Full Disclosure: This post is a recap of a sponsored trip to the NOW Foods facility-all expenses were fully covered but I only work with companies who I personally believe in and support. ***Make sure you go to end of the post to enter a giveaway to try these quality products yourself!!!!!

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to tour the NOW Foods factory and corporate headquarters outside of Chicago as part of the #NowGetFit Immersion. NOW is a natural products manufacturer with a comprehensive approach to wellness. It was a whirlwind trip over about a day and half I was able to connect with other influencers and more importantly learning about a really amazing company. NOW is currently celebrating their 50 year anniversary in an supersaturated market of natural foods and supplements. NOW is still a family run company and I had the pleasure of not only meeting the VP but also the CEO as well as other dedicated members of their staff. Everyone took such pride in the company and was hospitable, which made for a truly great experience.

On Thursday everyone arrived at various time, I was on one of the earlier flights so after checking into my room I set out to explore the resort. I grabbed a snack at the bar and ended up meeting a couple of other influencers- Marissa who is a health coach and Norris who is an Olympic athlete. One of my favorite things about these types of trips is connecting with different people all over the country.

That evening once everyone had arrived we headed to dinner which included meeting the NOW team, learning about the NOW products, a recipe demo by Kasey from Powercakes, and an Iron Chef challenge. Like I mentioned previously meeting members of the NOW team was really a treat and I loved hearing their passion for the products. Kasey was an all start and make sea salt chocolate protein donuts which were DELICIOUS! I was very skeptical as I don’t love protein baked goods but they were on point. We also got a quick cooking demo from professional chef Paul Guerrero.

Then it was battle time! Typically an iron chef competition means everyone has to use one ingredient in their dish but for our competition we were challenged to use any of the NOW foods products. My team was Kasey from Powercakes, Dana from Eats2Know, and Lauren from Breathe Deeply and Smile. We conceptualized a play on avocado toast- using a pancake, topping with the perfectly cooked egg, avocado, and marcona almonds. And it must have been pretty good because the judges awarded us 1st place!!! After the competition it was dinner time, we were treated to a delicious meal and before you knew it was bed time.

On Friday we woke up early for a HIIT workout led by Kasey! I didn’t think I was working too hard but the next day my glutes were definitely sore so she kicked our butts pretty good (literally, ha). After the workout we refueled with a NOW foods smoothie bar. I did my typical smoothie of ice, frozen berries, vanilla protein powder, milk, and some avocado. I wanted to try the flavor of their new plant based protein powders so I kept it simple. Also I sampled some of the MCT oils– Vanilla Hazelnut and Chocolate Mocha, and they were tasty. I started adding a little bit of the chocolate mocha to my oatmeal and you can too- make sure you enter my giveaway at the end of this post. During our smoothie sipping we also learned more about their sports nutrition products from the NOW brand manager and personal trainer.

After showering and getting ready for the day we hit up the breakfast buffet before heading out to the NOW facilities. We started with a private plant tour which absolutely blew me away. I have been in a few manufacturing type facilities but this one was by far the cleanest and most organized. The attention to detail and equipment was unreal. The group was able to speak with one of the head researcher PhD’s Jessica who had so much enthusiasm for her work. Some of the science she talked about was above my head but the plant has some really impressive equipment including the only Ribo Printer in the states. It caught my attention because Jessica explained it can identify different probiotic strains (it does do a lot more than that though).

The next stop on the tour was NOW headquarters. We were treated to another delicious catered meal before learning all about essential oils. I’ll be honest- I have never used essential oils and I’m not sure how much of the research is completely scientific but anything that smells good sounds alright by me. We made a cleaning spray for gym equipment and a DIY sports soak. Now had gifted us diffusers so I’m excited to try just diffusing the oils as well, this was very informative session for me.

Next was a real highlight of the day- a gong sound bath meditation from Balanced Life Leslie. She was amazing, I was so relaxed and had chills- it was probably one of the best meditations of my life. I highly recommend checking her out!

Unfortunately we had to head out to the airport shortly afterwards. It was such an amazing trip and I was honored to be a NowGetFit immersion influencer. I highly recommend purchasing from this company and have already steered clients to them since I found it to be such a trusted product. And the good news for one of you is that you will be able to try some of their amazing products for free!! I’m giving away over $520 worth of products from NOW foods- supplements, diffuser,essential oils, protein powder, personal blender and more!!! They are gifting all the wonderful swag they sent me home with that I’m already enjoying! Enter below!!