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Part 2 of my recap discusses some great food finds during Paleo F(x). If you missed Part 1 of my recap, you can read about it here.

Paleo F(x) 2014 wasn’t only about presentations and panel discussions. Attending Paleo F(x) gave me a chance to sample many grain-free, gluten-free and Paleo friendly food options.

The main section of the conference floor area was set up with different booths that allowed conference attendees to sample products brought by different vendors. There were a lot of vendors, and below are some of the items that caught my eye:

Choffy:

Choffy is made out of roasted cacao beans, which are then ground up and brewed to make a chocolate drink. Choffy has roasts that are made from cacao beans from all over the world, including Ghana, the Ivory Cost, and the Dominican Republic. The chocolate drink can be made using a french press or coffee brewer. The owners of Choffy were there the entire weekend to hand out samples, and I purchased a bag of Ivory Coast Choffy to take home after sampling and enjoying the flavor profile of this lighter roast.

Eating Evolved:

Eating Evolved makes chocolate bars with minimal real food ingredients (gluten free, soy free, dairy free chocolate bars made with fair trade cacao and none GMO ingredients) that are delicious, and left me coming back for more samples each day.

The company’s motto is, “It’s food, not candy.” I can get behind that!

I tried the 72% dark chocolate bar with sea salt and almonds. The sea salt added an additional depth of flavor I really enjoyed. When I came back to purchase some sea salt and almond bars to take back home with me, they only had one bar left. I ended up buying that bar, as well as two of the 85% dark chocolate bars to enjoy.

Jilz Gluten Free Crackersz:

These crackers were legit, and very flavorful. They are made out of almond flour, organic sesame seeds, organic flax seeds, organic chia seeds, organic tapioca flour, apple cider vinegar and seasonings. They come in three different flavors – Mediterranean, Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper, and Tuscan. I ended up purchasing a package of the sea salt and cracked pepper crackers.

Kosmic Kombucha:

For those of you not familiar with this drink, Kombucha is a drink typically made from sweetened tea that has been fermented, and has been shown to have a variety of health benefits (Click here for more information on the health benefits of Kombucha).

Despite the drink’s health benefits, I have not fully embraced this drink into my everyday lifestyle for several reasons. First, Kombucha is pretty pricey, selling anywhere from $3 to $4 dollars per bottle. Second, Kombucha has a very distinct taste, and until that weekend I had not tried a brand of Kombuch that I enjoyed. During the conference, I sampled several flavors offered by Kosmic Kombuch, and ended up really enjoying the Mint Julep flavor. It was so good in fact, that I stocked up on several bottles to take back home with me.

Base Culture:

I’ve tried many different store bought gluten-free/grain-free breads, and tried my hand at making several different sandwich bread recipes. Some recipes are better than others, but I have only sampled one or two recipes that really stand out in my mind as being good, at least until Paleo F(x). Initially, I had only casually strolled by the Base Culture booth with no intentions of stopping. However, I decided to picked up piece of bread to sample as I was walking past. I didn’t have high expectations when I popped it into my mouth, but after i actually tasted the texture and flavor and realized how good it was, I slowed down and decided to take a better look at the company. I was able to talk with the owner to find out more about the company and its products.

The company is based in Florida, and offers for shipping grain-free and gluten-free products that compliment a Paleo lifestyle. The sandwich bread offered by Base Culture was delicious, and actually tasted like a (somewhat denser) version of sandwich bread. Even more amazing were the almond butter brownies (pictured in the front board shown below).

I wanted to sample those brownies every time I pasted by the booth, but I resisted (for the most part). Unfortunately, the company’s owner, Jordann Windschauer, didn’t have any products for sale. She came to Paleo F(x) to promote her company and get the company’s name out, and had only planned to offer samples of her products. I kept trying to get her to agree to sell me whatever products she had leftover after Paleo F(x) had ended, but because she wasn’t set up to sell anything that weekend, it wasn’t an option. However, Jordann was kind enough to look for me the last day and personally give me several additional samples of the almond butter brownies to take home. Yeah, that pretty much just won me over 😉

I knew I couldn’t go to Austin during Paleo F(x) without a trip to Picnik, a coffee shop/restaurant that offers Paleo/Primal/Grain-Free/Gluten-free food and drink options.

I swung by there during a lunch break, and was so glad I did. I got to meet popular blogger Liz Wolfe from Real Food Liz, who was only going to be at Paleo F(x) for one day due to a scheduling conflict. She was just as funny, witty and kind in person as she is on the weekly Balanced Bites podcast she co-hosts with Diane Sanfilippo.

She was also gracious enough to pose for a picture.

After stepping into the restaurant to look at menu, I knew I had come to the right place when I saw this:

I wasn’t very hungry, so I decided to go with a chai tea latte made with butter, MCT oil, and grass fed whey-protein.

There is so much more about Paleo F(x) that I want to share with you guys. In the final installment of my recap (I know it’s a lot, but I couldn’t fit it all in two posts), I’ll share my experience meeting some of my favorite bloggers during the conference.

