Real Food Making a Real Difference
During our Real Food series, we have covered the benefits of eating and cooking Real Food. It is clear the nutritional value of Real Food is superior to that of processed foods. But if you are on our site, you probably already know that. What about when it goes beyond that? Can Real Food make a real difference? We think so and so does today's guest blogger, Meredith from In Sock Monkey Slippers. We invite you to read Meredith's story about the impact Real Food has had on her daughter's health and wellbeing. And then head into the kitchen and make her recipe for Carrot Apple Ginger Yogurt.
"I've always had a passion for food and cooking fresh but it wasn't until I had a family that I saw the importance of it all. Five years ago, I had a beautiful baby girl. She was born 16 weeks early at 24 weeks gestation and weighed only 1 pound. A hard road was ahead of her but she came through it fighting all the way. Her biggest and most severe complication to overcome was a digestion problem called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening condition where the small bowel dies. She pulled through like a champ but for the first few years we had to strictly monitor what foods she ate. At the advice of her gastroenterologist, we stayed away from processed foods, additives, and dyes that would only cause her pain because she was so sensitive. We mostly did this anyway but now we were on alert. It became shocking how often anything processed contained a long list of man-made additives and it became even more apparent how important it was to choose fresh real foods. As my daughter got older she relied on every single calorie. At the age of 3 she weighed less than an 18-month-old. To give her anything processed was a joke as it did nothing nourishing for her. What was the point?
Today, she is a healthy and active little girl with a huge palate. She enjoys real foods and is far from a picky eater — something I truly believe has to do with feeding her a wide variety of FRESH foods from the very beginning. I am very thankful for every doctor that had a hand in saving her but I am grateful to her first gastroenterologist for putting me on the real food track and opening my eyes."
"I've always had a passion for food and cooking fresh but it wasn't until I had a family that I saw the importance of it all. Five years ago, I had a beautiful baby girl. She was born 16 weeks early at 24 weeks gestation and weighed only 1 pound. A hard road was ahead of her but she came through it fighting all the way. Her biggest and most severe complication to overcome was a digestion problem called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening condition where the small bowel dies. She pulled through like a champ but for the first few years we had to strictly monitor what foods she ate. At the advice of her gastroenterologist, we stayed away from processed foods, additives, and dyes that would only cause her pain because she was so sensitive. We mostly did this anyway but now we were on alert. It became shocking how often anything processed contained a long list of man-made additives and it became even more apparent how important it was to choose fresh real foods. As my daughter got older she relied on every single calorie. At the age of 3 she weighed less than an 18-month-old. To give her anything processed was a joke as it did nothing nourishing for her. What was the point?
Today, she is a healthy and active little girl with a huge palate. She enjoys real foods and is far from a picky eater — something I truly believe has to do with feeding her a wide variety of FRESH foods from the very beginning. I am very thankful for every doctor that had a hand in saving her but I am grateful to her first gastroenterologist for putting me on the real food track and opening my eyes."
We Want to Hear Your Little Green Pouch Success Stories
Do you ever find yourself wondering, "What did I do before Little Green Pouch?"? If so, we want to hear about it.It may be as simple as a meltdown (or several) averted at the grocery story. Or it could be as life-changing as providing a way for your child with special needs to self-feed and gain independence.
Whatever your LGP story is, we want to hear it. We would love for you to send us stories, photos, videos, you name it. Whether it is funny, cringe-worthy or heart warming, email them to us and we will feature them on our Facebook page and right here on the blog. We can't wait to hear how Little Green Pouch has touched your lives.
What We Learned at The ABC Kids Expo
A couple weeks ago our team exhibited at The ABC Kids Show in Las Vegas. If you are not familiar with The ABC Show, it is one of the largest tradeshows for the baby industry.
None of us had ever done anything like this, so it was quite an adventure and a huge learning experience. We thought we would document what we learned (both the practical and humorous) so we can remember the experience for years to come. Here are our tradeshow tips for rookies:
- Pay extra for the carpet padding. It is worth every penny. Without it, you will be stuck standing on a thin layer of carpet on top of concrete floors. Note: your feet will still hurt no matter what.
