This post was sponsored by NOW as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
As most of you know, I’m on the keto diet and when I first started, all the research told me that taking the right supplements were crucial. I remember browsing online and ordering all my supplements and most of them happened to be from NOW Foods. So you can imagine my shock when I got the email from NOW Foods inviting me to visit them and celebrate their 50th anniversay — I couldn’t turn down the opportunity!
So before I give you a quick recap of my Chicago trip, let’s talk about my new favorite keto sweetners — more after the jump!
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I’ve been testing out sweeteners throughout my keto journey and I can honestly say, it’s all about your own personal preference. I’ve tried stevia blends, erythritol blends and pure sugar-free sweeteners. I feel like each sweetener has its own unique taste — each for a different purpose. Sometimes certain blends have more erythritol or more stevia and some have varying sweetness and aftertastes. I found that certain sweeteners taste best with certain drinks and others taste better for baking.
Anyway, I’ve been missing the Fall coffee drinks I used to get at my local coffee shop. Although I love my americanos with a splash of heavy cream, I sometimes miss pumpkin lattes and chai tea lattes too! So when I tried all the different Better Stevia sweeteners in Chicago, I knew I could enjoy my fall drinks again. Here are a few of my fave Better Stevia flavors for Fall and the holiday season:
Another sweetener that blew my mind, was NOW Foods Sugarless Sugar. It replaced my previous fave granulated sweetener because it has no aftertaste. It’s also a one-to-one sugar replacement making it easy for baking. I’ve used it in coffee and it tastes SO good. I’m just waiting for them to come out with packets so I can start bringing it with me to coffee shops. 🙂
On to the Chicago recap!
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DAY 1
We broke out into teams for an “Iron Chef Challenge” where we had to make a holiday dish and drink using NOW Foods. I’ve never been in a cooking competition before! Our team made an anti-inflammatory “stuffing” using the Q Cups with raisins and ginger. For our drink, we made a sugar-free apple mocktail using Better Stevia in Maple. We garnished the drink with cinnamon, Sugarless Sugar, and an apple slice.
A lot of the teams made such beautiful and delicious dishes, and to my surprise, we ended up winning. Woo hoo!
I was worried that our dinner wouldn’t have anything keto friendly, but low and behold, I had salad and lots of salad to choose from. 🙂
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DAY 2
We started the day bright and early with a kickboxing class (6:30 local time or 4:30 PST, ah!), which I’ve never done before! The workout wasn’t as bad as I thought, but with the constant kickboxing moves, it’s easy to see how it’s a full body workout. I made sure to hydrate with NOW’s BCAA, which turned out to be a life-saver for this jam-packed day.
After the workout, NOW set up a smoothie bar. I tried to make it as keto friendly as I could by including almonds, berries, MCT oil, and flax seeds. We had so many ingredients to choose from! I haven’t had a smoothie in a while (something I def miss), so it was nice to treat myself and not feel guilty about it.
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Next, we toured the NOW Foods factory where we had a chance to see how all their products are made. They sell more than 1,400 products from beauty, essential oils, sports nutrition, natural foods, and supplements too! Their attention to quality ingredients and quality products were astounding. So much care goes into each product and it takes them a while to develop new products because quality is that important to them!
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Our last event was all about their beauty department, which you probably would have guessed, was what I was most excited about. I learned that an average woman absorbs 200 chemicals through skincare so they stressed that their products are cruelty-free, all-natural, and affordable too — no parabens, phthalates, petrolatum, mineral oil, etc. We ended up making a sports soak and a refreshing facial mist, which was super easy with just a few ingredients. It just goes to show that it’s easy to create your own natural beauty products.
I missed the last part of the event because I had a flight to catch, but I had such a great time getting to know everyone! A huge thank you to NOW Foods and Influence Central for organizing the event. You’ll definitely be seeing more of NOW Foods on the blog. 🙂
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