19 April 2015

**Alert, alert!!** A nut and seed free healthy snack!!!

Since I found out I was sensitive to a number of foods, finding a healthy snack when out and about has proved near impossible. It got to the stage where I thought I would have to produce my own healthy snacks as everything I looked at contained nuts, seeds, milk, sugar, wheat you name it...everything I had to avoid and wanted to avoid.

Then I attended the Natural & Organic Products show on Sunday April 19th 2015. I'm going to be totally honest; my goal was to see what freebies I could find! However, there was a big difference. The difference with this show compared to previous shows I've attended is I was thinking about the foods that have a negative impact on my health. No longer was I out to bag what I could. This time, I was thinking about the quality as well as the ingredients they contain because I wanted to pass this information onto you.

The NOPs show as its called was held at the Excel centre for the first time ever. I'm sure there were more companies than before and I know I didn't get to see everything, but one thing I did notice was the array of foods on offer plus the fact that the majority of them were highly processed.

Now I'm not a total purist and I sometimes eat less than optimum foods (I'm not perfect), but I don't make them my mainstay. The food manufacturers, particularly of the snack food items, were using the words natural and organic all over the place, but all I could see was a sea of processed foods.

Nevertheless, there were some gems in there and kale-Os by InSpiral was one of them. Thankfully I manged to sneak a packet of celtic sea salt and lime. InSpiral is a well known cafe located in the heart of Camden (you really need to check them out). They produce the highest quality organic raw and gluten free vegan snack foods and superfoods. The downside is that, like a lot of raw snack foods, they are full of nuts and seeds - great if you don't have issues with nuts or seeds, but a huge issue if you do. I love nuts and seeds don't get me wrong, they just don't love me.

The InSpiral stand was full of tasters, all of which I ignored until I was introduced to kale-Os. Kale crisps made with cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. They are raw, paleo friendly, vegan and gluten free. Whoo hoo! I can eat these and they are delicious!

In addition to the sea salt and lime, they also have Tomato & Basil Pizza and Sweet Chilli & Mint. A 10g-12g bag will retail at around £1.29 - the lowest retail price I've seen thus far! Bargain!

The great thing about these snacks is that they are truly healthy and they taste fantastic. I sampled a number of foods at the show and I have to say, the kale-Os along with a couple of other snack foods came out tops. Kale is a wonderful vegetable high in antioxidants, cancer fighting compounds and omega 3 fatty acids. Because kale-Os are raw, these phytonutrients are kept intact. It is kept raw by drying out the kale at a very low temperature. As a result, these babies are high in vitamins A&C. To add the the loveliness of it all, they are produced in InSpiral's solar powered London eco factory, then packaged in a fully compostable bag printed with vegetable ink.

Eco friendly and healthy...you just cannot beat it!

Ok, now the downside (its not that bad thankfully!). You'll only ever find them in health store's like Wholefoods and Planet Organic or online, so unless you are actually passing one of those stores or happen to be ordering some when you next log on, don't expect to snack on these often (unless you buy a truck load).

Its a real pity because I would be happy to walk in any shop to pick up a bag of these.

They hit the shops in July 2015, so if you just happen to be passing a health store, pop in and grab a bag or two.

Kale-Os receives the Food PA stamp of approval!

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