*This blog post is in collaboration with iHerb
Are you a big Valentine’s Day celebrator? I personally have never been. If I happened to have a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day (which I guess has been the case for the last 7 years) I was happy to do something to celebrate. But for all those years in which I did not have a significant other to celebrate with I was more than happy to have a Galentine’s Day celebration instead – in which I got together with my girl friends or mom and spent the day with them.
Valentine’s Day should not simply be about celebrating with a significant other. It should be about celebrating the special people in your life. And this year I’m happy to dedicate my Galentine’s Day post to my mom. My longest relationship in life has in fact been with her so it’s time to shower her with treats.
For health reasons my mom follows a gluten-free and dairy-free diet, so one specific meal category that can be difficult is dessert. And since Valentine’s Day seems to be immediately associated with chocolate I wanted hers to be filled with dietary restriction friendly desserts. Luckily for me the online retailer iHerb has no shortage of both gluten and dairy free products to choose from on their website. I wanted to treat my mom to a variety of food and nutrition related small gifts that I knew she was going to love.
Though the website has over 35,000 thousand products to choose from (and they ship to 160 countries), I knew what I was looking for.
First search – chocolate. IHerb has tons of chocolate related food products to choose from. I opted for the healthier ones, specifically ones that I have never seen in stores. I narrowed down my selection to Rawmio chocolate covered sprouted hazelnuts, Rawmio organic gourmet active superfood raw chocolate bark, and Sunbiotics, an organic probiotics raw chocolate bar. I could not be more excited about these healthier chocolate themed desserts.
Time to move on to the snack category. In terms of snacks I picked a box of Mary’s Gone Crackers (seriously the best crackers in the world that my family loves and eats an obscene amount of), and Edward & Sons organic unsweetened coconut flakes (another amazing snack when baked).
Now for something in the wellness category. You can spend hours on the site learning about all the different dietary supplements, vitamins, etc, but I quickly honed in on two – Now Foods vitamin D-3,which I know my mom (and probably everyone else) is deficient in, and California Gold Nutrition LactoBif probiotics. Since my mom follows a dairy free diet, probiotics are particularly important since she is not getting those live cultures from her daily diet, and therefore probiotics are necessary to maintain proper gut health.
I know my mom is going to love her Galentine’s Day gift basket, full of all sorts of fun food and wellness treats. I personally have already sampled the Rawmio organic raw chocolate truffle cake and it is divine (and I’m not even a chocolate lover). It also happens to be vegan, organic, soy free, flour free, dairy free, gluten free and low glycemic. Dessert doesn’t get more guilt free than that! I may be purchasing one of these chocolate truffles cakes weekly from now on.
I’ve slowly started to move more and more towards online shopping and loved the large variety of products on iHerb, especially ones that cater to specific diets. There are lots of various products on there that are made by small artisan producers that are not carried by major supermarket brands and since I love to discover new products iHerb is going to be a great source of those for me.
You will also notice that a lot of the products are discounted, so even those that you can find at the grocery store may be cheaper on iHerb. The ordering process was a breeze, just select your items based on categories or search terms, add them to your cart and head to check out. Delivery was quick and well handled. Overall I was very pleased with my shopping experience with iHerb and know that my mom is going to love all her Valentine’s Day gifts. This was my first time using this website, but I know it will not be the last!
This Valentine’s Day don’t focus only on the significant others in your life; make sure to celebrate the other gals in your life too – mothers most importantly!
annie says
What a wonderful way to celebrate mom! My mama is totally into all this stuff — I mean, don’t get her started on probiotics. You’ll never hear the end of it.
Vicky says
Thanks! I know my mom loved all the treats in this basket!