One of the biggest distributors of organic and natural foods, UNFI or United Natural Foods Inc., released its 3rd quarter roundup of trends, both existing and upcoming. The video below is geared at those that manage or own health food stores. Among the products hot listed are “super seeds,” non-dairy spreads and cooking oils, and healthy snacks.

Image courtesy of www.DrBronner.com

Strong Growth Categories according to UNFI folks include the raw sector, which includes kale chips, raw coconut products, and nut butters, such as almond or cashew butters. Chia also continues to make its way onto shelves thanks to its innate omega property. The gluten-free market sector continues to power on, with Pamela’s Whenever Bars, granola from Nature’s Path, and Bakery on Main (check out the coconut cashew bar) getting shout outs from UNFI. Finally, the last grab and go category was “Light N Lean,” featuring items that are convenient, easy and low-cal. Highlighted items include meal products from Amy’s, Evo Burritos (mini), and Pop Chips.

Strong New Items

Other items mentioned that UNFI deems noteworthy include Earth Balance Organic Coconut spread and Mindless Mayo, which appear vegan friendly. Other items mentioned include Field Roast vegan hotdogs, the new hemp chips from Food Should Taste Good, sprouted grain items, including those from Garden of Eden, and Manhattan Chili’s butternut squash variety.

Finally, the UNFI experts in the Vitamins and Supplements department mentioned Sibu, Childlife, and Dr. Woods (check out the liquid black soap) as top brands.

Ironic trends continue as folks in the developed world seek out super fruits and herbs while American multinationals peddle their mainstay products in developing nations such as China and India. I am hooked on super fruits and Indian and Chinese herbs. I’ve been into exotic fruits including yuzu, passion fruit, and seabuckthorn for quite a few years now and many others are now catching on.

A small orange berry found in cold northern European territories, seabuckthorn contains omega-7 and is used in food and beauty products these days. According to a panel of food experts at the 36th Winter Fancy Food Show, yuzu is among the top five food trends this year, as are healing foods, which often include an array of supplemental drinks and superfruits.

Among the trends predicted by the panel are:

• Chocolate for Breakfast: Tea, Belgian waffles, granola and hot chocolate on a stick.
• Foods for Healing: Ancient healing teas, Blackwater with 77 minerals, aloe and cucumber drinks, as well as small batches of healthful beverages.
• New types of noodles, such as Yam, kelp, farro and spelt.
• Different types of spice, such as ghost peppers, yuzu-wasabi sauce and piquillo almond glop. Yuzu is a citrus fruit in the grapefruit family often found on Japanese menus.
• Creative Chips: pinto bean, naan, peas, mung beans, kale and wild rice.

Other trends spotted include retro foods, classic cocktails, wine-flavored foods, mini servings and cured meats.

Stay tuned for interview with an amazing tea company and a post on the revival of skincare bar soaps.

Mama Mio Skincare is a mecca for safe personal care items that aim to diminish the visible signs of time and gravity. While there is no quick fix, we can hope–and eat right, exercise and use quality products that force mini massages, such as body oils and serums. Some think it’s unnecessary to use firming and anti-cellulite treatments but living in Photoshop times is stressful. NYC is a metropolis where the average women likely wears a size 6, about half that of the average American. Are we advocating conformity? Of course not. Uniqueness is something to aspire to, but if having more taut skin and fewer visible lines or cottage cheese spots in the making can translate to a bit more spunk and confidence, we’re all for it.

Mama Mio is now conducting a search for a new member of its fictional band, Belle and the Buttons. To encourage interactive window shopping and branding, the skincare company, which offers a skincare range from Omega Oil to scar treatment products, is looking for people to audition. Follow the link to the site and simply supply your name, email and a photo of your tummy, and those that pass the process will get their picture posted and $5 off their next buy at Mamamio.com

Click here to submit your photo!

Plus, two lucky winners will get a free full size bottle of Get Waisted. Geared at slimming the abs, the product has the usual firming product ingredient, caffeine, but also boasts a few algae extracts that help boost circulation, as well as Rock Samphira to increase fat breakdown, and wheat protein to tighten. All of this comes without the questionable chemicals, such as phthalates, SLS, fake fragrances, and parabens. The 100mL bottle normally retails for $56 but the first two readers to Tweet this post will score a freebie.

To be entered to win, copy the following and Tweet it!

@Trendcetera MamaMio Get Waisted Giveaway! http://bit.ly/980FE7 #GetWaisted #Trendcetera #firming #MamaMio please RT:)

*If you decide to buy a bottle, $1 from each Get Waisted bottle purchased at MamaMio.com will go toward cancer charity Look Good…Feel Better.

From packaging to locally-sourced ingredients, these companies are turning baby food into a sophisticated, high-brow gourmet food business sector. The result is a bevy of beautiful, portable packages, most of which are BPA-free, that are great for travel since they are light and have caps that enable moms and dads to reseal pouches. Among the variety, each has a special quality, from tarte flavors, to mini cookies, to low-sugar content. While most are fruit purees, we’ve added one variety of kefir yogurt that is tasty enough to lure parents too.

Peter Rabbit products are 100% organic with a cap that is big enough to avoid the danger of toddlers swallowing by mistake. The 3.5-ounce pouches are made of puree and fruit juice, and have no added salt, sugar or artificial flavors. Though they have 15-19 grams of sugar, they also have two grams of fiber and some vitamin C. Available at Whole Foods for about $1.79 each and at Amazon.com for a 10-pack, they come in three flavors: Strawberry & Banana, Mango, Banana & Orange, and Apple & Grape. The latter was our favorite because it is slightly tart and at just 80 calories, mommy might want to steal one for herself during the post-baby weight loss phase.

