A Trip to the NOW Foods Headquarters

Last week I had an amazing opportunity to visit the NOW Foods headquarters in Bloomingdale, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. I couldn’t wait to visit NOW Foods, to learn more about their company, and to get to know each of the bloggers in attendance. Aside from Toni and Kelly, this was my first time meeting most of the bloggers and let me tell y’all, this was a very special group of women!

Toni – Running Loving Living
Kelly – Nosh and Nourish
Ashley – Teachable Mommy
Ellen – Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Lauren (I love this woman) – Lauren Kelly Nutrition
Michelle (IOWA!!!) – Simplify Live Love
Sommer – Green and Clean Mom
Jenn (Love her) – Comeback Momma
Kasey – All Things Momma (be sure to check out her essential oils book)
Laura – Laura Lohr
Marla – Just Marla
Stephanie – Fit4Mom
Jessica – Eat Sleep Be
Makeba – MelisaSource
Daisy – Wholistic Fit Living
Melissa (I adore her spirit and passion for empowering women) – Dandelion Moms
Sarah – Flourish Movement
Maria – Maria Bailey

After arriving in Chicago Thursday late morning, I arrived at our hotel and got settled in. I ran to grab lunch and then got ready for our evening with NOW Foods. Prior to meeting up with the group, Toni and I grabbed a few glasses of wine at the hotel bar, which was literally in a cave I might add, and caught up. Toni and I have crossed paths a few times, but boy was it an absolute pleasure spending two days with her last week. She is an incredible person!

We then met up with the entire group of bloggers and headed over to Seasons 52 for dinner with the NOW Foods CEO, Jim Emme, and a number of the amazing NOW Foods staff members. The dinner was exceptional, but I was overwhelmed by the company and Jim’s welcome speech. From the moment Jim started speaking, I just knew he was genuine, passionate, and fully invested in the mission, goals, and purpose of NOW Foods.

Jim shared that NOW Foods, which stands for Natural Organic Wholesome, has the mission to empower people to live healthier lives. Jim asked us if we trusted what’s actually in our food and I didn’t know how to answer that question. It’s actually a question I’ve mulled over ever since Jim asked it 6 days ago. I’ve always been more focused on how much I’m eating, not on what I’m actually putting in my body (the quality, purity, and impact the food will have on my body). That question sat on the forefront of my mind the rest of my time with NOW Foods and I was so overwhelmed by the approach NOW Foods takes to ensuring customers can trust the NOW Foods products and brand.

After dinner, I went to an entirely different “cave” bar with Toni, Lauren, Michelle, and Kelly. I passed on the wine, after having my fair share at dinner, but had a wonderful time with the ladies before heading back to my room.

Thursday was a jam-packed day and I loved every second of it. Well, at least until I arrived at O’Hare Thursday evening. We started off our day with a wonderful sunshine yoga class thanks to NOW Foods and our instructor Michele. It was an amazing workout and exactly how I wanted to start the day. After yoga we enjoyed blueberry smoothies and these amazing protein balls (I still need to get their recipes to share with y’all).

After yoga, we spent some time learning about the NOW Foods essential oils line and were able to make our own yoga mat disinfecting spray and foaming hand soap. I always see so much about essential oils social media, but this was truly the first time learning about their positive impact and the ways you can use them. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make the spray and hand soap, and I won’t deny how excited I became to learn more about the use of essential oils.

After our morning sessions, we grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed back to our rooms to get ready for the NOW Foods tour and afternoon sessions.

The tour of the NOW Foods manufacturing plant was out of this world. I am going to share more about my experience at the plant tomorrow because it made that big of an impact on my opinion of NOW Foods and their products. After the tour we headed to the NOW Foods headquarters, ate lunch, and then participated in a Facebook Live event.

To close out our time with NOW Foods, we headed down to their test kitchen. We had an overview of the NOW Natural Foods, participated in an amazing cooking demo with Kelly, and enjoyed an Ellyndale Foods Oil Tasting led by Maggie Ziph, NOW Foods Culinary Specialist.

I loved learning about all of the NOW Natural Foods products, seeing Kelly use the macadamia nut oil in her recipe, and trying out all of the different oils. The pumpkin seed oil was definitely my favorite!

We even made our own mason jar salads for the road, using our favorite oil to create a salad dressing.

My time with NOW Foods was exceptional and I can’t wait to tell y’all more about their philosophy and products. I’ve been doing a lot of research and I’m excited to be hungry to learn more about how to use essential oils daily, the use of various supplements, and the impact high quality food products can have on one’s mind, body, and soul. PLUS, I have an amazing giveaway coming up tomorrow!! You won’t want to miss it!