PHEW it’s been a month, you guys. Going essentially straight from Bali to Natural Products Expo East 2019, and then to Colorado the following week was a whirlwind, but I have so much fun stuff to share with you from the show – from food, to supplements, to superfoods, to skincare, and much more. So here we go! (PS – check out my Expo East 2018, 2017 favorites, and 2016 recaps too!)
NEW REAL FOOD & BRAND FINDS
Freak Flag Organics. Poultry, stir fry and veggie sauces like Curry Mole, Kale Pesto, Carrot Pesto, and Chimichurri, plus condiments like Chipotle Ketchup and Smoky Red Mustard!
Zesty Z Mediterranean Popcorn. THIS STUFF was a completely new, random find that I stumbled upon at expo. And y’all it is BOMB, exploding with flavor. My favorite is the Feta & Za’atar one!
Maison Le Grand. Plant-based cheeses, yogurts, sauces, and vegetarian soups. SO FREAKING GOOD. Favorite is the sesame cheese!
The Watkins Co. 1868. I’m always on the lookout for good quality spice and baking supply companies, and I’m looking forward to using some of Watkins’ stuff when I *attempt* to do some fall baking this year!! They also have chemical and dye-free sprinkles for holiday cookie decorating!
Cooggies: allergen-friendly baking mixes with hidden vegetables. Would be awesome for kiddos, but also great for me and anyone else who stinks at gluten-free baking!
Rind Snacks. Dried fruit with the rind for more fiber and nutrients!
Nature’s Intent Dark Chocolate “Enrobed” fruit. Simple and delicious, but I loved this brand because of their “romance food writing” on the back, which was hilarious!
OLDIES BUT GOODIES: EXPO BRANDS I’VE MET BEFORE WITH NEW GOODIES TO SHARE!
Brazi Bites. HOLY MOLY, where to even start. If you’ve never heard of them before, I’m about to open you up to a whole new world of deliciousness, like Aladdin, but FOOD style. They’re Brazilian Cheese Bread and Empanadas that are made authentically from a passed-down, family recipe with simple ingredients that are naturally gluten-free. AND SO GOOD. This year they came out with a new Cinnamon Churro flavor, a Pizza version, AND empanadas. Pure amazingness and I’m obsessed. Legitimately went back 5 times during the 3 days I was there. It’s fiiiine.
Pure Batch. YAS. I met the mother-daughter team behind Pure Batch last year and was so pumped to see them again bringing all the allergen-friendly goodness! A new favorite for me – the Almond Pignoli Cookies, which taste *exactly* like my favorite Italian almond Christmas cookies!
Soozy’s Grain Free. Y’all know my love for Soozy’s. I’ve done giveaways with them and devoured their new donuts and muffins. This year the newbies are the Banana Chocolate Chip and NEW Matcha muffins – look for those soon in stores!
Lesser Evil grain-free Honey Roasted puffs. LIKE WUT. You guys may have seen some of the Lesser Evil snacks in stores, but this Honey Roasted new flavor is blow your socks off. YOU NEED.
Farmwise Foods. Veggie Tots rebranded this year as Farmwise Foods and came out with a bunch of new formulations including (all gluten-free!) Mozzarella and Broccoli Bites and stuffed potatoes. UM WUT just take me right back to my childhood it’s fiiiine.
Brodo Broth – you da real MVP for saving the day and bringing my soul + digestion back to life after 2 days of samples! They were giving out bone broth “lattes” with some lemon and spices added in to the broth and oh man, it was amazing.
4th and Heart. Their new WOKE bars are no joke – they have added protein and seriously taste like a mix between cookies and a reese’s cup. SO GOOD. Plus their truffle oil is amaaaazing (though unrelated to the bars. That might get a little weird.)
Chameleon Cold Brew came out with some new Oat Milk Lattes (PS – oat milk was one of the big trends this year!) in pumpkin spice and gingersnap flavors!
Perfect Bar. The team came out with a (amazing) new Chocolate Mint flavor AND Dark Chocolate peanut butter cups! Because who doesn’t need MORE chocolate peanut butter cups in their life!!
Simple Mills Boxed Brownie Mix. You guys. Did you grow up eating the boxed brownie mix from Costco that was amazing and all you ever wanted in a brownie? Because I did. And these brownies taste EXACTLY like that – but they’re gluten and dairy and chemical-free. YAS.
