Living Maxwell
Company Stories
For as long as I have been covering the organic food industry and giving out Natural Products Expo West awards, it has always been a Top 5 list.
However, due to the incredible number of fantastic products that I saw at the 2024 show and at the urging of my good friend Liana Werner-Gray, I have expanded the list to a Top 10.
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
For those of us who are fans of Dr. Bronner’s, the company’s products have a constant presence in our households, and we use them to clean our bodies and physical surroundings on a daily basis.
While this is unquestionably a critical component of our lives and imperative to maintain good health, cleaning transcends removing whatever is on our skin, on our clothes or on our kitchen countertops. It also affects our emotional well-being and directly impacts how we show up in the world.
And this is precisely why Lisa Bronner’s Soap & Soul: A Practical Guide to Minding Your Home, Your Body and Your Spirit with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps spoke to me so much, as it squarely touches on the importance of cleaning both the tangible and intangible — an essential formula for a meaningful life.
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
For as long as I have been covering the organic food industry, I have attended Natural Products Expo East, with my first show in Boston in 2009.
So, it is very bittersweet to report that after last week’s show in Philadelphia, there will be no more Expo East moving forward. New Hope, the organizer of the event, has decided to launch something new in 2024 called Newtopia Now.
Living Maxwell
Must-Read
When people ask why they should be eating organic, there are several answers.
First, organic prohibits the use of super-toxic pesticides, such as glyphosate.
Not only is glyphosate the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and the most widely-used chemical in the world, but the State of California has said that glyphosate causes cancer!
Even more shocking is that 93% of Americans have tested positive for glyphosate. So, we need to be doing everything we can to avoid ingesting this dangerous chemical.
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.
Organic Insider
Company Stories
Last week, Naked Juice agreed to settle a very important class action lawsuit which accused the company of deceptive labeling.
The primary basis of the lawsuit stemmed from the company’s use of the words “All Natural” on products that contained Archer Daniels Midland’s Fibersol-2 (“a soluble corn fiber that acts as a low-calorie bulking agent”), fructooligosaccharides (an alternative sweetener), other artificial ingredients, such as calcium pantothenate (synthetically produced from formaldehyde), and genetically-modified soy.
Since these ingredients are either genetically-engineered or synthetically produced and do not exist in nature, it is completely misleading to consumers for these juices to claim to be “All Natural.”
As part of the settlement, Naked Juice, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, has agreed to remove the label “All Natural” from all of its juices and to pay a $9 million settlement to the class action group.
Living Maxwell
Better Choices
While I promote organic food as much as I can and want to help the industry prosper, I also feel a need to educate and inform my readers.
Without question, organic food is the healthiest food that exists and is something that I believe can feed the planet. However, sometimes the packaging of organic food products is not always the best.
I have talked a lot in the past about my aversion to plastic bottles. Aside from the fact that they are horrible for the environment, they are also hormone (endocrine) disruptors.
Organic Insider
Better Choices
True, organic is slightly more expensive. This is primarily because it is not subsidized by the government in the same way that conventional food is.
But what rarely gets mentioned is that organic also offers superior nutrition.
In two research reports recently completed by The Organic Center, which examined the nutritional differences of organically farmed grains compared to “natural” and conventional varieties, the authors concluded that commercially produced organic breads are more nutrient-rich, contain more whole food ingredients and have fewer preservatives and additives than conventional breads.
Living Maxwell
Personal
As I wrote about the other day, it was during college when I went on antidepressants. Each day was getting harder than the next. The sky was growing darker and darker. It was a major struggle just to survive.
I was overwhelmed with a variety of responsibilities — school work, in which I seemed to be drowning; the tennis team, which occupied several hours of my time per day, not including constant traveling to other schools for matches and tournaments; and my fraternity, something in which I was very actively involved.
With my voice becoming more heavy during each phone conversation, my parents suggested that I go visit a local psychiatrist to see if he could help. More specifically, they thought that antidepressants were the answer. After a brief chat with the doctor, he diagnosed me with a mild case of depression and believed that Prozac would indeed improve my situation.
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
Better Choices
Recently, I got an e-mail from a reader asking how she would know if she is eating genetically-modified soy or not.
Figuring that many other people may have that same question, I wanted to explain how to avoid eating genetically-modified food (GMOs) and the things that you need to look out for.
#1 – Buy USDA Certified Organic Products GMOs are prohibited in organic food. Therefore, look for products that contain the USDA certified organic seal.
Even though GMOs are prohibited in organic, organic crops can be contaminated by GMOs through cross-pollination and drift. (That is why the proliferation of GMOs is a real threat to organic farming. The co-existence of GM-crops and organic crops is simply not possible, despite what our government would like us to believe.)
USDA rules require that organic certifiers test samples from at least 5% of the operations they certify on an annual basis.
Living Maxwell
Company Stories
(The brain trust of Christie & Co — from l. to r., Alissa Sears, vice president of strategy & navigation; Gillian Christie, founder/CEO)
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When people think of the pioneers in the natural products industry, the founders of iconic CPG brands often come to mind.
However, what cannot be forgotten is that a select number of very savvy people were working behind the scenes to popularize these companies, in the media and with consumers, through storytelling. And without them, the success of the organic food sector would not be where it is today.
One such individual is Gillian Christie, the founder/CEO of Christie & Co., a marketing and communications firm based in Santa Barbara, CA. Along with her daughter Alissa Sears, vice president of strategy & navigation, Gillian leads this full-service agency, which has just celebrated its 30th anniversary.
