Living Maxwell
Company Stories
Natural Products Expo West, the largest organic trade show in the U.S., was held last week in Anaheim and attracted more than 65,000 visitors.
I came across some fantastic innovation at the show — a handful of products that I had never seen before and others that brought me back to my childhood.
Here are my Top 5 Organic Products of Expo West 2023:
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to share with you great-tasting organic products that are also making a big difference in the world.
One such product that I recently discovered at Whole Foods Tribeca is Sol Simple Solar Dried Bananas.
Produced in Nicaragua, the organic bananas come in thin spears and are dried indoors using a solar drying technology, which enables Sol Simple to reduce carbon emissions.
According to the company, traditional outdoor drying techniques take 2-3 days, expose the fruit to mold and bacteria, and allow the fruit to oxidize.
A message from Tradin Organic
For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.
The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
When I review organic food products, I do my best to make sure that they are available either online or at retail locations throughout much of the country, so readers can go buy them.
Sometimes, however, my excitement about a product is so strong that I have to make an exception.
Over the Thanksgiving holidays, not only was I fortunate to have eaten at Dr. Andrew Weil’s restaurant True Food Kitchen for the very first time, but I was also lucky enough to have discovered Ozuké kimchi by the Esoteric Food Company.
For the most part, sauerkraut, kimchi and other fermented foods is a very regional business.
So, wherever you go in the U.S., there tends to be a different local producer of these foods.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
Earlier this year, I wrote a post talking about the tremendous health benefits of black sesame seeds.
I love putting them on quinoa, millet, and on my salads, and they add a whole new dimension to whatever food that I am eating.
Since Brazil nut milk and cashew milk are two drinks that I make quite often, I started asking myself “What if I made a milk out of organic black sesame seeds?”
My immediate thought was that the taste would be too harsh or too strong, and that I would need to use a lot of honey or organic palm sugar to even it out.
Over the past week or so, I have been experimenting with black sesame seed milk and much to my surprise, I have been thrilled with the results.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
Having recently returned from Natural Products Expo West, a very intense and long five days visiting hundreds of trade show booths and meeting with dozens and dozens of people, one thing is very clear — I felt incredibly fortunate to have stayed in a Pure Room.
Launched by a company called Pure Wellness, a Pure Room is an extremely unique hotel offering that is addressing the needs of wellness-minded travelers in a way that I have never seen before. For people who place a serious priority on health, such as myself and many Living Maxwell readers, it is reassuring to know that this lifestyle can be maintained when on the road.
And now that I have stayed in a Pure Room on three separate occasions — most recently at two different hotels in the Los Angeles area for Natural Products Expo West — these hotel rooms have completely changed the way that I think about travel and how I book my accommodations.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
In a previous post, I wrote that milk is the most important organic product that a family can buy.
But milk is by no means the only item that people should be concerned about.
The worst offender on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list are apples.
Forbes magazine recently did an excellent piece talking about five reasons to eat organic apples, and I wanted to share the highlights with you and provide commentary. To read the full article, click here.
Reason #1 – The average conventionally grown apple has more pesticide residue on it than any other fruit or vegetable.
Data from the Environmental Working Group showed that 98% of 700 apples tested had pesticides on them and that 48 different pesticides appeared. WOW!!!!
A message from E3Live
The best testimonial that I can give is that I drink this every single day, as it impacts my mood in an incredibly positive way.
E3Live + BrainON is certified organic, fresh-frozen AFA (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) with a concentrated, aqueous, organic extract of Phenylethylamine and Phycocyanin.
Living Maxwell
Must-Read
The evidence as to why people should choose organic over conventional just keeps rolling in.
In a brand new study just published by researchers at Newcastle University in England, it was found that organic fruits, vegetables, and grains contained higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of pesticides compared to the same conventionally-grown food.
Some details of the study include:
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
I just love reading announcements like this. Researchers at Washington State University just released the results of their study of strawberries and concluded that organic is superior to conventional in several different categories.
Not that this is any great surprise to me but having empirical evidence is always beneficial.
The study, which was published in PLoS One, came to the following conclusions about organic strawberries:
– Longer shelf life and greater dry matter.
– Higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.
– Sweeter taste, better flavor and appearance.
