It has been over a week since I have been back from Orlando and boy did I have lots of fun those few days I was out there! I enjoyed my time at the Wow Summit conference, my press trips, and I couldn't resist I had to do a little shopping and stop by Downtown Disney.
The conference started on Friday, November 7 starting off with registration and a Poolside Cocktail Party. I didn't arrive to Orlando until Saturday afternoon and I missed out on a bunch of stuff.
While at the conference, I mainly went to the workshops since there were some interesting topics I wanted to learn about. I only caught the ending of one keynote speaker talking about avoiding using anti-bacterial soaps, buy organic products, filter your tap water, and more.
The workshops I visited were:
Label Reading 101- Hosted by: Jess Kolko, Registered Dietician and Senior Research Analyst at Whole Foods Market.
During this workshop, Jess taught how to decode tricky food labels and find the information we need to know in order to make best choices for my family.
My takeaway from this workshop was I need to start really focusing on the ingredients in my foods. Even though the packaging say fat free and organic that may not even be the case. Also, if the first 3 ingredients says any type of sugar avoid eating that product.
Oh boy....I'm in some serious trouble because I know my foods are filled with sugar. I'll admit, I do glance at food labels but never really took the information to heart but after this workshop I'll start reading my food labels more and reducing eating out all the time too.
What was a complete shocker was when Jess said to avoid using coconut oil for cooking since it is high in saturated fats- ummm what the heck? I really thought that coconut oil is good for you. *Shoulder Shrug*
How to Protect your Family this Cold and Flu Season- Hosted by FluNada
During this workshop, FluNada uncovered all the details surrounding the dreaded cold and flu season, including how the viruses are spread and the preventive measures to take to protect my family.
I have a confession to make; my family and I have never taken the flu shot and never will. We all have never caught the flu before and we rarely get sick (knocks on wood), maybe twice a year. Now, if we feel a cold coming we quickly take a cold medicine and that usually does the trick for us.
The ladies from FluNada said their spray is a homeopathic throat and nasal spray formulated to provide relief from cold and flu-like symptoms naturally without zinc.
The whole time while in this workshop, the ladies from FluNada had people testing out the spray. I chose not to do it and just sit back and watch. Seems like one of the FluNada ladies been spraying way too much FluNada in her mouth and nose because she was so giggly and laughing out loud the whole time (don't get high off your own supply lady, LOL)
GMO, OMG!- Hosted by: Nature's Path EnviroKidz
I got the scoop on genetically modified organisms- what they are, where they are, and how to avoid them.
Did you know that there is about 70% of foods sold in supermarkets contains GMO? YIKES! I guess it is better just to grow our own foods then.
We were given a DVD of the award-winning documentary GMO OMG and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, once I have some down time I will. I also won a book for twitting about the GMO workshop and I haven't had the time to read that either.
For Bloggers: Build Your Blog with Social Media- Hosted by: Amanda Boyarshinov and Kim Vij, Educational Bloggers
Almost everyone has a Pinterest account, but very few pinners have 1.5 million followers. Educational bloggers Kim and Amanda shared need-to know tips on how to take your blog to the next level with the help of platforms like Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
I didn't really takeaway much from this workshop since I pretty much knew the information they were providing. Having beautiful pictures is the key with your blog and on social media and that is why I went out and purchase myself a camera earlier this year which was the best investment I have ever did! My Pinterest needs a little work and I need to start joining apps like ViralTag to pin my posts throughout the day. But I did learn that Pinterest is kind of like Facebook and they both like authentic posts that you post yourself, not from using programs that post for you.
When I didn't see any workshops I was interested in I used that time to talk to different brands and go taste testing. We sure did come out with a lot of samples to bring home. Our favorite snack was the Thinster's Cookie Thins, gluten-free and non-GMO cookies- these cookies are sooooo delicious! We found ourselves eating the whole bag!
I don't drink soda but here is the booth for Zevia Zero Calorie Soda since I have been reading good things about them through other blogger's blogs.
Suja, is a nutritious certified organic, non-GMO, cold pressured juice/smoothie that is really good! Taste like it's freshly juiced from a juicer.
When the conference was concluding Sunday afternoon with a blogger luncheon we didn't stick around although I did sign up for it. We wanted to enjoy our short time in Orlando. We got our swag bag, which by the way was filled to the max with goodies! I feel bad for those who flew by plane because checking that bag in would've cost a pretty penny.
Although my experience with my first conference at Type-A was bad, this conference left me thinking about the foods I'm putting inside my body. During my time in Orlando I did eat very poorly but the conference did keep crossing my mind and made me feel guilty every bite I took.
I'm very happy I took this trip to the Wow Summit conference; it gave me a new perspective on ways to live a much healthier life. I think for now on I need to start stepping outside the box and go to conferences that are not really catered for me so I could learn something new and put it to use. And hey, I may even start blogging more about healthy living.
Have you ever gone to a healthy living conference before?
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