While at dinner in the mountains in Italy one night, Ceci and her family told us we were having a meal known as “Kilometer Zero.”
Kilometer Zero
Filed Under: Wellness Tagged With: eat, eat real food, gluten free, Healthy Lifestyle, travel
Healthy School Lunch Information
I was recently forwarded an email with subject line, “Healthy School Lunch Information.”
2016 Natural Products Expo West Favorite Brands and Products
I attended the 2016 Natural Products Expo West this year for the 3rd time on the official blogging team, and even though my top 3 products from the show were announced recently, today I have put together my 2016 Natural Products Expo West favorite brands and products.
But first, my general show thoughts….
2016 Natural Products Expo West Overall Trends and Recap Thoughts
Click HERE to save this list for later.
- Ginger, ginger everywhere
- Overheard all the time, which is super awesome, “How much sugar is in xyz product?”
- Less dairy, and when there was dairy, the trend seems to be spiking to high-quality dairy (i.e. Organic, Raw and Grass Fed)
- Probiotics infusion
- Probiotics and prebiotics as a topic of conversation
- Gut health is becoming more and more talked about, appreciated and focused on. YAY! All these years of being A Gutsy Girl, sharing information and caring excessively about the topic might finally start to pay off.
- Superfoods galore
- Paleo still on the rise, and yet I still don’t feel like there is enough
- Crickets entering the marketplace
- All hail the coconut
- Many Vegan options
- A ton of granola and granola snacks, making me wonder if the category is flooded?
- There is still a gap for quality meat snacks, as I found only a few
- Kombucha is the hot beverage
But, by far, my main overall recap thought and ah-ha moment came when I found myself perusing booth after booth and hearing companies utter phrases like, “100% natural, super clean, healthy.” I would then simply pick up said “100% natural, super clean, healthy” product and check out the ingredients, only to feel let down.
Ingredients don’t lie, and the use of buzzwords are confusing consumers. During all of those moments (because most of the times were convenience/packed goods), I decided to launch The Gutsy Girl’s Bible: a travel and convenience snack guide companion. The project currently hosts over 150 items….and I would guess it could hit 300 or more!
2016 Natural Products Expo West Favorite Brands and Products
HERE was my pre-Expo hot list.
From that list, my favorites included:
- Blue Bottle Coffee: they are releasing road-trip ready products
- Nutiva: their Organic (Vegan) Buttery Coconut Oil made my top 3 list, but they also debuted a Vegan Chocolate Spread that is a million times the product rotten and disgusting (poorly sourced) Nutella is (I can say that because Nutiva is not my company:))
- Real Bone Broth (aka Bonafide Provisions): their bone broth made my top 3 list
- Vital Proteins: they have just released a new Marine Collagen that I fell in love with, and the greatest thing about it is that (for me) it triple acts as a skin product, gut product and travel companion
- Charlie Banana: I met Gaelle, the founder and owner, and fell in love with her.
- Wedderspoon Organic: Traveling honey packets, pure and awesome as can be, need I say more?!
New favorite finds, not on the list, included:
- Farmhouse Culture: their Ginger Beet Gut Shot made my top 3 list
- Nikki’s Coconut Butter: I’m embarrassed to say that she’s a friend, but I had never even tried her coconut butter before. I am officially addicted to that Cashew Cookie Butter.
- San Francisco Salt Company: everything
- Wild Selections: tuna and salmon
- NOW Foods: If you’ve followed here for any length of time, you know I love their L-Glutamine for gut healing, but I was introduced to a new (traveling) probiotic that I’m excited to share more about soon!
- Rebel Kitchen: their coconut “mylks” (for on-the-go) are incredible
- Made in Nature: I had always seen them as a snacking option around, but never considered them….until now! They will be heavily featured in my guide because they are that awesome.
- Love Bottle: not food, but lovely
- The Ginger People: I may or may not have an obsession with Ginger Beer + their Gin Gins are kind of perfection
- Hamona: I really wanted to give them one of my top 3 spots from Expo West, but in the end, I decided it would be too hard because they are in Vietnam and the product is still not available here, but it’s a whole coconut with a little punch for a straw to (easily) drink straight from the coconut. They were friendly and awesome and when they come here I’ll be sure to let you know.
- Once Upon a Farm: Children’s pouches that I’d eat!
- Coyo: coconut yogurt, thick ‘n creamy
- RESTORE: Shortly before attending the show, a reader commented on the post wondering if I’d check them out, so I did and after I learned a ton, watched videos, spoke with the creator and tried the product, I can say I recommend it. I will hopefully get to share more with you soon.
