March 11, 2013

Greedy and Grateful..."Naturally!"

So, I'm back from the Natural Products Expo West with an exciting report about everything that's new and hot and happening in the industry!


OK, let's be honest. I'm really back with some vague impressions and a bloated belly and the vestiges of a sugar coma and some random business cards and a HUGE CRAPLOAD of free samples.


Ah, life is good.

And yes, we did stick to the "one bag" rule, but there were two of us and we also had backpacks. Plus we were determined and relentless. While other members of the media were out interviewing natural product purveyors in order to obtain helpful information for their readerships, we were making sure we got our fair share of free snacks.


This show was huge and we pretty much covered ever food booth in the joint.


I'd declared in advance that this would be an "all bets are off" "eat whatever you want" day because, hello, all you can eat FREE natural products?

So I was kind of curious: would there be a point at which I would "naturally" feel sated and satisfied and stop eating?

As it turns out: the answer was NO.  Kinda what I thought. Self restraint? I haz none.

Yep, I must have deforested an entire acre of (hopefully sustainable) wood with the number of toothpick-speared morsels I scarfed, and I nearly drowned in a sea of natural teas, sodas, waters and other beverages. Seriously, I am not sure I will ever be able to look at another drawn and quartered power bar or cup full of kettlecorn or natural soda without feeling slightly barfy.


Anyway, while I may try to round up some review/giveaway opportunities in the future, I did a predictably shitty job at remembering which companies I flirted with and which ones seemed unapproachable and which products were yummy and which ones were weird.

In general, there were lots of interesting products I'd never seen in stores, although a good part of the show seemed to be dedicated to Power Bars, Chips, Kettlecorn, Yogurt and Chocolate in many and varied forms. My particular interest is in finding low-sugar, low-carb, naturally sweetened versions of tasty treats, and I found a few promising leads that I may follow up on and tell you about. There are a LOT more natural sweetener options than there used to be, for example.

However, we all know that the healthiest thing to eat is wholesome whole foods, and this was not a farmer's market. This was all about the "fun" snacky desserty part of eating a healthy diet, where you're trying to find alternatives to WTF mainstream conventional options. This was not about the 80-90% of daily food choices. And in fact, lots of these "natural" products were basically junk food made with "cane sugar" instead of HFCS. Which made roaming the aisles with a free pass from my normal eating habits especially awesome!

Oh, and we completely skipped the supplements and cosmetics and pets and babies and all that crap. Because, well, you can't eat shampoo or diapers or dog bowls, can you? And supplements are boring. So sorry, readership.

Though we did get the impression: It's totally happening in Head Lice this year! Just FYI, in case you're thinking of hosting some. 

So yeah, it was an awesome day of wandering and eating and chatting and eating and eating.

Oh, and at long last I got to meet Jody from Truth2BeingFit!



And there were a lot of other interesting characters roaming the halls as well, so I made the poor lobster take my picture with them.


Of course, just like with the food samples, once I started, I couldn't seem to stop.







Because where else can you just walk up to a guy and ask: "Hey, can we get a picture of me squeezing your balls?" and get a chipper, "yeah sure!"


Does anyone else go a little bit crazy when stuff is on offer for free?  And what sort of products would you want to hunt down at a Natural Expo?

48 comments:

  1. So, head lice are in? Sigh. Another fad not followed. Not deliberately, anyway.
    I will try most anything that's free. How else can one truly know?

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  2. Free is great, if it's consumable and i don't have to lug it home and find a place to put it.

    Glad you had a good time!

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  3. So of course I had to run off and look up Holy Crap before commenting. :)

    As an absolute "vegan/healthy" snacks and dessert expert I totally laughed about the sugar coma. "Healthy" absolutely doesn't ward off one.

    So fun you got to meet Jody and an entire cast of wandering health characters...and yet no lice character? Hummmm...

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  4. Your pictures are cracking me up. I too had to look up Holy Crap (and now I am laughing that there's a hemp cereal called MARY JANE - those people don't take themselves too seriously, that's great).

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  5. Now THAT'S a haul! I'm so proud of you two. :)

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  6. I'm not gonna lie - I'm in awe of your haul on the table (and all free!!)! It looks like you went in with a plan and stuck with it for sure!
    Great picture of you and Jody!
    And, you are totally rocking the lanyard and ID badge!!!

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    1. Oh, I meant to mention that - the lanyard/ID looks great on you! So official. :)

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  7. I love all of the fun poses. So what's with the giant happy sperm in the photo above the guy with the balls?

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  8. HOLY CRAP! You got a haul there!!! Your pics are so fun - especially the ball touching! ;) Hilarious - all of them! I agree, lots of not so healthy foods there! SO MANY FRIGGIN BARS OUT THERE!!!! It was like a bar convention & not the bar as in alcohol! ;)

    I wanted to see more of the cosmetics but did not leave time. Looking for things to help this 55 year old face! ;)

    So great to meet you & Lobster - a HUGE highlight!!!!!!

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  9. Ooh -that's quite the table of snacks there. I am most jealous. :)
    I don't think I'd do well in a room of free snacks either !

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    Replies
    1. Its like haloween for adults. Just a little late. But still sweet goodness.

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  10. AHh! Bugs Bunny That Wascaly Wabbit was there! Actually he isn't my favourite. I always thought he was a little mean with his tricks.
    I have the Holy Crap in my cupboard. You want to be sparing with that stuff.

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  11. Wow! That is quite the haul! I tend to avoid most free stuff as it usually has stuff I am allergic to in it. As it is, I take a long time in the grocery store reading labels when I want to try something new.

