natural products expo west

I had meant to attend this last year but let it slip by--this year I was determined to go. Though it was exhausting, I am glad I went, I got to see and try some really cool products and talk to some interesting people. I'll tell you about the people first, since it's a much shorter list. The first was a rep from Host Defense, which is a line of mushroom-based supplements. It's a product line I'd like to be able to offer the co-op I facilitate, and the rep gave me a book and a whole jar of agarikon.

I also got to meet, chat with, (and get kissed on the cheek by) Jason Graham-Nye, whose company, gdiapers, I have been following almost since the beginning. Though their product came out after we had really become very committed to and proficient at using cloth diapers, I have always loved the idea of the company and supported it in any way I can. My interest in Graham-Nye began with the product, continued with his blog, and has continued on facebook, where we both spend much more time than on our blogs. We had a laugh and shared some shame about that. He's much taller than I thought he would be, and he was very gracious and funny. Great experience. And if you don't swoon over the new ruffled little g-pants, you might have yourself checked for a pulse. They are also now making cloth inserts for the little g-pants and are working on training pants.

When Nina, mom, and I drove across country this summer we perched in Denver for a couple of days and in the process discovered udi's gluten free bread. Let me just say that my first reaction was "are you sure this is gluten free?" It's that good and has that much of a bread mouth feel. I had decided to order some online when I walked into Whole Foods one day and there it was. I had been making my own from time to time and it was fine, but obviously gluten free and I had spotty rising and falling results. udi's hits the spot. And when I found their spot yesterday, I couldn't held but gush about the product, which was appropriately appreciated by (Heather?...I think?) the woman who was working it. We talked and laughed for a few minutes, it was nice. I talked to other lovely people too (the lady from Frontier was so nice and hugged and kissed me, so sweet!) but those are the ones who stand out...

And now on to products. I think my most surprising find was also the one I was encouraged to take the most of, what a blessing! Healthy Indulgence dark chocolate calcium supplements (from Hero) are delicious! Every chocolate supplement I have ever tried has been chalky and not chocolatey enough. Not this one, it's richly dark in chocolate and has fantastic mouth feel. Highly recommend. My only complaint is that the chocolate isn't organic, but I'm going to settle. They're that tasty. And available from Frontier...

More later (cross fingers).