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Having just spent four fun, fab, furiously paced days at the Natural Products Expo West event, we noticed certain healthy living trends. Chances are YOU are contributing to these trends. In the natural and organic world, it’s all about being FREE: gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, soy-free, GMO-free, guilt-free! And many of the 2000+ exhibitors who were ready to take on the 60,000 attendees gave away AMAZING, clever, socially conscious samples that were FREE! Holy Recyclable Shopping Bags full of stuff!
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Businesses that care.
- We visited hundreds of booths – no exaggeration! Being strong and hearty helps at expos.
- We talked with incredibly nice business owners and employees who are inventing products to save people and the planet;
- We got to meet fellow FitFluential Ambassadors, Christine McCarthy (Oatmeal in my Bowl) and Stephanie Quilao (@skinny jeans) in person. Group hugs!
- We attended educational sessions on social media, blogging, happiness (Dr Andrew Weil), cooking, and more;
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3rd row seats to hear Dr. Weil speak
- We giddy-upped to the press events, media briefings, and displays of the top new products (more free snacks!):
- We made it through LA traffic in time to catch the Organic Marketplace kick-off event;
- We even presented a talk on “Writing to Be Read and Increase Sales: Better Business Blogging” that drew a passionate crowd with lots of questions.
We figure that makes us insta-experts on trendspotting.
Trend 1: Free the Glutens 2012! If we thought gluten-free was big last year, it appears to be even bigger this year. We bet you or someone you know follows a gluten-free diet. Guess what? No one needs to sacrifice taste, flavor, or variety to eat gluten-free day in and day out. There is a glut of gluten-free good stuff!
Trend 2: Tell the FDA to label food! Look out GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) as the Non-GMO movement is getting organized and making headway. This may be the year you finally get to know what’s in your food. As much as 70% of the processed foods in US supermarkets are genetically modified. None of that is labeled as such. This situation is about to change courtesy of people like you and the quadzillions at the expo who are insisting on labeling! When pesticides are inserted directly into the seed your food comes from, it’s time to pay attention.
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They Named it After Us!
Trend 3: Drink Up! High fructose sodas and sugary beverages are soooo yesterday. Coconut water, pro-biotic drinks, dairy-free “milks”, infused and flavored waters, teas, smoothies (yes, with chia and flax), oatmeal based drinks, organic coffees, powders you mix with liquids, shots to give you energy, shots to help you sleep — anything hydrating and healthy is pouring through those pores and out the doors like crazeeee! Liquid gold mine time! We got sloshed trying at least 10 drink samples each day. Glug glug!
The Natural Products Expo West has so much to enjoy that we had to share our heartfelt love with some of the companies and people we adore.
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We love going steady with Kroeger Herb company! That's them in our sidebar (Hanna's Herbs)
Crazy Woman Water photo credit: Christine McCarthy