The story of the origins
Founder Chris Ashinden started Athletic Greens 10 years ago. He had a lot of health issues, from a tight gut to low energy to nutrient deficiencies and deficiencies. Experts have recommended supplements – plenty of them – but taking 20-30 tablets a day to correct the problem doesn’t make much sense.
To get all those vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and phytonutrients, “you’ll need a full cupboard and a refrigerator,” says Ralph Esposito, MD, a naturopathic doctor and functional medicine practitioner who specializes in integrative medicine at Athletic Greens. “If you look at nature, it does it naturally. In ancient Indian culture, ancient Indian medicine and cooking has a lot of yogurt, plants, herbs and spices. Yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, applesauce – they have a lot of these pre-nutrients, probiotics, phytonutrients.” Ashwagandha was a food first, then a supplement. When you boil it all down, it’s about establishing the basics of nutrition for healthy gut health and looking at the body as a whole.”
This is where the idea for AG1 came in. Ashenden wanted to create a green drink that went beyond multivitamins. He wanted to include herbs, nutrients, phytonutrients, flavanols, and probiotics to make foundational wellness as simple as starting your day with a drink, just like a tea or coffee ritual.
When you suffer from an illness, such as IBS, it is not just one root cause of the problem. There are so many systems communicating with each other—your gut, adrenal glands, blood vessels, skin, etc.—that you need to find a sense of balance so you don’t flip a switch and short circuit the entire system.
So when it came to formulating AG1, Ashenden took the same symbiotic approach. There are nine products that are synergistic by means of vitamins and minerals to maintain your immune system and nervous system; A superfood complex consisting of fruits and vegetables that are picked at peak harvest times to obtain the most powerful number of phytonutrients; dairy-free probiotics to support the gut microbiome and aid nutrient absorption as well as digestion; Antioxidants and plant extracts with adaptogens help reduce stress at the cellular level; And a complex of enzymes and mushrooms to increase aid in digestion.
Discussion about this post