Natural Products Expo West 2014

Special thanks to Newhope 360 for the press pass to the Natural Products Expo West 2014! I had a blast sampling and learning about new natural food brands from Friday-Sunday and came home with a ton of goodies! Below are my top picks from this year’s expo as well as photos from my adventure!

1. Vega One Nutritional Shake
Fav Flav: Vanilla Chai
The 411: Vegan, non-soy, 15 g protein. 6 g fiber, 1.5 g omega-3, antioxidants,includes probiotics, greens, and 50% daily intake of vitamins and minerals. Vega One features their signature, broad-spectrum, plant-based protein blend, with all essential amino acids in ideal balance. Vega One’s Complete Protein Blend includes: Pea protein, SaviSeed™ (sacha inchi) protein, Hemp seed protein, Sprouted whole grain brown rice protein
My Take: 15g of plant-based protein… how can you go wrong?! I love that this is a non-soy vegan protein powder! Vanilla Chai is a twist on the usual vanilla protein powder with vanilla, chai, nutmeg, and cinnamon, YUM!

2. I heart Keenwah – Quinoa Clusters
Fav Flav: Chocolate Sea Salt
The 411: All natural and gluten free, I heart Keenwah “Quinoa Clusters” are made with the ancient grain quinoa, which is a complete protein.
My Take: These crunchy little guys are pretty addicting, but they’re a snack with a purpose and offer complete protein that will keep you full between meals.

3. Credible Cravings
Best Selling Flav: Oatmeal Cranberry
The 411: CredibleCravings is the first organic snack bar carefully formulated with Obstetricians, Nutritionists, and Midwives to support the nutritional needs of pregnant and breastfeeding women and their developing children. CredibleCravings uses only high quality, natural ingredients amd probiotics, that serve the specific nutritional needs of mom and baby. No artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners, or chemicals.
My Take: I love that this is geared towards pregnant & breastfeeding moms! They use natural ingredients like ginger to sooth upset tummies! Even if you aren’t a momma-to-be, these are all natural and super healthy for everyone!

4. Mr. Cheese O’s
Fav Flav: Tuscan Herb
The 411: Tuscan These crunchy little O’s are made from quinoa, oat bran, organic brown rice, and real cheese!
My Take: They’re just as addicting as Cheez-Its, but they’re made of 100% natural ingredients, and they’re gluten free! Mr. Cheese O’s launched at Expo, and I cannot wait for them to hit stores! They’re to die for!

5. Dang Coconut Chips
Fav Flav: Caramel Sea Salt
The 411: Vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, no cholesterol, good source of fiber, high in lauric acid. Only 3 ingredients, coconut, coconut sugar, and sea salt.
My Take: Simple addicting. Delicious on it’s own for a little snack, or on top of yogurt, oatmeal, or in trail mix or cereal!

6. Go Lo Foods Dark Hazelnut Spread
The 411: It’s sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, Paleo, Vegan, low sodium, and Kosher. It’s only 65 calories per Tablespoon and contains 5.5g fiber and only 1 net carb.
My Take: I like to call this “healthy Nutella.” It doesn’t taste identical to Nutella, but I almost prefer it now. It has a stronger hazelnut flavor along with dark chocolate!

7. Go Lo Foods [36 Calorie] Cookies
The 411: They contain 0g fat, less than 1/4g of sugar, and only 36 calories per cookie with a whopping 13g fiber, 7g of protein, and only 2 net carbs PER COOKIE (and they’re big!)!
My Take: These cookies are insane. You may think these delicacies are too good to be true, but I promise that with one bite, these soft and chewy cookies will cure your sweet tooth! They’re totally my new secret weapon for my late night snacking and sweet tooth! 1 cookie and a glass of water and I’m good to go!

8. cruncha ma-me
Fav Flav: Onion & Chive
The 411: cruncha ma-me is an all natural, high protein, non-GMO Verified, gluten-free and vegan, freeze-dried edamame veggie snack.
My Take: Perfect for snacking on the go, cruncha ma-me edamame snacks come in six delicious flavors and are rich in plant-based protein from non-GMO soybeans.

9. Dole Fruit Squish’ems
Fav Flav: Apple
The 411: BPA free packaging, non-GMO, gluten free, kosher, only 60 calories, 100% fruit, no sugar added.
My Take: They’re easy to grab and go for healthy snacking on busy days. Plus you don’t need a spoon! These aren’t just for kids, I eat them in the car al the time!

10. The Scoopie™
The 411: Made the same standard size as the scooper provided in most protein powders/supplement jars, The Scoopie™ has an added funnel with a spout smaller than the circumference of a water bottle opening for accurate pouring. With The Scoopie™, you simply scoop the protein or liquid, snap on the attached funnel, flip and pour into the water bottle without the mess of powder or liquid spilling on you.
My Take: This little tool is genius! So simple! Just scoop, snap, flip & pour! I’m waiting for all protein powder companies to start including these in their jars! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve scooped something and attempted to pour it into a bottle and watched it pour all over my counter! Never again!

