NOW foods influencer immersion trip: Post 2 + HUGE Giveaway(closed)!!!

Share away friends!

For part #1 of the NOW trip click here

Make sure to read through to the end and enter into the NOW giveaway! (***Giveaway now closed***)

Friday began with a lot of sweat! You better believe a company so focused on health would have us up bright and early for a morning workout! 😉

This post was sponsored by NOW Foods. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Workout mats awaited us as well as fresh breakfast bars made with NOW products. (I believe these will also be in the recipe book I’ll link to when it releases!)

We made our way over to the secondary building that housed the gym and Kasey from Powercakes lead us through a 45 minute Tabata class. It was no joke. I was dripping the entire time and ended up being sore from for a solid three days after!

Once class finished we met up for smoothies and to talk about the NOW sports line.

(Their new packaging releasing soon! Loving the silver labels.)

The smoothie bar was pretty much perfect in every way. Every add in, fruit, flavor and protein option was there.

NOW Sports Line

I was most excited to learn about the Sports Line, which ended up having so many great product options to help fitness enthusiasts at any level. I haven’t dabbled in much of their sports products yet but will be adding them into my workout pre & post regimen asap.

Their whole line and the quality standards they require is hands down some of the best I’ve seen. Fun fact: NOW is one of the few manufacturers that invite customers and consumers to tour their facilities and observe their dedication to Quality Assurance in person. They guarantee their Sports Line to be free of any and all banned substances set in place by the World Anti Doping Association, which if you’re a career athlete, means you can use their products with complete confidence knowing they will not cause failure in athlete mandatory drug tests.

Some other fun facts:

(I can be kind of geeky but bear with me, this stuff truly is important)

• NOW only purchases ingredients that meet their exacting quality requirements. All vendors must adhere to these standards and every lot is identity-tested prior to acceptance. Those that do not meet their requirements do not make it past quarantine, without exception.
• They disclose all product ingredients on product labels
• NOW only uses natural, organic ingredients including non-GMO whenever possible. They do not use artificial sweeteners and don’t use synthetic flavors.

This is huge in the fitness industry. There are so many companies selling inferior, low grade product that you truly have to do your research. I feel safe having NOW products in my home.

Although I’m excited about the whole line, the two products that stood out to me the most and I want to start incorporating immediately are the L-Carnitine & the BCAA Big 6. I just learned a ton about L-Carnitine and can’t wait to add it into my training plan.

L-Carnitine

• shuttles fatty acids from the blood into the mitochondria, so that the fatty acids can be used as energy. If you want to use fat as a fuel as efficiently and effectively as possible (And who doesn’t, right?) you need l-carnitine. It also helps improve endurance by inhibiting the buildup of lactic acid, one of the primary causes of fatigue. Lastly, it has been shown to reduce the accumulation of metabolic wastes during exercise. This helps increase workload intensity during exercise and enhancing recovery.

BCAAs

• Branched Chain Amino Acids are needed when your body runs low on glycogen stores. Your body can’t produce BCAAs on its own so it relies on them from your diet. BCAAs are great for endurance & recovery. The NOW BCAA Big 6 is caffeine-free and supports muscle retention and recovery, and contains betaine to help maintain fluid balance during exercise. It also has taurine, which can further support endurance.

Both these products are part of the giveaway! Eek! 

After the sports presentation was over we headed back to the hotel to shower, pack up, and enjoy an amazing breakfast before checking out and heading over to the NOW facility tour.

NOW foods facility tour

After getting super sexy in our orange suites, hair nets, and glasses we were pronounced ready to enter the NOW production facility.

I’ve only ever been to a few food producing facilities when I was younger and they were nothing like visiting NOW headquarters. The dedication to putting out superior products is seen and felt throughout the facility. We spoke with several NOW employees and their passion for making sure their products are of the utmost quality is tangible. NOW also has some of the latest and greatest testing machines & equipment. They have one machine that checks for pesticides & contaminants to the trillionth! How is that even possible?!

The CEO Jim Emme was there throughout the whole tour and was willing to answer all questions, even starting up conversations about different things we didn’t think to ask.

They gave us an all-inclusive tour, the whole process from the very beginnings, to production, to packaging and shipping. No stone was left unturned!

The murmurs from all us bloggers through the whole tour was “Wow. How cool. You do that? I had no idea how intensive the process was,” and so on. So much goes into making each and every product they offer. I’d be hard to grasp without taking a tour yourself. If you’re ever in the Chicago area let NOW know and see if they can get you in for a tour! Seriously!

NOW Natural Personal Care

After finishing up we headed to NOW headquarters for a lunch catered by Whole Foods. Once our bellies were full, Tina Tews, NOW Personal Care Brand Manager, took us through a few little DIY projects while we learned more about their essential oils and personal care line.

She went in depth on how they keep their prices so low, the science behind their formulas, and how rigorous the standards are for their personal care products. We were also let in on a few of their upcoming products and let’s just say I’m excited to see their personal care line grow!

We made a Sports Soak for a relaxing bath and also a gym equipment cleaning spray which I’ve used several times and love so far. I’ll share the recipes in a later post.

Once the presentation was over we were lead through a Gong Sound Bath Meditation performed by Leslie from @balanced_life_leslie. It was such a relaxing experience, perfect before heading out for all our flights and car rides home.

See Ya later Chicago

NOW provided us with a couple of their Organic Quinoa Cups for our trips home, and off we went.

Just like that, it was over and we were all leaving with a earned trust for NOW foods, what they stand for as a company, and an appreciating to their constant strive to be the best in the industry. I knew walking out of the building that I didn’t want this to be my last interaction with them. So many of their values are similar to mine and I felt a real connection to the company and their mission. Because of that I was beyond elated when I was asked to be part of the NOW influencer team!

This will give me the opportunity to continue to learn more about NOW products and share my honest thoughts with you! I’m excited for this journey! This does not in any way mean I’ll only be working with NOW. I’ll still be reviewing other brands and product, because it’s what I do and sharing my finds with you brings me joy!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

To kick off this fun partnership I’m hosting a giveaway! NOW has offered up the same sway bag I received on my trip to one of my lucky readers, worth over $520!

Swag Bag Contents:

1. Premium Personal Blender
2. Glass Swirl USB diffuser
3. Uplifting essential oil kit
4. Magnesium topical spray
5. Nutri-shave natural shave cream
6. Xyli-white coconut oil toothpaste gel
7. Joint & Muscle cream
8. Sugarless sugar
9. Quinoa Penne
10. Slender Sticks
11. Coconut infusions jar
12. Flavored MTC oil
13. Organic Plant Protein powder
14. Grass fed whey protein concentrate
15. BCAA Big 6
16. Liquid L-Carnitine
17. Maca capsules 
18. Ultra-Omega-3 Solfgels
19. Super Enzymes capsules
20. Vitamin D-3
21. Brain attention chewables
22. Spirulina powder
23. Co-Enzyme B-Complex
24. CurcuFRESH curcumin capsules

That’s a whole lotta fun stuff!!!!!

It’s super easy to enter!

Contest Rules:

1. Follow me on Instagram: @Eryn_Whalen_Online
2. Follow NOW on Instagram: @NOWFoodsOfficial
3. Comment below this post with what product you are most excited to win!

That’s it! Enter by Tuesday night, I’ll announce a winner over on IG Wednesday!

Share away friends!