Expo West 2018
This is my favorite Expo of the year and I can’t wait to share what I found. This year the expo expanded to over 3500 exhibitors, over 85,000 attendees, 600 new exhibitors and a list of education sessions and musical performances. I was an #ExpoBlogger and had a ton of fun finding new products and revisiting some of my faves from the past. This year I was slightly overwhelmed with the new layout and enormity that is Expo West, but I still managed to find some great companies that I’m very excited to share with you.
I have to say things didn’t start out too swell! I lost my voice and felt worn down from days of feeling slightly off, either due to weather changes or illness! I haven’t been sick since 2013, I have so many natural tricks up my sleeve I usually manage to avoid everything. Unfortunately I wasn’t 100% going into Expo West, but there is something about this event that energizes me and helped me get through that first day.
The second day I went with my friend Kate from Highlights Along the Way, if you have a family, live in Southern California, love to travel, eat mostly vegan, interested in adoption and have a fondness for Disney, she has a fun blog to follow! Anyway, the second day Kate was mistaken for my sister because she happened to have on a shirt that matched my trench coat. This was a constant source of entertainment for me. It rained most of the day but we had a fabulous time trying new foods and talking with CEO’s, PR people and stocking up on snacks to bring home to our kids.
Here are my TOP 10 FAVES
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ZUPA–
Zupa is a cold pressed drink filled with organic veggies. It’s like a vegetable smoothie or cold soup. They have a variety of flavor combinations and I have to say this was a very welcome drink to have midday at the Expo after tasting numerous sweet treats! They do have seeds mixed in with the veggies, so they aren’t strict AIP. My favorites are the Cucumber Avocado and the Carrot Coconut Lime they come in 12 oz bottles. For those having nightshades Kate said the Tomato Gazpacho was delicious. They have new shots as well, I tried the Carrot Ginger one (2oz. small enough to bring on a plane!) and its super concentrated, but so awesome for a quick boost of vitamins and veggies. They are running a promotion right now: Four free bottles with a purchase of any variety pack on their site. This promotion ends 3/26/18. You can also use coupon code “TRYZUPA15“ for 15% off one order.
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Sejoyia Foods Coco-Thins–
As I alluded to above there were many sweet treats. This is a thin, crispy, crunchy, sweet and slightly salty treat. I really like the salted caramel, five ingredients: coconut, cashews, cassava flour, coconut sugar and sea salt, as well as the chocolate which has the same ingredients as the salted caramel with cocoa added. I can only have one or two at a time because for me they are really sweet. They have the addictive quality of Girl Scout cookies, so watch out! These also won an award at the expo for best sweet treat!
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Soozy’s-
I love these muffins. I would actually classify them more as cupcakes, but hey a “muffin” every now and then is a good thing. I really enjoyed the coffee cake and sweet potato muffins. These are not AIP and would definitely be a treat, not an everyday thing. The ingredients for the coffee cake are: Soozy’s Flour Blend (Blanched Almond Flour, Arrowroot Flour, Organic Coconut Flour), Cage Free Whole Eggs, Coconut Cream (Coconuts, Water), Organic Coconut Sugar, Filtered Water, Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Maple Syrup, Vanilla Extract, Dried Orange Peel, Palm Oil, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Paleo Baking Powder (Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate, Cream of Tartar), Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt, Cinnamon. Soozy’s is sold out on their retail site and won’t be restocked for 3-5 weeks. When they are restocked I will post an awesome coupon code here and on Instagram so you can try them out!
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Thrive Tribe Paleo Bites & bars:
I’ve decided recently I’m not much of a bar person. I have realized I’m more a Paleo Bites person! Don’t get me wrong, the bars are tasty, but for some reason I’m really loving the Bites! These are also not AIP due to nuts and seeds, but if you’ve reintroduced nuts and seeds you will LOVE these. The Vanilla Almond Bites are at the top of my list right now. The ingredients are: coconut flakes, dates, honey, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, organic flax seeds, coconut oil, vanilla extract, almond extract, sea salt. Thrive Tribe is offering our readers 50% off with coupon code “THRIVE50“ at jet.com Jet.com is offering free shipping on orders $35 or more and many items delivered in 2 days. They are making it irresistible to try them out! Also my non-paleo husband LOVES these and their bars!