11. Slow Food For Fast Lives Savory Bars
Fav Flav: Savory Thai
The 411: Savory, not sweet ,health food bars.
My Take: These are awesome! There is nothing like these bars on the market! They’re made of vegetables, spices, brown rice, nuts and or seeds to create a savory granola style bar. I’ve never had anything like this, and they are super good! I tried so many sweet bars at expo that this savory veggie bar was a breathe of fresh air!

12. Rise Protein+ Bar
Fav Flav: Sunflower Cinnamon
The 411: Gluten free, non-GMO, dairy free, preservative free, vegan, 15g plant-based pea protein.
My Take: This bar is so ooey gooey good, I can’t believe it’s a protein bar! This particular flavor is nut free (made with sunflower seed butter) and contains only 5 ingredients, awesome!

13. The Chia Co. Chia Pod
Fav Flav: Mango
The 411: Each dairy free and vegan Chia Pod® provides 100% of your recommended daily intake of Omega 3 and 25% of your fiber.
My Take: I love the convenience of these little pods, they have a spoon built in, and are completely recyclable. They’re also made of only 3 ingredients!

Super cute guerrilla marketing for Bare Snacks.

The adorable Boom Chicka Pop girls passing out samples on their super cute scooters!

Loved this #kindawesome marketing for Kind. They handed out roses to all attendees walking in!

Close up of one of my fav new products, The Scoopie™ (read more in #10, above).

Scoopies on Scoopies on Scoopies! I went home with carrot orange : )

Hanging out with The Chia Co’s gigantic Chia Pods! I had the pleasure of meeting their founder and CEO John Foss! He’s a great guy! Both their product and packaging are exceptional.

Actual size Chia Pod that I snacked on at Expo. Banana was amaze, definitely my second fav flav.

Brad’s Raw Foods wins for my fav takeaway bag! Because Kale is Kool, DUH!

On day 2 of Expo, I stumbled upon this gigantic bag of The Chia Co Chia Seeds! Hilarious and so amazing!

Of course I had to stop and take a photo with Barbara’s famous Puffin! Guys, did you know he’s nameless? NAMELESS! He needs a cute name ASAP! Barbara, name your puffin! Their Cinnamon Puffins are one of my fav cereals, but as I’ve said before, I rarely buy cereal because I’ll literally eat the entire box in one day #problems! haha.

I stopped by the Dole booth to sample their new Shakers! Now made with fruit AND VEGGIES, and Greek yogurt! All you do is add fresh fruit juice, and shake. No blender required!

Of course it wouldn’t be Expo West without some excellent fashion! Above are the Sunfood girls “daring to go bare!”

Three Twins Ice Cream custom pants with their packaging all over… AMAZING! I need RFFMBT carrot print workout pants!

Super adorable veggie headpieces for Slow Food For Fast Lives.

How cute are the Chobani Chef Coats? Love the evil eye embroidered on. My Armenian family is REALLY into the evil eye, but we call it Char Atchk!
The Chobani booth was set up to be like their restaurant in Soho! They even made some of their original recipes from Chobani Soho for us to sample at Expo. Loved their ideas, I’m definitely remaking some of these at home! I have to visit Cho Soho one day! AHH!

After hanging out with the Chobani crew for a little, I grabbed a Key Lime Flip and browsed some more booths. Next stop Vega!

The Vega group was hysterical! I had the most fun at this booth! Every once in a while, the entire team did sets of burpees next to their booth and got everyone all riled up. They have SO much energy!!! It must be the Vega! They’re also super knowledgable about nutrition. I must’ve sampled every product and flavor they had and asked 10 million questions.

I fell in love with the “Suja Beach House!” Their booth was fabulous and I loved sipping on the new Suja Essentials and chatting with their Co-Founder Annie!

I got to hangout with my new friends at Go Lo Foods and snacked on their delish 36 calories cookies!

I also got to have a little fiesta with the Cabo Chips team and their owner Christian! Their booth looked like an authentic cantina, complete with Photo Booth and sombreros! Olé!

And now for my favorite part, I totally stalked the Annie’s Homegrown booth because obviously I’m obsessed with their bunnies (as seen in the background of my blog)!

I saw these adorable custom bandanas with their bunny “Bernie” all over them as part of their decoration. Every time I walked by their booth, I stared at them with envy, and on the last day of Expo, a member of the Annie’s team grabbed a bandana from underneath their product, handed it to me, and said, “here, you need this!!!” BEST. DAY. EVER.!!!!! I folded it up and wore it as a headband for the rest of the day!

Thank you Annie’s Homegrown for my favorite new accessory!

I hope you little bunnies had a great weekend!
Let me know if you try any of my picks from Expo West!

Health & Happiness
xo Catherine