CHFA (Canadian Health Food Association) hosted western Canada’s largest natural health and organics trade event at the Vancouver Convention Centre this past weekend.
The opening keynote of the conference was Lisa Oz of The Lisa Oz Show. She engaged us with insights on the path to improving yourself, your health, your relationships, and your life. Sponsored by Holy Crap, Lisa is a New York Times Best Selling Author with her book, ”US: Transforming Ourselves and the Most Relationships That Matter Most“.
She inspired us to get moving towards a life of happiness with her experiences and practical advice. Here are the 3 key points to sum it up:
1. Self Observation: Take time to observe yourself; you are not your emotions
2. Kindness: Show acts of kindness to yourself, family, friends, and others in your life
3. Gratitude: Exercise in saying thank you and see the lighter side of negative situations
The founding editor of the popular HealthCastle.com, Gloria Tsang, was front row with us at the conference. Health Castle is a great resource for anyone looking for nutritional advice from registered dieticians – they know what they’re talking about! Follow @HealthCastleGlo for health tips you can rely on!
The tasty part came at the CHFA trade show. It was a spectacular showcase of the newest healthy food products available to Canadians. We noticed a big increase in organic, nonGMO, and BAP free products as well as foods for all diets including gluten free, wheat free, yeast free, vegan, kosher, and halal. We can definitely say that these new products don’t taste diet-restricted – they are delicious!
The top trends we saw at the event are:
Conveniently healthy
Health and convenience are starting to converge with the large variety of healthier options out on the Canadian market. While fast food is technically a piece of fruit or vegetable, the ubiquitous understanding of “fast food” carries an unhealthy connotation. Food companies at the event recognize the need for convenient foods that are also good for the body.
Cookin’ Greens offers fresh, 100% natural frozen dark leafy vegetables including kale, rapini, and spinach. From farm to frozen in 6 hours, it’s like picking vegetables right from a garden. They taste great with a little garlic and olive oil.
Environmentally-friendly packaging
With the growing awareness of the environment, healthy consumers also want a healthy planet to live in. We were thrilled to see an increase in eco-friendly packaging using recyclable materials and post-consumer waste. This helps to minimize waste – better for the earth, better for you – and the package designs are also captivating!
New World Natural Foods makes certified organic products, from nut butters and granola to the crowd-favourite gluten-free Bliss Balls. Their wide range of products, all made in BC, have eco-friendly packaging – something the company has been doing for many years!
Gluten-free products… that don’t taste gluten-free!
Martin’s Marvelous Crisps brought out the ‘love bug’ in us as our tastebuds fell head over heels with their NEW gourmet, wheat free, and nut free cookies. Let’s not forget about the cute new design on their box! Remember: Eat, Love, and Share :)
Organic & nonGMO
Sunrise Soya was sampling its new ‘StirFry – Tofu in Sauce‘ line that makes eating healthy fast and convenient. They also have their ‘Soyganic Tofu‘ line, one of the best-tasting organic, gluten free, nonGMO, vegan tofu on the market.
Natures Path showed us their new crunchy granola bars with deliciously healthy flavours such as Honey Oat Crunch Flax Plus and Apple Pie Crunch Chia Plus. Always organic and nonGMO, Nature’s Path also makes products for special diets such as gluten-free and low sodium. If you didn’t already know, Nature’s Path recently donated $500,000 to support mandatory labeling of GM/GMO food products in North America. Find out more at JustLabelIt.Org
Innovative Digital Experience
We saw a rise of food companies utilizing digital and mobile to engage with consumers. Companies, especially packaged foods, are seeing the benefits of social media as a cost-effective way to directly reach consumers. Most importantly, they tell us that it works!
The biggest concern for companies we heard was how to get consumers to know about their products before picking them up. With so many healthy products out there, it’s hard for consumers to know which one is right for them.
One initiative that stood out includes Enjoy Life Foods. Their gluten-free products, free of the 8 most common allergen, are a part of KlutchClub, a website that ships out a monthly package of healthy products to members. We love that this allows them to reach curious consumers directly, have them try the product, and (hopefully) benefit from positive word-of-mouth that grows exponentially on social media.
As always, we enjoyed doing live social media coverage on Twitter with all the CHFA members. Check out photos of other great products we found at CHFA Conference and Trade Show on our Facebook gallery.
Tags: canadian health food, CHFA, dr. oz, gluten-free cookies, health castle, health trends, holy crap, just label it, lisa oz, nongmo
This past weekend was a celebration for mothers and Mother Nature. The annual EPIC Expo held at Vancouver Convention Centre showcased the best in sustainable products that enable us to enjoy healthier lives while caring for the environment.