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Gold Mine Kraut–
Yes, one of my faves is Kraut! The Garlic Kraut to be exact. I never thought in a million years I would get excited about Kraut, but I am. Gold Mine makes their kraut in small batches and in special ceramic crocks and I’m pretty sure that is what helps with the flavor and helps with the friendly flora growth! The ingredients are: Organic cabbage, Organic garlic, Celtic sea salt®
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Eviva–
Elaine at Eviva has her own health story. She had Hashimoto’s and found that collagen really helped her keep her hair, skin, joints and nails healthier.. She has found a different way to get her collagen each day besides powders or bone broth. Eviva! This is an elixir that has water, collagen, monk fruit and flavors so you can enjoy a refreshing drink while getting your collagen. Elaine over at Eviva is offering our readers 15% off if you use coupon code “sistersatexpo” good through 4/30/18 on their website drinkeviva.com
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Elmhurst–
For those of you out there that are almond milk lovers, you have to try Elmhurst’s Milked Almonds. The almonds are from California, they cold mill them, press and filter, then bottle. That’s the process. The ingredients are Filtered water and Almonds……that’s it. No Carrageenan, locust bean or xanthan. Already intriguing and then you taste it! It’s not watered down, it tastes creamy, like milk, but from almonds. Thankfully I tolerate almonds very well, so you can bet this will be in my fridge if you come over for a visit.
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Aunt Fannie’s–
I’m slowly falling in love with this company! The cleaning products are awesome and they have bug repellent that I feel safe spraying in my home! They are rated an “A” on EWG.org, their highest rating. Check out Kacy’s post on the EWG.ORG website. We received samples of the Mosquito Wipes and I haven’t had a chance to see how effective these are, but I can’t wait to try them out when I visit my in-laws in The Netherlands this summer! My oldest son is a mosquito magnet and it’s nice to know I can protect him from bugs without dousing him with harsh chemicals that disrupt his microbiome. If you go to Aunt Fannie’s right now and order from their store with the coupon code “SISTERS“ you will get 30% off your purchases until 3/31/18.
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Brittanie’s Thyme:
I tried the Bergamot Lime Deodorant, I really love this scent. I’m a huge citrus scent fan and specifically lime. Essentially, it was like the scent was made for me. That being said, I’ve only tried this for a few days and it’s been unusually chilly in Southern California so it hasn’t been put to the test. Here are the ingredients: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Arrowroot Powder, Organic Fractionated Coconut Oil, Organic Carnuba Wax, Organic Rosemary Extract, Organic Lime Essential Oil & Organic Bergamot Essential Oil. They have many other products and the ingredient lists are pretty darn clean.
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Sonage:
I have to say I’m generally quite skeptical when brands say they are all natural or clean. I haven’t looked into all of their products, but the products that are linked to in this post have a 2 rating or below. It is so hard to find really clean products that actually perform well! At Sonage they have really balanced the effectiveness and clean ingredients to create products that are ewg.org approved and rated 2 or lower. Yes, Please! This Vitality Nourishing Facial Oil is awesome and the ingredients are clean and effective. Veronique treated me to a hand facial, when she was done I was astonished at how much, smoother, hydrated and younger looking my treated hand was compared to my other hand. Thankfully she took pity on me and did my other hand as well!
And so ends my FAVES from this year…….well, I couldn’t stop there.
Old FAVES with new Products
This is the way I decided to weasel out of just having 10! I found new products from brands that I already love and have shared in the past. I’m still a fan of these brands, products and companies and wanted to share what you can expect from their new lines!
Curoxen:
They have expanded their line to include kids Curoxen with extra Vit D, oral care and a FemiClear.
Siete:
New flavors from Siete. They have new tortilla’s including cashew tortillas and strong flavored chips, my favorite: ranch!
Primal Kitchen:
For my vegan sleuths out there Primal Kitchen now has-eggless mayo! Same great flavor now eggs, makes it even more AIP friendly!
Vixen Kitchen:
I still love the Naked Vanilla and Naked Chocolate, but you can’t go wrong with Vixen Kitchen.
Earth Paste Powder
Redmond’s earth paste is made from this powder, so it is essentially the same thing, this product just gives your teeth an extra polish.
Primal Pit Paste
Primal Pit Paste is in my deodorant rotation. I’m trying out their Charcoal Magnesium, it goes on clear.
Simple Mills
I love these new soft baked chocolate chips cookies, they have other flavors too, but I really loved the chocolate chip cookies. Check out the ingredient list because there may be some ingredients that you don’t tolerate.
Here is where I officially cut myself off! I have a few other favorites that I need to investigate further before I can share them, but I have to say I’m pretty excited about them.
It was fun being an #Expo Blogger for New Hope. It gave me the opportunity to see the new trends in food, beauty, supplement and cleaning products. I also find it interesting what some companies deem to be “Natural”. For having over 3500 exhibitors I could cut that in half for what I consider to be Natural.
In this post I have linked to some websites that I receive a small affiliate commission from. These commissions are what keep this site up and running. I am not paid to promote any of the products above. Here is our disclosure policy.
If you have tried any of the products in this post let us know below in the comments. If there are any other products that you would like us to investigate either comment below or contact us using the contact the sisters page! Thank you for your continued support!