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    1. I've always found that when there are free samples in stores, the people offering them cannot tell you the ingredients, and when I mention my allergies they kind of back off. :) I'm your sister in label-reading, here.

      Mary Anne in Kentucky

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  12. You make me smile. :)Congrats on your loot.
    Gaye

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  13. OMG.......like a kid let loose in a candy shop. The more I read about people's trips to this expo the more jealous I get.....can't wait for the day when you can teleport a few of those samples through the net. :-)

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  14. Holy Crap! lol Thanks for sharing those funny pictures.

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  15. This reminds me of when I was a little kid and halloween was a safe holiday. My brothers and I used to go to as many houses as possible, walking up and down endless amounts of streets for the "loot"! (our parents had no idea where we were.) Then, we would bring it home, put it together ( like the picture above), and proceed to have a candyfest! Good times and your picture made me laugh.
    I am also one of "those people" who gets my picture taken with every ridiculous mascot known to man. I'll stop during a marathon, find one during a sports event, ( although I am not sure if that is a big "Honey guy" or what in that 3rd picture of yours!)I guess I need to find him....don't have a pic with one of those yet.
    Thanks for making me laugh this morning...

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  16. Thank you all for your awesome comments, and my apologies that things got a little out of control busy yesterday and all I did was read and giggle rather than get a chance to pop in and reply.

    Hmm maybe we should assemble a whole legion of Cranketeers for the next Expo, take over a floor of hotel rooms, and descend en masse with huge sacks and see just how much loot we could haul away over several days? Party's in my room!

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    1. Be sure to setup up an antacid/heartburn bar, bathrobes and comfy slippers meet-up and late late wake-up call/grumbling service. These days it seems there are repercussions the second I step out of line on the diet, sleep, schedule or whatever!
      I guess this daylight savings time thing is getting to me! Grouch, grumble, grumble!

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    2. Excellent ideas, Cindy! Though should we set up the antacid bar before or after the champagne brunch? And when should we schedule the team of masseuses to attend to us?

      And yeah, I am STILL a bit bloated from the rampage... well, ok, partly from continuing to gorge on treats I brought home... but sometimes, totally worth it. :)

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  17. Sounds a little overwhelming. I would like to know if there was anything (food wise) that stood out or impressed you?

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    1. One thing I want to follow up on are several chocolate brands and an ice cream made with stevia and other natural sweeteners; tasty stuff without all the sugar. And of course I've forgotten the brand names but will dig up for a future post.

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  18. "Holy Crap". Is that a magical laxative or something? One way of rapid weight loss i suppose.

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    1. Adele that would be an AWESOME laxative name! Too funny!

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  19. Woah that's a lot of samples. Wanna share? :P

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  20. First - the lanyard: TOTALLY AWESOME! It's BIG. OFFICIAL! Personally, I would wave you right through airport security! (especially if you had a clipboard or earpiece, too)

    I checked out Holy Crap on line and am confused :(...

    The nutritional info says it is per 2 TABLESPOONS. That just can't be right, can it?

    That's less than 1/4 cup and I just can't imagine myself eating that little for breakfast and being satisfied. Of course, if it is mainly chia seeds - that would explain alot -including the bloated belly!...

    I tried doing chia seeds a while ago and talk about holy crap!! Ok - possibly TMI there - just sayin'. First came the bloat and then, well......

    Anyhow - what a haul! IF there's a food shortage or some other catastrophe - you are all set! Thanks for taking us all along for the ride :)

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    1. So I had to look up the nutritional as well...and to think I complain about granola that thinks a serving is 1/4 - 1/2 cup. 2 tablespoons is crazy!

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    2. Yeah, I have to say the picture was really about the slogan more than the product, as I pretty much have nothing to do with Chia stuff, but I could NOT resist!

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  21. If Boiron was there I would have totally wanted a bag full of free samples.

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  22. That Holy Crap stuff rocks. I eat it almost everyday!

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    1. How much? Is a serving really just 2 tablespoons? Even if it were 4, still sounds 'light'? What do you like most about it? (Flavor, texture, 'effect'???) Just curious...

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  23. this is exactly why i love coming to your site! *crying with a big smile...*

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  24. Looks like you had wonderful time!
    Thanks for sharing these funny photos - You actually made me smile...

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  25. Wow!
    Strangely, this expo looks like tons of fun... didn't know there were that many mascots around at an event like this!

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  26. I'm definitely going to the wrong conventions!

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  27. Well done guys, great haul of goodies!

    Like Dr.J above, I've also been going to the wrong conventions. Think the last one I went to was an internet marketing seminar, where I ended up $5000 short, and bugger all to show for it!! Gotta laugh! .

    Just been Googling the next food/fitness expo in the UK. A couple in London coming up. Like the idea of trying to sneak a press pass too. Nice tip! :)

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  28. Hey thanks again for more great comments!

    And sorry I kinda bailed on this one, but there's a brand new post up which could really use some smart Cranky Fitness Commenter advice for anyone who wants to hang out.

    You guys rock!

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  29. Hilarious! Why have I not found this site before now? Looks like you had a blast-Holy Crap! Ha Ha!

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  30. Holy Shit! Cool name! Great snacks for me to indulge on now! haha

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  31. You are such one lucky person to get all these freebies.

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  32. Wow! There's a load of stuff you got and I agree with an earlier poster the Holy Crap stuff really rocks.

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  33. Just stumbled across your blog - Holy crap...so funny. Will deffo be back for more!

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  34. Great! I had never try "Holy Crap" product but after seeing lots of positive reviews, I think I need to try. Thanks for sharing such a nice information with us.

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  35. Your post is so funny and you got nice pictures.

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