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natural products expo west
Healthy, Ecofriendly Food: What's Coming Your Way in 2010
At Natural Products Expo West, an increasing number of healthy, organic choices points to healthy trends for 2010.
By Leah Zerbe
Topics: organic food
Look for USDA-certified organic food and body-care products; favor products with reduced packaging and food with no GMO ingredients.
RODALE NEWS, ANAHEIM, CA—With the bulk of 2009 layoffs affecting men, more women are becoming the family breadwinners. But they're still the ones in grocery stores pushing shopping carts and, well, buying the bread, too—women make up to 85 percent of all consumer purchases. Which is why so many of this year's new, greener products on display over the weekend at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA, are being marketed toward women.
THE DETAILS: The event is the largest trade show of its kind in the United States. More than 56,000 attendees, many of them buyers and distributors who determine what will wind up on store shelves this year, visited the show's 3,000-plus exhibitor booths. They saw and sampled countless new and upcoming products with a "natural" spin, everything from organic burritos and glass baby bottles to customized produce bags to extend the life of fruits and vegetables.
WHAT IT MEANS: Despite a faltering economy, the organic industry continued to hold its ground in 2009, with sales of organic food and products growing by 5 percent. (Overall growth was measured at just 2.2 percent, so organics' growth was double that of conventional products.) The Fresh Ideas Group, an agency specializing in new-product trends, identified some of the trends for 2010, and predicted that this will be a year of women voting for healthier choices with their dollars (although they'll sometimes send men to the store with a shopping list). Other predictions for this year include the rise of "non-precious organic," that is, lower prices for private-label organic food, and also "nutritionally charged foods." That is, foods with fewer processed ingredients and more whole grains.
Read on for three key trends in natural products that will affect you and your family.
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Organic Growing Up
My father farmed his land as well as worked his regular job as a Railroad Engineer. He never used pesticides and was very much against it. So, I and my three sisters and two brothers grew up organically. He used natural fertilizer; it didn't come in bags from the hardware store; our animals produced the fertilizer. He plowed with either our "work horse, Charlie" or our "mule, Jack". It's a shame children can't grow up knowing of
such things, a natural, organic, and wonderful way of life.
His crops and his garden were always very productive as well as
healthy. We had a cow and Mama made butter. She traded butter for figs from a lady down the road. She sold butter to a couple of other neighbors. We had homemade ice cream from the cow's cream. How many people can say this? Besides the animals, our place had the following fruits and nuts: pecan orchard, apple orchard, two pear trees, wild cherries, blackberries, pecan trees beside the house, and also "poke" salad in the spring (before the berries). I always asked for an apple pie for my birthday instead of a cake; I've always been partial to homemade fruit pies. It was a good time to grow up. So, I can tell my grandchildren I'm a little organic Grammie! I'm glad to see more stores carrying organic foods. I shop mostly at Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage. However, Kings, Safeway and Albertson's now carry a few organic items also.
organic products
The article "What's Coming Your Way in 2010" is music to my ears. I have always tried to shop seeking organic products. I am raising my 10-year-old grandson and want to have him develop
mentally and physically as healthy as possible. I am 73 years old and shopped organically before it was fashionable. I'm thrilled that so many people are feeling the same.
Thank you for all your positive articles.