Have any of you tried out the products I mentioned in this post? If so, I’d love to read about your experiences trying them out in the comments section.

Last month, April 11-13, 2014, I attended the third annual Paleo F(x) conference in Austin, Texas at the Palmer Events Center. What exactly is the Paleo F(x) conference? It’s a chance for people in the Paleo community to gather together to learn more about the Paleo lifestyle, meet other Paleo enthusiasts, and learn how to lead a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

The conference discussions spanned a variety of topics, including: (i) a focus on eating real, whole, unprocessed, nutrient dense foods; (ii) engaging our bodies with a different exercise methodologies; (iii) maintaining a well-rounded health approach by focusing on proper sleeping habits; and (iv) living a life focused on overall health and wellness.

During the three days of the Paleo F(x) conference, I was able to attend an exercise skills workshop, and variety of panel discussions and cooking demonstrations.

It was fun watching some of my favorite bloggers creating their culinary creations in front of a crowd:

Juli Bauer and Vanessa Barajas whipping up teriyaki beef stir fry with cauliflower rice.

Danielle Walker prepared ginger chicken and broccoli:

All of the meals looked amazing. Too bad attendees didn’t get to sample any culinary treats made during the cooking demonstrations

There were also multiple discussion panels each day, and multiple stages for each panel during the three-day conference. Below are some of the panel discussions I sat in on:

Ancestral Health For Women: discussion of Paleo lifestyle principles specifically as it relates to the needs and circumstances of modern women (from left to right: Dr. Ruthie Harper, Dr. Lauren Noel, Dr. Deborah Gordon, Stefani Ruper and Diane Sanfilippo).

Fairies, Unicorns & Paleo Cookies: description – “determining the place of cheats and treats in the Paleo lifestyle (from left to right, Juli Bauer, Bill Stayley, Steven Wright and Dallas Hartwig).

Think Tank: Catalyst for Change: description – “No more sitting on the sidelines, get in the game: Share the health…what begins here will change the world” (from left to right: Abel James, Diana Rogers, Robb Wolf, Dr. Shili Mehta and Roger Dickerman).

Beyond Food: description – “Health is about more than food. This panel covered the oft-neglected topics of sleep, stress, mindfulness, and learning to find balance” (from left to right: Kyle Maynard, Darryl Edwards, Dr. Dan Stickler, Kendall Kendrick and Steve Kirsch).

All of the panels I attended were informative, and brought a wide variety of perspectives. Not everyone agreed on each point of view for all of the panels, but for the most part I heard with each discussion topic a respect for people’s differing points of view while engaging in lively debate.

There were several movement workshops offered. Attendees were offered sessions for improving kettlebell work, core training, technique for the Olympic lifts, and even general play outside. I attended a skill workshop focusing on improving back squat and dead lift technique, hosted by Jim Laird. Jim Laird is an elite level powerlifter, and the co-founder of the gym J & M Strength and Conditioning based in Lexington, Kentucky.

The initial part of the workshop included mobility exercises to warm us up, and then Jim Laird and his assistant worked with each participant individually to go over their form and technique. It was enlightening for me to watch and listen to Jim go over the strengths and weaknesses of each individual, and then see those same issues in my own form and technique. He pointed out weaknesses in my core and hip mobility, and gave me several things to work on. Below are some pics from my one-on-one with Jim:

Working on hip mobility for back squats:

Working on additional squatting cues by squatting to a box, or in this case a large tire 😉

One day while I was walking around and checking out all of the vendors, I saw a booth for something called Gymnastic Bodies. I’d never heard of the program before, so I sat in on the lecture (turns out this was the same time as the Robb Wolf/Mark Sisson panel, which I totally forgot about. Oops!). It turns out that the founder and CEO is a man by the name of Christopher Sommer, a National Team Coach for the USA Mens Gymnastics Team, who has been coaching gymnastics in the USA for over 40 years.

According to the website http://www.gymnasticbodies.com, coach Sommer has

“[t]aken the core of what makes Olympic gymnasts strong and broken it down step by step from the most basic to the most impressive feats of strength.”

Gymnastic Bodies held several skill workshops during Paleo F(x), including leg mobility and handstand balance. Below are some images from the handstand workshop:

As a CrossFitter, the program offered by Gymnastic Bodies seems like something that could help me improve my CrossFit performance, and something I want to look more closely into in the future, especially with CrossFit’s heavy emphasis on gymnastic movements.

I know I’ve covered a lot for my inaugural post, but there is so much more I want to share with you guys! In Part two of my Paleo F(x) recap, I’ll share my experiences interacting with more of my favorite bloggers, and also share some of the yummy treats and eats shared by many of the vendors at the conference. Please come back, because you won’t want to miss what new food discoveries I found!

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Paleo F(x) Part 2 – New Food Finds

Paleo F(x) 2014 – Part 1: Meeting the People