- No matter how careful or confident you are, don't drink red wine if you are wearing all white—you WILL eventually spill on yourself.
- Location, location, location. Booth location really does matter. Now that we know the layout and flow of the show, we will pick a booth space with higher traffic next year to make sure we have as many booth visitors as possible.
- We learned what a "line sheet" is and that buyers like paper order forms. But our high-tech iPad set up sure looked cool. :)
- Get creative to get buyers' attention. Just saying, "Hi," doesn't work. One trick we discovered was to read the names on buyers' badges from a distance. As they approached we would address them by name. Every single person would do a double-take and you could see the "Do I know her?" look on their faces. Even if they didn't buy our product, it made them laugh and remember us.
- Wear comfortable shoes. A no brainer, but even if you think a pair of shoes are comfortable for everyday occasions, they may not be for 4 straight days on your feet.
- If you provide candy in your booth, be prepared to eat it all yourself. Let's just say the four of us never want to eat another green, white or teal M&M again.
- Bring extra hands. We were so lucky to have Kerry from eepples join us and he was such a huge help. Between having to construct our entire booth to trips back to the hotel for forgotten items and runs to Kinko's, Kerry was a lifesaver.
- Assembling a mountain of IKEA furniture in one day will lead to serious carpel tunnel.
- The staff at the Courtyard Marriott at the Convention Center are amazing. They were so sweet, helpful and accommodating to our crazy group that included 4 adults, an infant, and a sick toddler.
- Industrial trash cans make great dollies in a pinch.
- Do not try to sell your booth furniture on Craigslist after the show. Otherwise you will have to do this:
- And will look like this after it's all said and done:
- Leave town Friday night right after the show. Apparently no one leaves Vegas on Friday nights:
- Our team is AWESOME!
Until next year, ABC!
Gearapalooza with The BabyGuyNYC and Bump Club and Beyond
We were thrilled to be part of Bump Club and Beyond’s Gearapalooza with The BabyGuy which came to San Francisco this week. Gearapalooza is the "Ultimate Baby Gear and Registry" event for moms and moms-to-be that is touring six cities around the country this year! The San Francisco event took place over two days at Sprout San Francisco, one of our original retail locations.
We had a great time chatting with the moms and dads at the event and loved meeting Jamie Grayson (who, by the way, is just as hilarious in person as he is online). Mom, dads and little ones all enjoyed Little Green Pouches filled with an amazing Organic Late Harvest Peach with Thyme mixture from our friends at Fresh Baby Bites. The recipe and pouches were a hit—just take a look.
Little Green Pouch Hits Maggie & Melissa's Home Town (And Maybe Yours Too)!
One thing you may not know about Maggie and Melissa is that they are both originally from Woodland, California, a small town located about 15 miles northwest of Sacramento. Although not big on the map, Woodland is home to one of Forbes Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For—Nugget Market. Nugget Market ranked #34 on the Forbes' list in 2012, and has previously ranked as high as #8! Forbes notes Nugget's excellent employee wages, and the fact that employees look forward to coming to work at a place that feels like a close knit family. Who can't get behind that? And when you add in the fact that this family-owned business (est. 1926) remains committed to the guiding principles of its founders - high quality products and low prices - you can understand why Nugget is the kind of company that makes Maggie and Melissa proud to call Woodland their home town.
Maggie and Melissa knew from the very beginning that Little Green Pouch would be a perfect fit for Nugget. So you can imagine their excitement when Nugget agreed! Earlier this month the first pouches made their way to the shelves of the nine Nugget Markets around northern California. You can find Little Green Pouch on the shelves of Nugget Markets in Woodland, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove, El Dorado Hills, and Vacaville. For address and contact information, click here or visit our find a store near you page.
If you live in the area, we hope you will stop in to Nugget to pick up some pouches and to support this wonderful company. Growing up, Maggie and Melissa never would have imagined that a product they invented would be found on Nugget's shelves. It has truly come full-circle, and they couldn't be more thrilled.
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