Theo Chocolate. GAME CHANGER. Dark chocolate PB&J cups! Reese’s on steroids with high quality ingredients. YAS.
Julie’s Real. They have a new line of baking mixes like Dark Chocolate Brownie and Caramel Vanilla Blondie (all gluten-free + dairy-free) AND a new line of almond and cashew butters like Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Almond Butter, Cacao Espresso Almond Butter, Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Cashew Butter, and Coconut Vanilla Bean Cashew Butter. JUST YUM.
Primal Kitchen came out with a new line of dairy-free, goodness-filled pasta sauces, like a No-Dairy Vodka Sauce, Garlic Alfredo, and two red sauces (Tomato Basil and Roasted Garlic). Can’t wait to try these out at home!
ALL-TIME FAVORITE BRANDS: THESE GUYS DIDN’T HAVE ANY NEW PRODUCTS, BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I HAD TO SHARE THEM AGAIN.
Swapples. Duh. You guys have heard me gush about these yucca and veggie-based waffles for years now, BUT I wanted to make sure you knew about the 10% off with the code EXPO19 when you order online THROUGH 11/14/19!!
Redmond Real Salt. My all-time favorite salt that I use every single day. You guys might remember I did a post with them a few years back explaining the (huge) difference between their high-quality mineral salt and “regular” table salt: Zesty Ranch Smashed Potatoes – is Your Salt Real?
88 Acres. Love them forever. Had to stop by to say hi to the team and get some samples of my favorite seed butters (Pumpkin Seed Butter is my favorite), and they also WON a Nexty award for their Watermelon Seed Butter!!
Also special shoutout to Caulipower for having the claw arcade game on the first floor which we all went back to play like 6 times. It’s fiiiine.
Spindrift. I tried the strawberry + half and half for the first time. So good!
SUPPLEMENTS
Just Thrive. You guys have probably heard me gushing about them this month over on the podcast BUT if you haven’t, these guys make my favorite probiotic supplement AND just came out with a prebiotic powder + a Vitamin K2. You can use the code “Dana10” for 10% off www.justthrivehealth.com!
CV Sciences PLUS CBD Oil products. Met the team last year and plan on having them on the podcast soon for some Q&A for you guys all about CBD! This year they came out with a hemp body cream line!
Charlotte’s Web CBD “Recovery” gummies: I met the team from CW last year at the show (see my 2018 expo favorites!) and in particular loved their canine line (because my pup is insane). A lot of CBD gummies are way too potent-tasting for me, but these are great. They have 10mg of CBD plus turmeric and ginger to help with inflammation as well! There are also “Calm” (with l-theanine and lemon balm) and “Sleep” (with 3mg melatonin) versions of the gummies.
Natural Calm. They came out with some new Magnesium Glycinate Capsules, which is great! Magnesium glycinate is the better absorbed form of Magnesium (over citrate and the others). The original Natural Calm magnesium formulations all have Magnesium citrate in them, which some people don’t digest very well. So this is a huge upgrade!
Emerald Health Bioceuticals. These aren’t new, but I’m obsessed with their Endo Bliss and Endo Calm, which support the endocannabinoid system (more on this coming in a future podcast!).
SKINCARE
Crystal Natural Deodorants. This is the deodorant I took to Bali, and it was amazing! So happy to meet them in person at the show.
Noyah Natural Cosmetics. Did you know lipstick and lip products are some of the most chemically-laden makeup products on the market? I loved finding Noyah last year, whose products are made with all natural ingredients and minerals like Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, and Vitamin E. And their colors are great too!
Also DUH: non food-or-supplement-or-skincare related but one of my FAVORITE parts of expo is getting to reconnect with a bunch of friends and other practitioners that I’ve met through the industry (or sometimes through instagram)… Kate (@kateswholelife), Laura (@thesassydietitian), Kendall (@theflexiblefoodie), Rebecca (@swapples), Caroline (@oliveyouwhole), Carly (@frolicandflow) and Tracey (@wholedailylife)!
Whoa! Jealous I didn’t get to go to this thing. CBD gummies!? Were they as good as they sound?
They are!! the Charlotte’s Web ones are my favorite that I’ve tried so far!