If you’ve never been to PaleoFX before, it’s a totally epic combination of the most brainpower in the medical nutrition / paleo / biohacking worlds you’ve ever experienced in one place, an expo with all my favorite natural products brands (food, makeup, supplements, skincare, and lifestyle stuff too like CBD oil and Heart Rate Variability monitors, infrared saunas), and primal exercise festivities in one place. And it is freaking epic. Plus, it’s in Austin, TX which is an amazing city, probably the most gluten-free/paleo/allergen-friendly city I’ve ever been to, and the paleo Austin food is INSANE.
My favorite speakers and panels from the conference itself were with Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Sarah Ballantyne aka the paleo mom, Chris Kresser (who I also got to meet!), Dr. Mercola, Dr. Mark Ruscio, Ben Greenfield, and probably so many more people I can’t even remember off the top of my head because it was such information overload, but in a totally awesome way. There were tons of talks on everything from modifying paleo for an anti-anxiety approach, to everything and anything keto, biohacking, leaky gut and gut health, thyroid, sports nutrition and cortisol, the current state of the paleo union and where we’re going from here, some were promoting their new books, just SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE IN ONE PLACE.
When you’re not attending talks and blowing your brains out, you’re walking around the expo floor – packed with natural products brands in food, supplements, heart rate variability monitors, lots of CBD, beauty and cosmetics, where you get to try a bunch of samples (and usually get total caffeine + sugar overload). The biggest trends this year were CBD oil, biohacking-type supplements and lifestyle stuff, keto anything and everything, colostrum (yes, you read that right), and one million kinds of coffee – blended with butter, with collagen, cold brew types, pour over types, the works. There are also movement seminars – I did one on deadlifting, there were ones on handstands and primal play and stuff, people were doing jiu-jitsu outside, and I’m pretty sure there was also a spartan-type obstacle course outside as well. These are my people and it was amazing.
Speaking of my people, one of the most fun parts of the trip was getting to hang out with my blogger friends in real life. People who I’ve podcasted with before, worked with, or just been internet friends with forever because we run in the same space, but hadn’t yet met in real life. And it’s so cool when you come into a situation of meeting someone like that where you already know you have a TON in common with them, it’s like you’re instant bff’s. I got to hang out with Kate from Nutrition with Kate, Christina from Christina Rice Wellness, the Wellness Realness and Straight Up Paleo Podcasts, her cohost Kara Halderman, Christina Curp from the Castaway Kitchen (who i’ll be interviewing for the podcast soon!), Stephanie Greunke from Rock your Hormones / the Whole30 Healthy Mama Healthy Baby program, Kelly from Eat the Gains, I got to meet the guys from Mind Pump AND Chris Kresser (and got him to sign his new book) AND I got to meet some of you guys too which was AMAZING!! Kate and I stayed in this ADORABLE loft-type airbnb thing that we were both totally obsessed with. Definitely recommend doing something like that if you’re staying in town.
The coolest thing was just being around a bunch of like minded people who are truly into (and sometimes obsessed with) health and fitness and wellness and are in it for the long term. Instant friends. And obviously…we went out to eat some AWESOME food. Because that’s one of the things Austin is known for and it did not disappoint!
Hokay let’s talk about the FOOD.
When you go to Austin, you MUST go to the Whole Foods flagship store. Holy crap you guys, that place is freaking HUGE. And has soooo many more and different items than any WF I’ve ever been to. And we casually went there three times the first day it’s FINE. (for lunch after the plane, the second time just to pick up some water, and the third time after dinner to pick up groceries to make breakfast in our Airbnb. Also PRO TIP – whenever I travel, I always make sure that I at least have a mini fridge/microwave at worst, and a kitchenette at best, so I can make a good breakfast in the morning before I head out for the day. You’ll save money and make sure you start the day off on a good (nutrient-dense!) foot so you’re fueled up for whatever your heart desires that day!
We also stopped at Snap Kitchen to pick up some stuff for breakfast – which holy WOW I wish they had this closer than 3 hours away from me. It’s a whole store full of prepared foods that are gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo-friendly, and Whole30-friendly – and they are DELICIOUS. So jealous we don’t have one in DC!!
24 DINER
We headed here for dinner the first night. Super gluten-free friendly, this place is open 24 hours (hence the name), and has some really bomb farm-to-table-style food. Two of us had the bunless Sweet & Spicy burger with a side of roasted cauliflower + side salad. Funny story about this place – our server saw that I had a Whole30 pop socket on my phone and asked if I was doing the Whole30! He was super knowledgeable about it and said there were plenty of Whole30 options there. Austin for the win right off the bat!