- Hu Paleo Chocolate: I’m not kidding….there are zero lecithins in this chocolate and it is divine
- Wild Zora: Their meat and veggie bar was probably my favorite, namely the Meditteranean Lamb Bar with Spinach & Turmeric
- Thousand Hills Cattle Co.: But those grass fed beef sticks, though! Here’s the kicker, I don’t have access to them in California, apparently, but they are based in the homeskillet Minnesota and the guy told me that my family can get them at the Waseca Hy-Vee! How awesome is that?!
- Harmless Harvest: Organic, fair trade coffee coconut water
- Big Tree Farms: they have a coconut aminos product, which I’ve been on a huge kick with lately
- Gaia Herbs: at Expo West, they released a brand new product, Golden Milk. They served it blended in with warm almond milk and I was blown away. (Hopefully) stay tuned for more.
Did you attend the show? What were your favorites? Are there any of these products you’d like to know more about?!
p.s. Reading this in 2017? Check out my Top 15 Overall Expo West 2017 Finds.
Xox,
SKH
Coming Soon Travel and Convenience Snack Guide Companion
One thing I know for certain is that traveling when you have any type of dietary restriction needs is tough. You know how sometimes you are hit in the head a thousand times with something, but it’s on that thousand and first time that it just clicks? That’s what happened to me this past weekend while at Expo West, and so….coming soon travel and convenience snack guide companion.
{This is now available! Click HERE to grab yours for free.}
Coming Soon Travel and Convenience Snack Guide Companion
Here is the rundown on the guide:
- A simple, straight-forward guide to help those with food intolerances and/or special dietary lifestyle preferences navigate snacks and convenience items.
- It will be available at the beginning of May 2016, just in time for the late spring/summer travel season.
- I am giving it away for FREE! You’ll be able to download it right here from my blog, and if you’re on my email newsletter list(s) already, I’ll send it directly to you (Not signed up yet? Join thousands of others today! If you enjoy my posts on the gut and/or healing + true wellness with food and lifestyle click HERE to subscribe to my e-newsletter. If you enjoy my posts on life, inspiration, passion, entrepreneurship, adoption, love, thoughts, faith and living in a way that gives us purpose, daily click HERE to subscribe to my e-newsletter (a different one).
- This is a travel and convenience snack guide companion based on packaged goods. I am a firm believer that anytime we are at home we should be cooking vs. using packaged goods, but after traveling this past weekend (+ traveling a lot in general), I think there is a gap in a good resource out there that breaks down packaged and convenience snack goods based on different dietary needs.
- But even though it is for packaged goods, it’s not a guide for any and all packaged goods. In other words, you won’t find “M&M’s Fun-Size” on the list because most people with any special dietary need would not eat those to begin with. You may, however, see Unreal candies, since they are an alternative that some special diets can consume.
- The guide will come as a downloadable PDF, with the main image as a chart graphic. The chart will list out which categories each item falls under (ex. Paleo, AIP, Zero Sugar, Low FODMAP, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, etc.)
Your Help
I am already getting a ton of amazing thoughts and feedback on what people want to see, brands, etc.
I am working on a ‘travel and convenience snack guide companion’ to launch in early May for people with food allergies…
Posted by Sarah Kay Hoffman on Monday, March 14, 2016
I am willing to put in the work to make this a super-easy-to-read + informative guide, but I’d love even more thoughts.
What product(s)/brand(s) would you like to see on it? So far, some of the categories are desserts and sweets, beverages, protein bars, chips ‘n crunchy, but is there a specific category you are interested in? Any specific special diet you’d like included on the chart? So far some of them includePaleo, AIP, Zero Sugar, Low FODMAP, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, etc. Would anything else make this helpful for you?
Comment below or contact me privately!
Xox,
SKH
What We Feed to Our Baby Samarah
After I published “Please Don’t Feed My Baby,” I received so many comments and messages. I loved hearing all your stories and different perspectives. As promised, and because so many people ask me daily, today I’m sharing with you what we feed to our baby Samarah.
Many things on this list are fairly typical, but some definitely are not. And I like that about us.
For the record, Samarah is (currently) a living, breathing human consumption tank. Some days I think she’ll eat us out of house and home. But she is also a typical toddler in the sense that she goes through phases with food….she eats similar things over-and-over and then she’s done with it for awhile. All of this is perfectly okay.
What We Feed to Our Baby Samarah
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*I’m not breaking these down by breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks because the truth is that we don’t have a standard “breakfast meal” or lunchbox. Most of the items below are Organic (especially any on the Dirty Dozen list).
