In the article Katie said she uses Great Lakes Gelatin. She also likes this brand. https://wellnessmama.com/go/gelatin/

Hands down, Vitacost is the best value. I’ve been ordering them for over 10 years. Not only is there no annual fee, but they regularly have discounts that range anywhere from 10% to 20% off. When I see a 20% off of food, I buy in bulk and save a ton of money.

Thrive’s wines are better than most you’ll find at the local wine store, but they don’t undergo the same testing or have the same standards as Dry Farm Wines. So if price is an issue, then Thrive’s are good, but Dry Farm’s are better 🙂

That’s interesting. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I think prices must also vary a lot by location. I’ve also compared prices where we live and things are substantially cheaper, and they carry foods I can’t get locally, but I also completely understand that this isn’t the case everywhere.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I know they are very careful of their sourcing. My personal favorite though is Vital Proteins…

Sorry to hear that. I passed your comment on to them to check on it for you. You should receive a response soon. Please let us know when and how it is resolved.

Probably, but you’d have to figure out a way to get the other half to a different location…

Hi Robynne – thanks for the thoughtful comment. I’ll reach out about this as well. As I’m sure you can understand, there is a lot that goes into growing a company and I’m guessing this is something they haven’t completely worked out yet. I do know that they are coming out with many private label products that do meet the stringent organic/non-GMO criteria and plan to promote these as an alternative to other brands. I also don’t think that there are any perfect options in today’s world, unfortunately. I live in a smaller town where I can’t get many natural products at our local stores, so resources like Thrive let me order these products without breaking the bank. Certainly, they aren’t perfect (there is no such thing as a perfect company, just like there is no such thing as a perfect person), but they are a big improvement on local options. IF I refused to shop somewhere because all of the product they carried weren’t organic, non-GMO and met my other criteria (no flour, no sugar, no soy, no vegetable oil, etc), I would literally have zero options to shop for my family. Even my local farmers market doesn’t meet all of those criteria. I 100% agree with you that we have major problems in our current food system but I personally feel like I should support companies that are making strides toward better options rather than boycotting anything that isn’t perfect. As another example, Burt’s Bees is now owned by a major company and has changed some of their beauty products so I no longer buy those particular products. At the same time, the large scale they now have allows them to carry organic kids clothing that doesn’t break the bank and I happily purchase these options.

This was about six months to a year ago, but nothing has changed since then. That leads me to believe that either the person who read and answered my email didn’t care enough to forward it to anyone else in the company, or did, and the company didn’t care enough to make any changes, in which case they couldn’t care less about their consumers, only their bottom line.

Two examples:

Tom’s of Maine products are not organic and never have been, according to the original owner. He sold the company to Colgate Palmolive.

Kashi cereals are made by Kellogg’s, and are neither organic or non-GMO. Kellogg’s is being sued for this.

Although I respect and appreciate that you support this company enough to invest in it, the company is more than a little unethical. In this day of “Frankenfoods,” glyphosate and pesticides, artificial ingredients and other cancer-causing chemicals, most of us are trying to provide the highest-quality foods we can find even if we have to pay a little more for them, and even if we have to wade through shady word tricks like the words “natural” and “no artificial ingredients.” Thrive deliberately misleads their consumers into believing they are shopping for products that are healthful and safe for themselves and their families, while not actually promising or guaranteeing anything of the sort.

As “Wellness Mama,” is this really the type of business you want to risk your own reputation by promoting and investing in?

How can I do this?

I primarily use Vital Proteins now because I was able to verify their sources…