Expo West 2017 Recap, Part 2

Aaaand just when you thought Expo West would never end, it’s back again! If you haven’t read Part 1 of my Expo West recap, you can click here to catch up. If you’re ready to move on to Day 2 of the adventure, you’re in the right spot.

We started off day 2 at the Simple Mills brunch, which I couldn’t actually eat at because of my protocol, but I really wanted to. I’m a huge fan of Simple Mills products because they have amazing ingredients, and it just proves to people that paleo, gluten-free, grain-free products can be absolutely delicious. Whether or not you have dietary restrictions, you’ll love Simple Mills.

If you’re not familiar with the company, Simple Mills makes a ton of healthy baking mixes that will seriously make your dreams come true. Pancakes, muffins, cakes, cookies, breads, and pizza dough, to name a few. (That’s the pizza dough I got my dad for his birthday, for those of you who were asking.) The ingredients are on point, as I mentioned before. It’s the only packaged mix I would ever buy or recommend.

I haven’t personally tried the crackers, but everyone and their mom says that the crackers are out of this world. So many flavors, so little time.

The blogger brunch was totally adorable – I stared at the food with extreme lust, I won’t lie. They had a delicious looking coffee cake along with different flavors of cupcakes/muffins and a ton of toppings – fresh fruit, Kite Hill yogurts and cream cheeses, Wild Friends nut butters, paleo granola… the works.

It was so fun getting to meet the girls behind Simple Mills and chatting with the CEO. There’s nothing I love more than hearing about how an amazing company came to life.

We had a much better idea of what we wanted to do on the second day, so we were much more efficient. Addie and I stopped by the Epic booth and took a picture with this bison, because duh.

More importantly, though, they had samples out of a ton of their bars. Epic bars are another great bar option, but they’re on the savory side! If you like jerky, you’d probably be into these. Some of their flavors have sugar in them, so watch out for those, but there are others without. I hear the Venison is bomb.

We then headed over to Cappello’s, which I apparently have been missing out on for quite some time. I’ve never seen this brand at my Whole Foods, so I’m very late to the game. However, I was thoroughly impressed with them and have only heard great things about their products! They have paleo, vegan chocolate chip cookie dough, paleo pasta, and some very tempting pizzas. Check out the ingredients on the pasta below! LEGIT. You can buy huge amounts on Amazon, but you’re probably better off checking your local health store!

We finally made our way over to one of the other buildings, and that was where all of the real magic happened.

Crazy Richard’s PB was our first stop on the way in. If you’re a peanut butter lover, I’d def recommend Crazy Richard’s. Very thick and creamy, with clean ingredients. Only peanuts!

We then hopped on over to the Bonafide Provisions booth – one of the best bone broths in the game. They definitely have one of the most exciting new releases – the drinkable veggies bone broth. Basically, it’s veggies mixed with bone broth. Kind of a mixture between a soup and a drink. You get all the benefits of bone broth PLUS the benefits of your favorite veggies. I was so impressed with this. I didn’t get to taste them because of my protocol, but every person I was with tasted them and agreed they were amazing. Yes, I believe it. The ones that caught my eye were the carrot and beet flavors. Yum.

Another bone broth brand I love – Bare Bones. They have lots of flavors – classic turkey, rosemary and lemon, classic beef, tomato & spice… my favorites have always been the classic turkey and rosemary and lemon. Pretty standard. Bone broth is delicious and amazing for your health. Drink it.

I then had a panic attack because we ran into the KitchFix booth. KitchFix is Addie’s obsession – they’re based out of Chicago and serve incredible paleo meals to-go. I get so jealous every time I see Addie eating one of their meals, and I basically hounded the owner to open in L.A. We will see how that goes. More importantly, though, they have one of the best grain-free granolas in the game. Original, vanilla berry, honey pecan, cocoa sea salt… Nom. I brought home a ton for my roommates, and it was all gone in record time.

One of my most exciting finds was the company Good Seed, which makes paleo-friendly veggie burgers. I’m going to be honest – I’m usually never a fan of veggie burgers. I’ve never found one I would personally eat. Most have gluten in them, and the ones that don’t have gluten still have a ton of grains and legumes, which seriously destroys my digestion. Not all of Good Seed’s burgers are paleo-friendly, but they did have two out for sampling that were. I fell in love! They’re literally made from seeds and veggies. The Wild Mushroom Cauliflower Hempseed Burgers were the ones that caught my eye, and I will definitely be buying these as soon as they hit shelves. Check out the ingredients below — so impressed.

We finally made it over to the one booth I was most excited about – Primal Kitchen. If you know me, you know I’m obsessed with Primal Kitchen. Probably my favorite brand in existence. They had a lot of older products out for testing, like the collagen bars. These are a great bar option because they’re low in sugar and high in protein and healthy fats! They have Chocolate Hazelnut, Coconut Cashew, and Dark Chocolate Almond.

They recently released Collagen Fuel, which I’m very excited about. It comes in Chocolate Coconut and Vanilla Coconut flavors. I’m curious to see how this compares to Vital Proteins. Unfortunately I couldn’t sample it because the samples were mixed with things I can’t eat on my protocol, but I’m very curious to try it.

Two other new releases that I’m over the moon about are the Green Goddess dressing and the Caesar dressing. The Ranch is one of my all-time faves. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the Caesar. Caesar dressing is my everything, and it’s almost impossible to find a healthy one. Primal Kitchen dressings are actually the only pre-made dressings I personally buy. They are sooo good.

