What is Whole Food Nutrition???

If you have a pulse then you have probably heard the term “Whole Food Nutrition.” But what does it mean exactly??? Whole food nutrition refers to eating foods in their natural state. It’s the way our ancestors ate food; straight out of the ground, hunting on land and sea, or fishing in lakes and rivers. Whole Food is the completely opposite of “Processed Food”, which I’m sure you have also heard of.

Today I want to talk about whole food nutrition and Shakeology and what goes in to delivering nutrition (from across the world) to you, in a bag. The creators of Shakeology are passionate about two things, whole foods and nutrition. And they are doing everything they can (from soil, to growing, to processing) as carefully as possible to ensure the ingredients in Shakeology are minimally processed. This includes things like investing in painstakingly slow testing procedures to determine at which exact temperature each ingredient should be prepared and which method should be used to preserve the maximum potency of the beneficial ingredient – (such as dehydrating, steaming, baking, etc.), and to leave them as whole as possible so they can be biologically processed by the human body. You see, there are gentler methods to prepare food and herbs in a way that maintains their nutritional integrity without disrupting their beneficial and active compounds so that they can still deliver. The creators of Shakeology have taken the time to carefully examine and understand every single ingredient that goes into Shakeology. They know, specifically, what the active compounds are, they know the exact makeup of each nutrient and micronutrient, so the full spectrum of nutrients are present when they are prepared and inserted into Shakeology.

Creating a healthy lifestyle…

I will be the first to admit that fortunately, or unfortunately, there is no one magic pill. Healthy things add up over time so you can incorporate Shakeology into a days or weeks’ worth of healthy habits, and get the nutrient density from all of these botanicals that have been carefully sourced, along with a lifestyle that includes working out, eating right, getting sleep, eating a well-balanced diet. Health is a multi-pronged approach just as fitness is a journey with no final destination. I will also be the first to admit that this is HARD and takes effort! Did you know that we are the only species that pretends that we “don’t know what to eat”? Why? Because we’ve manipulated our senses; we pass by a Dunkin Donuts and immediately upon getting that whiff of “yumminess” our bodies crave it; we lean towards it, our senses take over and all we can think is “donut, get in my belly!”

Dunkin Donuts is just an example of how our society’s manipulation of fats, sugars, and other macronutrients has contributed to the obesity epidemic in America. In truth, we all really know what to eat (nothing out of a box, fruits, veggies, lean natural proteins) BUT we are constantly bombarded with contaminated everything (our food, the water used to grow the food, the soil in which our food is grown in, radiation from our cell phones/devices, etc.). In reality, if we were eating the way our ancestors ate, which was considered a “full spectrum diet”, and if we didn’t have to worry about pollution (wind, water, soil & air pollution), we wouldn’t have a need for supplements. Shakeology is a supplement; it’s there to fill a gap from the nutrient deficit that we get from “normal” ways of eating today. Shakeology is beneficial in its powdered form because it uses ingredients in their most natural form, extracts out of it which part is most beneficial to the body, and then maximizes what it is that benefits the body.

Source of Ingredients…

You may have noticed that many of the ingredients in Shakeology come from all across the world; they are not just grown or harvested here in the US. That’s because the creators of Shakeology are superfood hunters looking for the most nutrient dense soil/areas with minimal pollution, in which each ingredient is grown. If the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc., are not present in the soil, they won’t be present in the plant. A perfect example of this is that today, an apple grown in the US has 25% of the beneficial nutritional compounds that it did 50 years ago!!! As for some of the more exotic superfoods and nutrients, many of the plants used in Shakeology have beneficial properties that indigenous peoples and mankind have been using for thousands of years; they know what is in there and what exactly is beneficial. With modern science, they now have a process in place – they understand what needs to stay in the plant to deliver on what it’s actually known to be good for. Furthermore, they prepare everything slowly to keep the biological makeup of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients intact. The creators of Shakeology have basically fingerprinted every single ingredient and that fingerprint shows specific markers unique to each individual ingredient. They test them individually as well as together to create a perfect balance, a symphony if you will, or compounds. It is no surprise then that they have elaborate testing procedures in place; they test, then blend, then test again to ensure that every single ingredient, from ground to bag, is not compromised.

So what’s the difference between “processed foods” and the Shakeology “process”???

The difference is in the gentler extraction process. Think about the process of preparing loose leaf tea with a tea infuser and hot water, or making guacamole (cutting open a fresh avocado and breaking down the meat inside). Alternatively, think of whole bran cereal, or “bleached flour” – bleached means its white, it means it’s been stripped of almost everything, it is now a reduced ingredient with very little of its original cofactors. Or, in an extreme example, think of fast food, which is stripped, reduced, and re-configured to make it look like food. Reduced food has very serious consequences in the body because our body views that “food” as a foreign invader. This is completely opposite from Shakeology, where the contents of each bag are hand tested to ensure the original blueprint of the beneficial ingredient is still intact. If there is one thing I leave you with today, it is to trust the botanical process of earth, it knows what to do, and fill your body with nourishment from the earth!

Interested in trying Shakeology? Consider joining my “30 days to a healthier you” virtual bootcamp beginning Monday, January 9. Consider this a “gateway” introduction to wellness with a 100% money back guarantee with very little time commitment required, just a decision that you want to take care of and honor your beautiful earthly vessel! Comment here or email me at jenthornfit@gmail.com for additional information!