- ‘Nanna Oats (or a version of them)
- green olives
- chicken apple sausage
- bone broth
- sardines
- organic black bean spaghetti
- bananas
- cod liver oil
- applesauce
- turkey
- peanut butter + other nut butters (in fact, I named one after her!)
- Coconut Manna
- strawberries
- tuna
- homemade pancakes (Coconut Manna Chip Pancakes)
- bread (Dave’s Killer Bread or Alpine Valley
)
- raw honey
- various oils: coconut oil (her favorite), hemp oil, olive oil, red palm oil
- riced cauliflower
- salmon
- milk = almond milk (almond milk + water only) + goat milk + coconut milk
- baby red potatoes (she likes them with Ghee butter
, and she tolerates the Ghee just fine)
- sweet potatoes
- mint chocolate ice cream pops (from my summer eats, treats & desserts ebook)
- beef
- chicken and chicken liver
- green beans
- Luna & Larry’s Mint Galactica
- organic squeeze packs
- squashes of all sorts
- quinoa, plain or quinoa with honey, almond milk and cinnamon (thanks, Jen!)
- blueberries
- Chia Seed
pudding
- homemade JELLO
- lemons
- smoothies (made with about any and every fruit and vegetable possible, sometimes blended with hemp protein
)
- beans
- ham
- kale chips (she loved them, but couldn’t grasp the texture)
- cod
- AIP Bread
- avocado
- apples (chomping on with her daddy)
{I am feverishly trying to get her to love eggs. Sadly, she still does not.}
This is the bulk of what she currently eats, and what she currently loves to eat. Every chance I get, we try new things. I want Samarah to love food for what it is without the need to pump chemicals, additives, and other unnecessary ingredients. I never want to be the mother who has to “trick her” into eating fruit, vegetables, and other nutrient dense foods.
I realize that when she’s big enough, she’ll be choosing her own foods. And that’s okay.
For now, it’s my responsibility to give her the very best I can with the knowledge I have so she keeps on growing and thriving like the beautiful butterfly she is turning out to be.
p.s. The above list is one reason why 99% of the time I will never work with baby food brands and companies. If you notice, most of what we do are whole, real foods. I have chosen this over “baby food” for the most part, and I think it serves my family and your families best for me to be honest about what we do and to not be the “baby product mama” for a few extra bucks:) Take it for what it’s worth to you.
Xox,
SKH
Please Don’t Feed My Baby
Please don’t feed my baby.
These are words you will rarely ever hear me say, but words I think almost daily.
Samarah cannot have dairy right now. If it were up to me, she would have raw milk poured over her “oats, boats and bugs” oatmeal, Organic yogurt with fruit and raw cheese at night with her daddy.
This is not me forcing my limitations upon her. This is reality; she is intolerant to dairy.
Please Don’t Feed My Baby
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People feed my baby for two reasons:
- Out of the kindness of their heart
- Because they think I don’t let her be “normal”
In the case of the former, I always understand. I just have to set very clear reminders about the dairy factor.
For the latter, patience runs thin.
I can’t count the number of times people have said to me, “Oh, I feel so bad for her….she can’t have Girl Scout Cookies,” or “C’mon let her be normal and have Cheetos.”
I used to (almost) agree, until I realized that there is nothing sad about the fact that Samarah cannot eat processed, chemical-filled junk. In America, we reward our children with things other countries ban.
And the next question, of course, is always,
Then what does she eat?
I know it may come as a shock to many, but Samarah eats things she loves – really loves – daily.
I spend a lot of time preparing food for her, and I spend even more time racking my brain around how to make her things she loves, but that also fit within how I think she will thrive. These are not only hypotheticals but instead, they are realities. She was born at 2.5 pounds and she has indeed thrived in ways doctors sometimes can’t believe.
I ask myself often, “How is this, and how are these ways any different than the mother who insists you not feed her baby due to a peanut or shellfish allergy?” Our children all have special circumstances for which we are not held liable to justify to anyone or anything. They are choices we make because we know what’s best for them at any given moment.
Just as my medical records and reasons why I choose to live in the way in which I do are personal so is the way in which we have chosen to feed baby Samarah.
Samarah has no complaints. (Mint Chocolate Pops – dairy, gluten, grain, soy, corn and refined-sugar free – from my summer eats, treats & desserts ebook)
And I am perfectly confident being an alternative mama.
So what does she currently eat? Click HERE to grab it.
Updated in 2017: And then I had a toddler with gut issues, and this all became very real. Click HERE to read Toddler Gut Issues.
Xox,
SKH