We recently caught up with Tao Nutrition Co-founder Michael to give us the low-down on superfoods.

We recently caught up with Tao Nutrition Co-founder Michael to give us the low-down on superfoods.

Let’s start at the beginning - what is a superfood?
Great question, superfoods are certain types of food that are nutrient dense. The easiest way to look at it is how concentrated the nutrients are within that food. Or if you want to get technical, this means that by weight or calorie this is the amount of nutrients within that portion e.g. x grams of nutrient/g of food.
Why is that important?
Nutrients are essential to the trillions of reactions that occur in your body every day and even more important when you are putting yourself through the rigours of training. So getting all of the nutrients we need is pretty important but also, how bioavailable those nutrients are. I’ll give you an example: I get some kale, lock it in a box and give it you- but because the box is locked you can’t use it. So it’s really important that if I give you nutrients they are available for use and not locked up. Superfoods in general are nutrient rich and bioavailable.
So why is this important? Let’s say you need x amount of nutrient ‘A’ every day so that your body can complete a certain reaction effectively. If I can get the same amount of nutrient A from eating ¼ gram of kale as a kilogram of sugar then you are putting much less digestive load on your body. Now let’s multiply that one nutrient by the 100 000s of nutrients you need every day, you can start to see how much of a difference that eating nutrient dense, bioavailable foods e.g. superfoods can be.
So how do superfoods work?
Not only do they give you the essential nutrients they have some nutrients that other foods don’t have. I’m talking about being alkalising have high levels of antioxidants, phyto and micronutrients just to name a few.
Sorry to get technical, I get a bit excited about this stuff. Let’s break it down, the benefits of eating these types foods can range from preventing disease, lowering cholesterol, detoxing to boosting metabolism, immune system and even athletic performance!

So tell us about Tao Nutrition’s secret recipe?

Haha, well it’s no secret. We are so proud of our ingredients we put them in massive font at the top of the pack’s back. We don’t hide our ingredient list because we have nothing to hide, it’s simply just all the best superfoods you can get. They are all in one bag, in the exact quantities you need. There is no mixing our having 20 different containers in your cupboard. Tao Nutrition has been designed for athletes by athletes to help your body and mind recover from training, racing and living an active lifestyle. When you recover faster, you can train harder and perform better.

So you use Tao Nutrition every day?

Definitely. I devote a lot of my time training for long distance triathlons sometimes up to 20+hours per week and my wife (and cofounder) loves her marathon running too so we are pretty active. Recovery and having healthy snack options are super important for us. We have at least one Tao smoothie a day, have it on our muesli and even bake with it. It would be hard to find a healthier snack or recovery option than Tao.
When you compare a Tao superfood smoothie to what i used to have for recovery - cheap protein filled with chemicals and sugars and snacks or lunch like a muffin and a coffee or a sandwhich and juice not only is Tao more cost effective at less than $3 a serve you are getting a whole heap more nutrients. When you put high quality fuel in, thats where the magic happens! Thats where you really get the benefits of the training and hard work you put in.
Thanks for your time Michael

You can order online through the website www.taonutrition.com.au, or we will be stocking Tao Nutrition at the studio.

Tao Nutrition is proudly 100% Australian owned and made.