Fresa’s
The next day after a first morning of some AMAZING talks at PaleoFX we walked to Fresa’s for lunch.
Almost the entire menu is gluten-free, except for a few things that are made in a fryer (like churros). Five of us got different variations of bowl-type meals, with protein, lots of veggies, sweet potatoes, and some deeelicious sauces!
Christina and I split a side of the roasted cauliflower, which, YOU GUYS. Was one of the top dishes I had this entire trip. Yes, the side dish. It was this roasted & charred cauliflower with cabbage and carrots that had some kind of roasted tomatillo vinaigrette that I was craving the rest of the trip. It was THAT good.
Picnik
We finally made it to the restaurant I’d heard the most about in the Paleo community for YEARS – Picnik! On all their menus, the top says “Real Food, Y’all” (so you know it’s my kind of place. hah!) They only use super high quality ingredients, focusing on local, grass-fed and pasture-raised meals, wild caught fish, local + raw cheeses, grass-fed dairy and collagen, pink himalayan sea salt, and they never use any gluten, soy, peanuts, or corn. They also have a “Special Diet Menu” for if you’re even more special than those restrictions – this menu shows their items that don’t have any maple, honey, grains, dairy, soy, legumes, corn, or peanuts. They also only cook in avocado or coconut oil.
Like WOAH sign me up right?! A place where I can eat every single thing on the menu without having to worry about cross contamination or feeling like I’m dying inside later? I’m so down. This would also be another peeerfect place to come if you’re on a Whole30. But also sad because then you coudln’t have any of their amazing paleo desserts either!
Enough drooling. Here’s what we got. Kate and I started with the Fried Brussels Sprouts, which had a crispy pork belly, raw parmesan, and a maple vinaigrette. To. Die. For. 100% gonna have to make this for the blog and share it with you guys because it was out of this world good. And THEN we all split the Creamy Queso (wait for it…) which is made with a creamy cashew creme and served with almond flour tortilla chips. *drops the mic and leaves*
For our dinner, Kate and I had the (ps yes, we are the same person) Orange Chicken & Broccoli. Like what, orange chicken? Fried orange chicken that I can actually eat?? So down. Turns out it wasn’t as good as we’d hoped. Something was a little off about the sauce, so it wasn’t as flavorful as we expected. And definitely not as blow-your-socks-off as the appetizers we had. Christina had the stir fry that was loaded with veggies and a coconut aminos dressing – which she said also didn’t live up to her expectations. And then we were too full to try dessert, whomp whomp. But the breakfast looked SO good and I wish we could’ve gone back for that, or to try any of the butter coffees / amazing breakfast type drinks they have, all made with collagen, or some bone broth, or one million other superfoods.
Picnik (Trailer – South Lamar)
So Picnik actually has three locations – the brick and mortar restaurant, which we went to the night before, and two trailers, where you can order up and eat outside at (you guessed it) picnik tables. We quickly stopped by the South Lamar trailer for breakfast before heading back to the conference that day, and breakfast did not disappoint! They have awesome breakfast tacos made with cassava flour, mini frittatas, and Kate loooved her iced matcha with primal kitchen collagen, which they stock at the trailer. So cool!!
Thai fresh
Lunch that day (after more epic conference stuff!) we walked to Thai Fresh. I had pretty big expectations for this place, which I had heard is super easy to be gluten-free, has amazing flavors, and a coconut milk ice cream bar. Did not disappoint! I had the red curry with chicken which holy moly was exploding with flavor. I was too full for dessert, but Kate did get the coconut milk ice cream in dark chocolate and pandam flavors with a huuuge gluten-free waffle cone. So many regrets that I didn’t get it – because the second I tried the pandam ice cream (which is kind of like a sticky rice flavor) I almost cried it was so good. You guys KNOW how much I love sticky rice. Some way, somehow I’m going to figure out how to make it. Because holy sh*t it was INSANE.
Pitchfork Pretty
For dinner that night we headed to Pitchfork Pretty before going out downtown. The restaurant calls itself hill country cuisine featuring local produce, pastured meats, and wild fish. Another super gf-friendly restaurant – they even had gluten-free fried chicken in a dedicated gluten-free fryer which is only used for the sole purpose of making that dish. I had this thinly sliced roast pork with pickled cabbage and carrots over potatoes and woooah tastebud explosion!! I also had this weird watermelon drink with mezcal that sounded amazing, but was actually just sweet and weirdly smoky. Wouldn’t recommend that one, but the dinner was amazing.