Also had a major fangirl moment because we got to meet Mark Sisson and Melissa Hartwig in real life. OMG. I literally almost cried because Mark Sisson is kind of my idol and life inspiration. I told him my whole life story and I’m pretty sure he thought I was a psychopath, but I don’t care. He gave me free dressings and then we took a picture. All good.

Crio Bru! An excellent coffee alternative for anyone trying to kick the habit. Whole 30 approved and made from ground cocoa beans. Pretty great invention, if you ask me. They have different “roasts,” so you have different options!

I also stopped by the Durham Ranch booth, because I love their meats. Everything is natural, sustainable, grass-fed, no hormones or antibiotics added. I’ve had a hard time finding them in stores, but I found out that they’re at my local Sprouts – so check yours! They have so many options – beef, bison, venison, lamb, rabbit, boar, and pork. You can get ground meat, bacon, and sausage. So many options. Now I’m hungry.

For those of you looking for healthy chip replacements, Jica chips are for you! Some of the flavors have questionable ingredients, but the regular sea salt ones are golden. Literally just jicama and sea salt, baked not fried.

Another find I’m super excited about are these B Raw bars! No sugars added, all natural. Organic, raw, gluten-free, paleo, soy-free, and vegan. They have chocolate espresso, coconut macadamia, super green, and almond crunch flavors. The coconut macadamia has my heart skipping a beat. This is what bars SHOULD BE. None of that artificial stuff.

I got to chat with the owner for awhile, and she is beyond incredible. She started off making raw foods in Maui, and then she slowly transitioned into making bars so that she could reach more people. Honestly, it makes me so happy to find companies like this, with owners with such good intentions. We bonded over how food can transform your health. It was great. Right now, she’s only selling in Maui, but she’s coming over to the rest of the States very soon! (You can also order online!)

Then I stumbled across another company I was over the moon about – Paleo Prime. Paleo cookies with, I kid you not, the most impressive ingredients list I have ever seen. As in, not many ingredients, all real food. This is basically the exact cookie I would make if I were to make it for myself, except I don’t have to do any work. I cannot recommend these enough. They have three flavors right now, but more are coming. Classic chocolate chip, vanilla raspberry, and vanilla blueberry. The company is small and based out of Chicago, but I have no doubt that as soon as more healthy foodies find out about this product, the brand will blow up.

I also stumbled across these Paleo Passion Pops, which are a great sweet treat if you’re missing your popsicle days! They have some sugar, but I mean, it’s a popsicle. This company also makes some great granola, if you’re in the market.

Onto another one of my favorite bone broth brands – Kettle & Fire. I got to meet one of the co-founders and was shocked to discover that he literally started this company straight out of high school. Um, #BOSS. So impressive. We talked about how bone broth changed our lives, I thanked him for creating such an amazing product, and it was a great time. They have both beef bone broth and chicken bone broth, so check it out!

Teeccino! I was intrigued by their booth because they were serving nitrogen teas, but unfortunately I couldn’t try them because of the added sweeteners. The protocol life is tough. Just kidding. If you haven’t heard of Teecino, it’s a popular brand in the coffee-replacement world.  They have a ton of different flavors and are a great drink with a coffee-like taste without the caffeine. Unfortunately, some of the flavors do have gluten, so make sure you pick one labeled gluten-free if you don’t consume gluten. The classic Dandelion Dark roast and the Dandelion Caramel Nut are two of my favorites! So warm and cozy.

I also popped by Artisana, because I am obsessed with them. Nothing new here, unfortunately, but then again, they don’t need anything new. This is my go-to brand for coconut butter, cashew butter, and almond butter. I also love their pecan butter and walnut butter.

I also headed over to Pacific Foods, and, surprise surprise, THEY HAVE BONE BROTH. I love their organic chicken bone broth to keep on hand, but it was my first time seeing the duck! I love duck, if you didn’t already know, and I think this is the first big company I’ve ever seen with this flavor of bone broth. I also sampled a really killer tomato stock with all clean ingredients, which I would highly recommend. I’m not sure when these will be available, but hopefully soon if not already!

Betsy told me about these Turkey Burgers from Applegate Organics, and I had to see them for myself. I usually shun any kind of pre-packaged burger because they usually slide gluten or sugar or something else I don’t want in there. These are totally clean, though! No antibiotics, gluten-free, organic, and literally just turkey and rosemary! You can get them at your local grocery store in the freezer section, or on Amazon through Prime Fresh.

Another healthy chip option – Terra Sweet Plantain Chips! These are made with coconut oil only – I am so impressed.

Lastly, we hit up the Bulletproof booth before we headed out. I’m a big fan of pretty much every Bulletproof product. They have really good collagen bars that I highly recommend – Vanilla Shortbread, Fudge Brownie, and Lemon Cookie. They were also handing out samples of their Fat Water, which comes in lemon, pineapple, and grapefruit. Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of those because they contain Xylitol. However, I do really like their collagen protein, their Brain Octane oil, and their XCT oil. I don’t personally do Bulletproof coffee, but if you’re a fan, you should also check out their coffee and grass-fed ghee.

And that just about sums it up for my 2017 Expo West experience! There were a lot of booths I wanted to find but didn’t get the chance to. I mean, I only have one pair of legs!  Thankfully, everyone posted about their Expo West finds, which is basically the same as seeing it yourself. There are a lot of great products that are going to come out soon, and I’m so excited to see where the health industry goes in the next year!

What new products are you looking forward to trying this year?! Leave a comment below and tell me!