Catherine’s Cabinet Review
Obviously the best way to obtain your daily dose of fruits and veggies is in it’s freshest form in order to optimize all of those lovely live enzymes. But if you feel like you’re not getting enough, or you’re just way too busy to cram 5 cups of fresh kale into your face, there is another way to obtain your essential nutrients, all stuffed into one compact easily digestible package.
Now I’m not normally a supplement-driven Nutritionist. Not that there is anything wrong with supplements, but I genuinely believe in the power of using food as much as possible (although let’s be honest… we do need a little extra help sometimes). With that said, I was tasked with my first official review of a health product for Do The Daniel. I was handed what I thought was going to be a fairly standard health supplement, but in reality, this one is a bit different. It’s sourced directly FROM WHOLE FOOD (insert excited face here) by chemically isolating vitamins and minerals from… you guessed it, real foods.
microGREENS from BioCore Food Science has created a whole food, raw, vegan, organic nutritional supplement which contains over 8 super greens, 16 brightly coloured fruits & vegetables, 24 phytonutrients, and a potent blend of digestive plant based enzymes. Okay, that’s a lot of stuff jammed into one small scoop of powder. The recommended way to consume this green powder is to take one scoop per day in water, juice or a smoothie to obtain the antioxidant capacity of over 10 servings of fruits and vegetables.
Okay, so what the heck does this all mean exactly? So many words are thrown at us within the nutrition industry and we are supposed to be wowed and awed by all of them without understanding what they really mean. Well, let me try my best to give you a bit of clarity by putting my Holistic Nutritionist hat on.
What are phytonutrients? Can I even pronounce that word?
“Phyto” refers to the Greek word for plant. Plant-based foods contain tons of natural chemicals, not to be confused with the essential vitamins and minerals keeping your body going on a daily basis. These phytochemicals can help to prevent disease by protecting you from threatening pathogens such as germs, bugs and fungi.
What are antioxidants? I hear this one a LOT. WTF is an oxidant and why am I so anti-this?
I can’t thank my Sports and Fitness Nutrition Teacher at IHN enough for this analogy, because a) it’s hilarious and b) it accurately describes what an antioxidant does in the body.
So, let me set the scene. A guy walks into a bar. He sits down and orders a couple of drinks. No problem, he’s not bothering anyone else there. But soon enough, something sets him off and he starts to get rowdy, cursing out everyone around him, becoming “toxic” towards the bar and the patrons inside. He punches a guy to his left, he pukes on the dude to his right, he is what we would like to call the “free radical” in the body. Let’s refer to this alcoholic binge he’s on as oxidization as became set off by something crappy going on in the bar (a chemical reaction). Now he needs to be taken outside and away from everyone around him that he’s harming, and frankly pretty much just pissing off.
The bouncer who hauled him outside is like the antioxidant. Through the process of tossing the radical dude outside, the bar is back to it’s happy and working order. If we don’t have enough bouncers working or we have too many drunk ridiculous dudes around wreaking havoc, the bar will not run properly and will probably go out of business. Get it?
What is an enzyme? That’s a bit too digesty sounding for me.
I love me some enzymatic activity! Enzymes catalyze reactions within the body, like converting inactive chemicals into active ones.
Okay, thank you The Magic School Bus, but what does that mean exactly?
Well, it’s simple. Enzymes are the why reason anything works in your body. In digestion, it’s how we properly absorb and assimilate essential nutrients.
Why organic? Blah Blah Blah… organic this, organic that.
Remember the ridiculous drunk jerk at the bar? Well you’ll have a lot more of those free radicals floating around in your body if you consume chemicals like pesticides. Lighten your toxic load by making sure that you are aware of what is going in your body when you consume your food. Organically grown food is richer in nutrients and more bioavailable, which is vital to achieving optimal health.
So, I had a little fun with MicroGREENS and decided to create a delicious smoothie just for them!
The Green Cinnamon Bun:
(Yeah it will look green, but it will taste like a cinnamon bun!)
1 banana (substitute with organic apple sauce for more of an apple pie smoothie)
1 scoop BioCore MicroGREENS powder
1 scoop Vegan Vanilla Protein Powder of choice (I used Vega One)
Almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tbsp almond butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Recipe by Catherine Sugrue
I absolutely love all of the benefits that this powder has to offer and I can’t wait to integrate it into my practice by recommending it to my clients. I am all for something that contains live enzymes, nutrients, antioxidants and phytonutrients. It also doesn’t contain some of the common allergens such as dairy, gluten and corn so it’s perfect for those who are intolerant. There are no harmful preservatives, chemicals, artificial colours or GMO’s! It’s made in Canada, sourced from North American ingredients, which means that it’s as fresh as possible before it’s freeze dried and turned into the lovely green powder form. OMFG real food?!
If it’s not already obvious, fruits and veggies are my jam. So, turn it up!
Photos: Biocore Food Science
Whatever happened to this company? I loved their product.