Wholly cow
The last day of the conference we headed to Wholly Cow for lunch, which is in a strip mall type situation, kind of looks like a gas station restaurant on the inside, but they serve up grass-fed meats and a Paleo burger like you’ve never experienced – sandwiched between two grilled portobello mushroom buns, with bacon and all the fixins. It’s the kind of burger that even with multiple napkins and wrappings it drips all down your fingers and you want to lick the juice off it’s so tasty. They also have kombucha on tap! Highly recommend.
We weren’t actually hungry for dinner that night so we just had some quick leftovers at home, because we knew we were heading out to meet our friends for the last night for some epic dessert…
Sweet Ritual
YES. So much YES to this vegan ice cream place. Not only do they have coconut milk ice cream, but also cashew milk-based ice cream, and an almond butter base OR sunflower seed butter base. AND they have flavors with gluten-free cookies in them, so I could eat them ALL if I wanted to. We obviously had to try out a bunch of different flavors before we could decide what to get – I tried a Dark Chocolate Charcoal flavor, a Peanut Butter Cup (with cashew base), The Parent Trap (which was a almond butter base with GF peanut butter + chocolate cookies) – obviously, I had to get this one because not only did it have all my favorite things BUT it was also called the Parent Trap, which is one of my favorite movies from growing up! I also ended up getting the cashew-based Mexican Vanilla, which holy wow exploded with flavor but ended up being really sweet with a whole serving of it. And I’m a child at heart so I got rainbow sprinkles on top. My mom would be so proud.
So overall – a pretty freaking awesome trip. The food, the conference, the expo, the freaking awesome people I got to hang out with, plus Austin is just such a kickass place. Basically from the second we got there I wanted to go back…and potentially move there? Yeesh. Can’t wait to head back for the conference again next year!! My only regret is that I didn’t get to try the world-famous blondies from Picnik. Woops, guess I have to go back!!
favorite products from the PaleoFX expo this year…
Chris Kresser’s new book, Unconventional Medicine. Chris did a talk explaining the gist of his book, and it’s essentially talking about how the conventional medicine system is broken – that we’re a system of sick care, and not preventative health care; and how we need more practitioners, health coaches, and doctors to work together so people can actually feel well again (and not drive the country into bankruptcy. that would be great too.)
Barukas Seeds – they’re like a cross between a nut and a seed, a Brazilian superfood, and taste like toasted cocoa/peanuts. Cannot wait to experiment with these!
Elite HRV Heart Rate Variability checker – lots of top clinicians are using these today as a way to collect data on whether your body is in a sympathetic or parasympathetic state (whether you’re in fight-or-flight-mode or not). I’m going to start experimenting with it on myself and then eventually may use it with clients too!
Primal Hacker CBD Oil – Chill AF. CBD oil has become a huge trend in the past year, and there is a ton of research behind it being used therapeutically for anxiety, for anti-inflammatory purposes, and for high-stress folk like me. If you’re going to get some, it’s important you get 100% THC free for purity and potency reasons, as that is the highest quality product you can get. I really loved this brand, am going to do a ton more research on it, and then will do a podcast on it for you guys some time soon!
Somnifix – this one I’m really intrigued by. Christina recommended it and I have yet to try it, but it’s basically a strip you put on your mouth at night to encourage you to be more of a nose breather (which helps activate you parasympathetic nervous system), rather than a mouth breather (which activates your sympathetic nervous system – meaning you’re still in fight-or-flight-mode). And don’t worry, there’s a slit over the strip so you can still breathe out of your mouth, I was worried about that too! Will report back.
Raw Revelations Magnesium Oil – this stuff is medical grade, and it’s LEGIT. When you take magnesium orally it’s pretty hard for the body to absorb it, so doing a topical magnesium can be really beneficial as well. Great for sore muscles – it really helped me while carrying my backpack around PFX!
Thunderbird Texas Pecan bars – I love Thunderbird bars but *apparently* this flavor you can ONLY get in Texas (though they did tell me later you can grab them on Thrive Market! This flavor, you guys, is INSANE. It tastes like oatmeal date cookies with pecans in them. Soooooo good.
These were the places on my list that I DIDN’T get to (whomp) – just means I’ll have to go back again soon, right?
Oasis
Torchy’s tacos
Olamaie (that was the amazing one that not many ppl talk about)
Salty sow
Sway
Uchi
Koriente
Searsucker
Honest Mary’s
Flower Child
Curcuma
Austin Java
Modern Market and True Food Kitchen are also great options if you’re in the area – but we have those at home so I didn’t want to waste an opportunity for a meal that I could only get in Austin!
Loved this recap!! It was so much fun hanging out with you IN REAL LIFE!!
Yaaas YOU TOO girl!!