This article did it for me. It explains why I need these nutrients --- EVERY day. Please read on...
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The Hunting of Shakeology Ingredients!
By Darin Olien
OK, how did the over 70 ingredients end up in
this fantastic blend of potent nutrition and yumminess? Like I mentioned in a previous article I started with some questions. I asked myself, "What do
most bodies require in this day and age?" "What is not being
delivered in food today (and even good, organic food)?" "What are the
gaps in nutrition that need to be filled for the majority of people?"
But the first question was, "Why do we even need a shake
with that much nutrition anyway? What's wrong with the food we eat
anyway?"
The fact is, these days, our
food is lacking nutrients. The nutrient density of our food has continued to
plummet as the value of money has trumped the value of quality. It is insane,
but true!
The facts are well documented.
Pushing farm production has depleted soils. Crops of non-nutritive foods have
replaced nutrition-dense foods. And pesticides and genetic modification are
wreaking havoc with the chemical and genetic markers that have evolved over the
centuries. That means we're putting more food into the pipeline that has less
of what we need and more of what we don't need. On a biological level, your
body hardly recognizes the food we are swallowing.
Ask yourself…how do you expect
your body to live tirelessly, vibrantly, with the power to defend itself from
disease if what is being fed into it is like putting dirty gas in the tank of a
Ferrari? What a waste of a beautiful sports car!
If we want our health to
improve, we need to be aware so we can choose differently, and in this case, we
chose to create something to fulfill the deep desire of EVERYbody's need to be
fed more nutrition. So we started by filling in those gaps, giving the body
what it really wants and requires!
The result is 70-plus
ingredients, feeding the body the equivalent of a supercharged multivitamin and
protein-rich health smoothie. As important as the ingredients are, what drove
their inclusion was the body's need for these vital ingredients, the
cornerstones of Shakeology's creation:
1. Whole foods. So many
supplements on the market are just fragmentations of the complete matrix of
real food. Think of it like taking the most popular scene from a two-hour movie
and calling THAT the movie. It's incomplete without the character development,
plot, and nuance that make it a holistic experience. The same goes with food.
On a biological level, your body needs the whole "movie" to get the
complete benefit of the vitamin or mineral that is the star. You just cannot
replace or reengineer the incredible balance and creation of whole foods. So we
selected high-quality, potent foods, herbs, grasses, and ingredients and then
processed them minimally to preserve the integrity, phytochemicals, natural
vitamins, minerals, alkaloids, phytosterols, etc. This was a huge aspect of
Shakeology getting the whole, deliverable nutrition in bio-available ways.
2. Vitamins and minerals. We included
quality nutrition from potent and varying whole-food sources ("nutrition,
right off the vine" as I like to call it). And then we backed that up by
adding in a well-balanced vitamin and mineral profile since whole foods
fluctuate from crop to crop.
3. Enzymes. Enzymes are
critical for optimal health. But since enzymes flood the food only in the last
days of ripening before harvest, enzyme supplementation is critical for the
majority of people. Even if you eat all raw foods, the enzymes are still low.
And cooked food has ZERO active enzymes.
A very quick note . .
. why enzymes? They have been called "The Fountain of Life!"
They are behind EVERY single process in the body! Yes, EVERYTHING requires
enzymes! The labor force of the body that digests, absorbs, allows for signals
to be sent, creates new blood cells, etc. is all governed by enzymes. You would
be shocked at how starved your body has been for enzyme support. That's why the
addition of these vital forces to Shakeology was so critical!
4. Prebiotics and
Probiotics. We've all heard about foods with additive probiotics, like
yogurts for instance. Did you know that your body can actually manifest its own
probiotics if you feed it prebiotics? With the way people eat today they have
created a thriving environment for UNHEALTHY BACTERIA in the body. That has
created all sorts of debilitating breakdowns of the body: candida,
fibromyalgia, even the foundation for mental and emotional fatigue…and on and
on. The prebiotics of the amazing yacon root (which I will get into in future
posts) is food for the "healthy" bacteria, and in turn creates an
environment for healthy probiotics to flourish. By getting our internal
"ecosystem" in balance, you have the potential for a vibrant,
thriving body and life! It's complex, and even difficult to fathom an ecosystem
inside your own body, but it cannot be underestimated. You need prebiotics to
help you foster probiotics!
5. MSM
(Methylsulfonylmethane). MSM is a naturally occurring sulfur compound found in
FRESH, RAW fruits and vegetables, milk, fish, and grains. But within hours of
harvest, MSM changes and is virtually gone. That's why it is very difficult to
get MSM naturally, because where ancient man ate what he picked almost
instantly, today it is picked, processed, packaged, and palleted for months
before it hits the table. MSM is long gone. But why is it important? MSM is
critical to the connective tissue and the fluidity (or space) between cells!
MSM gives them "room to breathe." When the body becomes very rigid,
tight, painful and stiff, oftentimes MSM is at very low quantities in the body.
Since we are not eating our own foods immediately after harvesting we MUST
supplement this vital component or the body has a hard time staying healthy and
flexible on a cellular level, which translates throughout the body on a
biomechanical level as well.
