Gluten Free, No GMO’s & Yummy Snacks, Oh My! Recap of my Natural Foods Expo Weekend.
This past weekend I headed down to Anaheim to their convention center (Next door to Disneyland!) for their 2 largest expo; The Natural Products Expo (aka-Expo West). I went last year, too & guys, this is THE event to be at if you’re into health food, natural beauty products, gluten-free (ahem!) or simply want to try delicious new foods.
I came back with so many great ideas & new things I cannot wait to try. In the coming weeks, expect a lot of posts covering just a fraction of what I discovered. We’re talking flour free waffles with only 65 calories in 1(!), Palm oil free body lotions, Veggie chips not baked nor fried, Gluten free breakfast sandwiches, Gluten free cookie dough that you don’t even need to cook to enjoy & SO much more. I was really amazed at how clever & creative so many of these foods were. In a world growing with more GMO’s & nasty ingredients, Expo West is such a wonderful reminder at the effort so many people & brands are making to eat better, & when it all tastes this good, you wonder why these are not ‘mainstream’ items & everyone is not enjoying these foods yet.
How exciting is this?! Both years I have had the privilege of chatting with Rachel, Amy’s Mom From Amy’s Kitchen, whom this year had some of the most exciting things a gluten-free person could see, like this McMuffin style sandwich above & also a delicious pad thai…that I admit, I may have had more than 1 sample of 😉 Rachel says to look for these items this summer.
As someone on the go even more lately, my go-to breakfast or mid-morning snack has been yogurt. The very first sample I got when I arrived was Brown Cow’s newest flavor, Lemon Twist, which was right up my alley & brought to mind the lemon in a lemon meringue pie…Mmmm! Another I loved was ACM favorite, Wallaby, who are introducing a whole-milk greek yogurt & had vanilla on hand to try. This is easily one of the most purest vanilla flavored things I have ever had; even more flavorful than vanilla ice cream. Look for a follow-up feature with Wallaby soon! 😉
What are some of your favorite natural snacks? Let me know & maybe I will have something to recommend to you from the expo! xo
Dariana Cruz
March 12, 2014 at 7:08 pmLove this post Mary, very inspiring, since I’m a heathy eating nerd. I’m now doing a clean snack month, fruits and veggies and also popcorn and some cheese. No gluten for me. I would love your ideas…And I would love to go to this expo next year too!
Susan Cooper
March 13, 2014 at 10:13 amThe Natural Foods Expo is always a great event with tons of new products to sample. It really gets you motivated to eat healthier and read labels and check the content of the food that you are putting in your body.
Jane
March 13, 2014 at 2:21 pmWow! this sounds like so much fun! How do I get to go? 🙂 I live in Orlando! Wish this expo would come here! Thanks for sharing!
AlongComesMary
March 13, 2014 at 2:45 pmThanks, Jane! Anaheim is their biggest trade show, I believe, but their east coast one is in DC…not sure when 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!!