It’s Friday, so I’m linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for the new Friday Five 2.0. I’m going to share some more about Expo West. I’ve been so busy with work this week that I haven’t finished my recap of Day 3. In the mean time, I’m going to share some trends that I noticed that you’ll be seeing soon!
By far, the thing I love most about Expo West is reconnecting with brands I’ve worked with and meeting new brands. It’s so exciting to see some of the small brands that I found a few years ago doing so well! I also love seeing people I’ve met online in real life. I get so jazzed up when I meet a new brand that has a great product, too. Good people work in the natural foods industry! This year, there were also some great mission driven initiatives being promoted by all kinds of brands. That was wonderful to see.
Becca and I spotted a lot of trends this year. Here are 5 that stuck with me:
1. Cauliflower everything! Last year, the “it ingredient” was collagen (still big) and the year before it was hemp (less big). This year CAULIFLOWER was king. There were a bunch of companies with cauliflower pizza crusts (yum) and now cauliflower flours. We tried Cauli-flour cake and crusts from Caulipower and delicious cauliflower crackers from new arrival From the Ground Up. I saw some ready mixed products with riced cauliflower, too. This is a trend I can get behind. I love cauliflower!
2. Bacteria and Probiotics. Probiotics are not new but they were EVERYWHERE this show. They even had probiotics for dogs (I kid you not). Lots of products had added prebiotics and probiotics. [Enter to win an awesome prebiotic drink mix from Genuine Health HERE.] One of the most interesting companies I met was “Mother Dirt” which added a specific bacterium to products that has been killed off by anti-bacterial soaps. It’s another “good bacteria” to improve the microbiome. Interesting!
3. Plant based milk and everything else. There were a ton of “milks” this year again. In addition to nut milks, there was Vege-Mo and Banana Milk. And lots of others. I’m still loving Oatly and Milkadamia and, of course, Nut Pods creamers. Plant based everything was big this year which was perfect for Becca – she’s vegan! Check out her blog recaps for more on this trend.
4. Functional ingredients. I saw a lot of companies advertising bars and drinks with “functional ingredients.” What does that mean? Basically, added ingredients to promote digestive health, “beauty,” healthy skin and better performance. Ingredients include turmeric, charcoal, matcha and reishi mushrooms to name a few. Some products I tried included Functional Drinking Vinegars from Vermont Village and functional energy bars from Thrive Tribe and Purely Elizabeth. There were tons of “shots,” too. I’ll give you more details on these soon!
5. Keto is in! Someone said “Keto is in, raw is out.” I would not say that was really the case. There are still plenty of raw products but there were a ton of new Keto products. I’m not a fan of this diet for myself so I didn’t check too many of these products out. As a runner, I like my carbs! Plus, there are still a ton of Paleo and primal products, too.
I’ll be sharing my new finds and old faves soon, so keep an eye out for giveaways to come!
Have a great weekend!
PS. Don’t miss my great giveaways! And there’s still time to join my raffle for four great prizes in support of Alexandra’s Playground.