Gluten & Allergen Free Wellness Event (Recap)

On May 5th, I was in Atlanta, Georgia for the Gluten & Allergen Free Wellness Event! I got to take on a lot of new things including public speaking and getting the feel for what I'm getting into. But I also got to meet a lot of great bloggers and try some awesome new products as well from a lot of different companies and bakeries! I got to experience this expo as my 2nd one ever and I definitely went home with enough food to last at least a month this time..


My thoughts on the food:

I'm not at all someone that enjoys eating gluten-free sweets or sugary things often. But when you go to a gluten-free expo, what else do you expect? Even though I usually feel like crap afterwards I always do like giving these foods a try in the moment. And oh boy were there some amazing gluten-free foods I tried! Dairy free ice cream, banana bread, peanut butter pop corn, allergy free cake, so many things I should not be eating a lot of but taste so good! This expo compared to the last had a lot more options of food and I thought had something for almost anybody to try. Again like I said, I'm not someone who loves sweets. But if I ever do want something every once in a while, I definitely know what to get now because of this expo.

Who I got to meet:

Sadly I had a flight that I had to catch to Florida and had to leave the expo by 1. I also had to jostle around getting ready for my first time public speaking too which made things even more crazy! But out of the time I had and got to use, I did get to meet some awesome people that I was hoping to see. I met, Anne, Jennifer, Nikki, Christy, Pam, Jules, and many others. I really enjoyed finally betting able to meet some more bloggers and people in the gluten-free world since this is something I look forward to most. I'm glad I got to speak to these awesome people a little bit more, as well as many others that I did not name. It's definitely always very fun experience when you get to meet new people you can relate too!

What I experienced with speaking:
Going to this expo was something I wanted to make as a more fun activity to spend my Sunday. As fun as getting free food and meeting tons of new people you can actually relate too, public speaking was one thing I had to take on. Since this was something I knew I was going to start getting into soon, I knew I just had to get involved and do it. I only spoke twice for about 5 minutes each. But since it was my first time and in front of a bunch of people, I still had every reason to feel a little nervous! I did not have any points to go from and really did not have any game plan for what I was going to say until I actually spoke. In other words, I winged it and honestly didn't feel that bad about it. All in all I felt pretty good about what I got to say and felt like it was definitely something I want to start doing in the future. Luckily I have a lot of speaking opportunities coming up too.


My future expos and plans:
As of right now I will be speaking in Raleigh, NC on August 17th at one of the gluten-free expos there. I will hopefully make this the start to many more speaking opportunities in the future since this is one thing I really want to start doing as much as possible. I really want to be able to inspire and help other families with Celiac Disease by sharing my story and also being able to provide some info as well. I will hopefully be able to go to a lot more Expos by the end of this year and see a lot more of you too. Meeting all the people I have connected with through social media is one thing I want to do most! I think over time I will definitely be able to and can use speaking as a way to meet some of you as well.

Hope to connect with some more of you in the future at gluten-free expos and such! I would really enjoy meeting some more people and bloggers that are gluten-free.