Revolution Foods is the full-service socially responsible healthy toddler food line. And we aren’t surprised, because it’s a Nest Collective company. Nest, which recently bought another baby food line, Plum Organics, is run by a small committed group of health food industry veterans, including one woman that ran CLIF bar.

In addition to giving 3% of the profits to the school lunch business, it won our approval because it offers healthy sweet cookie snacks, fruit purees and wheat pop chips. The Organic Jammy Sammy sandwich bars are, like the rest of the products, organic, and come in flavors including Blueberries & Oatmeal, and Cocoa Graham & Banana. At about 120 calories each and sweetened with cane juice and agave, these corn syrup-free cookies are great for snack time, whether you are 3 or 30! As for the purees, dubbed Mashups, while the flavors include tropical and grape, the berry is the best because it isn’t sweet or tarte. For savory snacks, the PopAlongs are multi-grain, wheat-free chips that come in plain, cheese and cinnamon. Priced $2.99 – $4.99, they are sold at at Toys “R” Us, Babies “R” Us, select Whole Foods, Wegmans, Fairway, Amazon.com, and Drugstore.com.

Lifeway’s Kefir yogurt snacks are great because they taste good thanks to cane juice, and are a halfway point between the ultra-low glycemic products and those with corn syrup. Just slightly tarte, the product proves it hasn’t been taken far from its roots as a European diet staple. In berry, orange and lime, we love them all and during the post-holiday season weight loss kick, these make for a great low calorie breakfast or afternoon snack, on the go or parked at your desk.

GoGoSqueez offers Kosher apple sauce in portable packages. No BS, nothing added, but great flavors. Available in plain apple, cinnamon, strawberry, banana and peach, which is our favorite, these have just 60 calories and 13 grams of sugar. Click here to find a retailer near you.

Happy Tot has Whole Foods written all over it. Every trend that exists in the green or health food market, from gluten-free to BPA-free packaging, they’ve got it covered. Also a woman-owned business, the line is different not for its expansive collection of products, from puffs to frozen meals (salmon sticks!) to purees, nor for its fruit and vegetable offerings, but for its inclusion of a budding super grain: Salba. Said to have innate omega fatty acids, the inclusion of salba means those parents wishing to give their kids omega supplements can kill two birds with one stone. Click here for a complete list of retailers.

Baobab extracts from the African tree with the same name are found in many skincare products, from Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Collection, to makeup products at The Body Shop, to Shea Terra Organics’ long list of lines. Baobab comes from what many refer to as the Tree of Life, partially because of its ability to hold water. According to research from the U.S. government unit, the National Research Council, Africa has many fruits that aren’t being fully used that could help fight malnutrition and improve environmental stability, including: baobab, aizen,balanites, butterfruit, ebony, marula and tamarind. The research comes with oversight from the Panel On African Fruits & Vegetables, which features professionals in the U.S., Australia and Mexico. According to the study, baobab is safe to eat and use on the skin. It is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals, and the trunk of the tree can store water. Both the fruit and the leaves can be eaten. According to PhytoTrade Africa, it could also enter the edible wellness sector in spaces such as smoothies and pulpy fruit bars.

The Paris-based SheerinO’Kho brand offers one luxurious product with a baobab and jojoba base, complemented by moringa, Indian senna, and essential oils such as rose, Uptown/Downtown Summertime. All SheerinO’Kho products are free of parabens, artificial colors or fragrances. Packaged in a glass, Uptown/Downtown Summertime is a creamy, fast-absorbing solution that could be used a summer moisturizer or as a thick serum before a thin sunscreen or daily winter moisturizer. It has a faint smell from the essential oils that makes it perfectly feminine.

Another luxe product with baobob is from London-based facialist Sarah Chapman. After about three years or research and development, she launched her skincare collection, Skinesis. The collection includes an amazing, oil-based night treatment called Overnight Facial. The rich paraben-free blend features vitamins, peptides, omega oils and essential oils that help restore moisture and a natural glow. Between the two products, skin is restored to a natural glow, with one bonus: beautiful bottles that adorn one’s night table.

Where:
The SheerinO’Kho Uptown/Downtown Summertime is $108 and the Sarah Chapman Overnight Facial is $89. Both are available at the SPACE.NK website and the New York store in SoHo. For more information on the brands or to see other products, visit the Space.NK website..

Often thought of as a stable African nation and exotic tourist destination, Morocco is now referred to by some as the home of the Argan tree. The tree found in a certain region of the nation that straddles Africa and the Middle East bears a fruit whose insides are cultivated for its oil. Long used by natives for hair, skin and nails, the oil is produced from the fruit of the argan tree, which contains nuts and inside them, kernels that are roasted to extract oil. The oil is believed to be rich in omega-6, vitamins E and A, and anti-oxidants including phenols and tocopherols.

The collection produced in Israel by a Montreal-based company includes a hair oil, a mask, and two varieties of hair creams. The Moroccanoil Treatment is the brand’s main product, an oil with linseed extract and silicon elements that can be used to moisturize the hair or scalp, or simply add shine. It may be used on wet hair before drying or dry hair as a finishing product, but might also double as a body oil in a pinch. The Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask is a deep conditioning mask to aid dry and damaged hair. After five to 10 minutes, hair was smooth and nourished and easier to comb out. The first of two styling creams, the Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream is a leave-in styling conditioner that is thick enough to moisturize but does not weigh the hair down. We tested it after bleaching and dying and just using shampoo and the end result was soft, calm locks. For the same moisture but intense curls, opt for the Moroccanoil Intense Curl Cream, which in addition to silicon and argan oil, has panthenol and mineral oil.

Where:
For more information or to try products, visit the store locator.