A few years back when I was fully immersed in the Cross-Fit craze there was always talk of what supplements and diets worked the best for that fairly intense workout lifestyle. One that consistently was in the conversation was turmeric and in the years since it’s been mentioned to me on a regular basis by athletes and my physician.
It came to my attention again recently walking through the Leucadia Farmers Market and coming across the Rootshine booth whose products are primarily turmeric based. That led to an extended conversation with co-owners Ryan Pavelchik and Brenda Cesena that enlightened me even more and I thought it would be worthwhile sharing as we head into a new year. Here are some highlights from that conversation.
Lick the Plate: Tell me about your backgrounds. What were you both doing professionally prior to launching Rootshine?
Ryan Pavelchik: Since 1999, I’ve been a health coach, 13 (years) of which have been in North County San Diego. Brenda, my business partner, previously worked for a naturopathic doctor where she learned to make a specific green juice recipe for him.
LTP: When did you become aware of the health benefits of turmeric?
RP: I am like a big slice of the population of North County San Diego: a lover of cramming as many physical activities into a day or week as possible. A wonderful day for me starts with a workout in the morning, a surf session, practice laps at the motocross track, bouldering at a climbing gym and a yoga class before bed. I could spiritually and emotionally do that every day but, at age 40 and in excellent health, my body started (to) break down. I had removed all inflammatory foods from my diet but was still feeling inflammatory and oxidizing effects from all the activity. So, I was taking tons of ibuprofen. That was until I discovered and formulated our Turmeric Tonic and Goldenmilk.
LTP: Did you feel noticeable results?
RP: Once we sourced the best organic ingredients possible and figured out the optimal ingredient ratios and formulation, the results were dramatic and immediate. No more pain, inflammation and amazing recovery times.
LTP: Was there an “ah-ha” moment where you realized you could turn this into a business?
RP: Brenda and I had already been doing fasts and cleanses for my health coaching clients and we had those clients and other clients with arthritis and M.E.T.S related issues. Their results matched mine: arthritis symptoms disappeared, faster fat loss and lowered insulin sensitivity and increased energy for the M.E.T.S clients, quicker recovery and better sleep and increased ability for the healthy clients.
LTP: Tell me about that process, how you started, where you are at now, and your goals with Rootshine.
RP: We started with home delivery for our clients and customers that was like being the old-fashioned milkman. We would leave a cooler of fresh Turmeric Tonic on their doorstep and they’d leave the empties and the cooler out for exchange with the next delivery.
While planning for traveling to El Salvador on a surf trip, realizing that we couldn’t take the Tonic with us on the plane, we came up with our Goldenmilk recipe. We take the Goldenmilk backpacking, traveling, on the road and have a cup before bed.
LTP: Tell me about your product line (Tonic and Goldenmilk) and the benefits of each and ingredients that go into both.
RP: That is the key ingredient that other turmeric products lack in piperine, a black pepper isolate that increases the bioavailability of turmeric by 2,000%. Sounds ridiculous but it’s true and cited in several PubMed articles. Without piperine, the turmeric does not stay in your body long enough to get through the blood brain barrier nor into the lymphatic system, without it you only get a small portion of the benefits. Our formulation of both our products was based first on these PubMed articles and cancer blogs we studied. A group of cancer patients were trying different formulations of drinks using turmeric and having their blood serum levels tested for curccumminn, the key nutrient in turmeric that works all the magic.
Both products do the same amazing things to your body and mind. Some benefits include being a powerful anti-inflammatory, dramatically increases the body’s antioxidant capacity, increases brain function and lowers the risk of brain diseases, helps prevent cancer, helps treat and prevent Alzheimer’s, arthritis sufferers report great relief, contributes to delaying aging and age-related chronic diseases and boosts availability of nitric oxide, boosting athletic performance and recovery. All these benefits are supported in PubMed Studies. Their is a link to these studies on our website.
Rootshine products can be found at farmers markets all over San Diego County and rootshineturmeric.com.
