Taking control of your future
Life habits have a big influence on our long term health. What we eat is one of the most important.
Average life expectancies have risen, but few of us are average. Individual lifespans vary hugely. In Switzerland, more than 1 in 9 men die before reaching retirement1. Healthy life expectancy, years of life in good health, varies widely too, trailing life expectancy by around 10 years2.
In Switzerland, roughly 60% die from heart disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes. Life habits have a strong influence on these diseases. The US National Institute of Health reckons only 5-10% of cancer is genetic, and the World Health Organisation thinks 80% of cardiovascular disease can be prevented.
While we still have much to learn, we are able to make some really good dietary bets based on what science has uncovered so far. Eating more whole plants is one of the surest of those bets.
The whole-plant advantage
Whole-plant diets contain very little saturated fat, something associated with heart disease.
In addition, they fill you up, helping to break the cycle of hunger that comes with highly refined carbohydrates and other calorie dense foods. Whole plants are also full of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
Small communities in Italy, Greece, Japan, Costa Rica and California that live extraordinarily long healthy lives, live on whole-plant rich diets. The World Health Organisation recommends diets high in whole plants, low in processed foods, and low in foods containing saturated fats.
Changing habits while surrounded by unhealthy temptation
Most know that food choice affects long term health, but changing unhealthy eating habits is tough in the modern food ecosystem. Competition in the food business has led to a taste arms race with the sweetest, saltiest and greasiest foods vying for our attention. We are hardwired to crave these calorie dense foods. This combined with the drift towards highly processed foods, with their long shelf lives and branded recipes has left us surrounded by unhealthy temptation.
Tempting vegan junk
Adding to the challenge, the rising popularity of vegan diets has led to more highly refined unhealthy plant-based foods.
How can we break the cycle?
Our products are focused on health with the nutritional detail explained to help you understand why they’re good for you.
But making the switch to healthy eating is not always easy. Psychologist Dr Phillippa Lally discovered that it typically takes around 66 days to develop a new habit.
We hope we can help a few people break out of the cycle of temptation by regularly filling their mailboxes with healthy breakfast cereal.
Packed with nutrition
We pack our cereals full of whole-plant nutrition so you can be confident you’re getting a sizable chunk of what you body needs every day, with little of the bad stuff. And they’re fresh, shipped after they’re made.
Unrefined high-fibre health
Our eight-metre long intestine was designed for fibrous food. High-fibre, whole foods keep our digestive system healthy by helping to keep things moving and keep gut bacteria in balance.
In addition to gut maintenance, soluble plant fibre helps to slow down digestion, so any sugar is released slowly. Free sugar and refined carbohydrates slip quickly into the blood stream causing sugar spikes, which can lead to increased fat tissue. If done regularly this can eventually lead to numerous chronic health problems.
Plus, high-fibre foods are filling, breaking the continuous cycle of hunger.
100g of our cereal has around 12g of fibre, around 40% of the recommended daily amount.
Low in saturated fat
Saturated fat is associated with high blood cholesterol and heart disease. Plants contain very little of it. The WHO recommends keeping saturated fat under 10% of calories consumed. Our products contain around less than 5g of saturated fat per 100g, which comes mainly from highly nutritious nuts.
Scientists haven’t fully explained why, but a few nuts a day are associated with less cancer and heart disease. Some studies associate nuts with lower blood cholesterol and better arterial function, which might explain some of it. Nuts, along with vegetables seem to be two key health features of the Mediterranean diet.
Why does saturated fat cause so many problems? It seems to be a design issue. Clogged arteries from eating saturated fat affects only herbivores, according to cardiologist William C Roberts. Cats and dogs can eat saturated fat to their heart’s content and never develop atherosclerotic plaques. Nor is cardiovascular disease an inevitable result of old age, says Roberts. It is primarily the cumulative effect of high blood cholesterol over time. So it correlates with old age but is not caused by it.
Full of protein
100g of our cereal contains close to 14g of protein, around 25% of the recommended daily allowance, including all the essential amino acids.
Some think plant-rich diets don’t contain enough protein. A US study of more than 70,000 subjects shows that vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters all get around 30% more protein than they need3.
There is an old idea that plant proteins are incomplete, meaning they don’t contain all the essential amino acids. This is simply untrue. Oats, for example, contain all of them as shown in this United Nations database of amino acids in foods.
Low in free-sugar
The WHO distinguishes between “free sugars” and sugars still in nature’s wrapper. Table sugar, corn syrup, honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, date syrup, and fruit juices are all high in “free sugar”.
Free sugars pass too quickly through our gut wall causing all kinds of slow-burn health problems.
The sugar in intact fresh and dried fruit is still contained within cell walls the way nature intended, so it doesn’t throw the body into a spin.
The WHO recommends cutting free sugar to less than 6 teaspoons a day. That’s roughly one 300ml serving of orange juice.
Our cereals have less than half a teaspoon of free sugar per serving, which comes from sparingly adding organic honey, date or maple syrup. We refuse to pretend that honey, maple syrup, fruit juice and date syrup are not sugar. They are. We just use them sparingly.
Interestingly, the soluble fibre contained in oats, a key ingredient in our cereals, combines with sugar in the gut to slow down its absorption. So combining a glass of orange juice with an oat-based breakfast will reduce the free-sugar rush from the juice.
Full of essential nutrients
Our cereals are nutrient dense. We choose ingredients that help fill nutrient gaps. A 100g serving of our cereal provides around 50% of recommended daily allowances of iron, 10% of calcium, 10% of daily folate and 10% of vitamin A.
References:
1 Mortality tables for Switzerland – Federal Statistical Office
2 Healthy life expectancy by country – source World Health Organisation
3 0.83 grams per kg of body weight – source World Health Organisation
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