Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A Few of Our Favorite Things


This past weekend, HMN headed up to Boston for the Natural Products Expo East to check out what’s hot in all things natural and organic. It was a fabulous show packed with products from foodstuffs and supplements to personal care items and organic clothing. While some of the companies represented were not so healthy or sustainable on the green spectrum, we were delighted to find many companies operating with an authentic passion and purpose for creating better products for you, for your families, and for the planet. Here are a few of our favorites:

• We were already enamored with our HMN Sponsors Boiron, Motherlove, Organic Spa Magazine, and Organic Valley before ever stepping foot in ExpoEast, but now we love them even more! The integrity and commitment of each of these companies to making healthy products and their sincere passion for helping moms and families is remarkable. We loved meeting Organic Valley farmers from NY who were green and sustainable before it was hip; sharing tips for homeopathic remedies with Boiron; hearing about the exciting projects of Organic Spa Magazine, and embracing the vision and passion of Kathryn Higgins, Motherlove’s founder. We are honored and proud to work with these companies!

• We had fun chatting with Matt Seiler, the founder of Maine Root. Okay, we already love all things Maine but here’s a company that makes healthy, organically sweetened soda that not only tastes great but is fair trade certified. That’s pop you feel good about!

• What respect we have for Badger and their “working mom” program allowing their employees to bring their babes into the office! We loved hearing Bill Whyte’s story of how much fun it made the office to be surrounded by adorable babies while making safe, natural products like their Badger Natural Sunscreen and their Night Night Balm that we use ourselves!

• Looking for some healthy snacks? We were thrilled to discover Sun Cups and Yoga Vive at the Expo. Sun Cups makes a dark chocolate, allergen-free chocolate candy cup filled with organic sunflower butter. As a mom of children with food allergies, these were a huge find. And they taste great, too! Yoga Vive also gave us great samples of crispy, delicious USDA organic apple chips with handy snack packs perfect for lunches!

• Everyone wants to feed their babies healthy food and Yummy Spoonfuls and Happy Baby are two awesome baby food companies making this possible. Organic, whole baby foods that are neatly packaged and filled with nothing but real food. As the kiddos grow, we're sure they will be fans of Mom Made Foods – USDA organic packaged meals with wholesome ingredients. We loved the Cheesy Mac with organic butternut squash and sweet potato!

• We found a new tribe! We love Nubian Heritage products, especially their Mango Butter Lotion that smells divine and uses shea butter to soothe our dry winter skin!

• Do you know Bob? We do and he’s fabulous. That’s Bob Moore (in the picture here with HMN Founder Nancy Massotto) of Bob’s Red Mill – an employee owned company making grains, flours, mixes, and cereals for your family. Their gluten-free line is a regular staple in our pantry!

• Speaking of gluten-free all we can say is WOW! There are so many products out there now for all the parents struggling with food allergies. Who did we love? The delicious GF breads and products by Udi’s, the baking mixes by Purely Elizabeth, Pamela's Products' yummy cookies, and the snack bars by Larabar.

• Want to buy bulk from a company that walks the walk? Tierra Farms has certified organic dried fruit, nuts, and fair trade coffee, has solar panels on their facility and an organic garden and chickens – just for their employees.

• Did you know that xylitol is not only a natural sweetener that can help reduce cavities, but is also used by Xlear in sinus spray can help alleviate dryness and help with seasonal allergies? We learned a great deal from Dr. Alonzo H. Jones, D.O. and Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Texas Tech University Medical School, about the many health benefits of xylitol.

• We may be healthy, but we still enjoy our treats. Two companies made us feel really good about our habits – Glee Gum and VerMints. Glee Gum makes their addictive products from sustainably harvested rainforest chicle while VerMints sweetens their mints with natural Vermont maple syrup instead of artificial ingredients or high fructose corn syrup.

We enjoyed meeting all of these fabulous companies (and more!) and hope you will too!

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