. It is completely about eating what is best for your body. About producing longevity of life and quality of that life.

Our job as "press" was to check out products that are not on the shelf yet....feast your eyes on products to be coming out next season= 

These Woats were pretty tasty.. more of a chewy granola. I love granola in all forms but loooove it when it has some just the right balance of chew to crunch. Half Pops were interesting.. They were literally half popped popcorn. They were much smaller than what we expected and had a fun crunch to them. Reminded us of Corn Nuts. Looking forward to buying both of these products. 

This was a dreamy diaper bag. (Yes we do more that just eat and slave away in the kitchen ;) such as raise babies! ) This Diaper bag from Lassig is made from 100% recycled materials. Its unique engineering  had crazy pocket space! I regret not taking a picture of the insides. We also loved the clean classy design that would go with anything and stand the faded away trends. 

This Citrus bottle is pretty amazing. Infuses your water with what ever is in the bottom clear part. And we thought the packaging on the Ruby's Rockets was adorable!!

There were sooooo many products. And the kicker is they were all natural/organic products. I've been very impressed with some of the naturopathic medical products. As a nurse.. I'm always skeptical of the placebo effect (feeling better but its all in your head) and what is truly making a difference.

At the end of the day our bags were loaded and we were stoked to try out some product. If you are going to try and find any of these try shopping at Whole Foods or Sprouts. They are 2 common retailers most of the vendors had contracts with.

Thanks Expo West for the good time and the connections we gained! We will be back!

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