Unleashing Healthy Nutrition: Q&A with Adele Engel 

Even if you've been one of ViraOne's longtime customers you may not know the name of Adele Engel. Yet the truth is without Adele there would be no ViraOne or GoodStuff. As the formulator and nutrition consultant of our brand, her recipes and mixes are the backbone of our efforts to bring the highest possible nutrition to the world. In the early 2000s Adele was noticing how herself and her community members were benefiting from nutritional support for healing and recovery. These early awarenesses led her to formulate various superfood health mixes that eventually would become ViraOne’s GoodStuff. 

What’s Up With Superfoods Anyway? 

Before we dive into the Q&A with Adele, we wanted to provide a little context to question Are Superfood Smoothies healthy? We’ve found over the past few years that the term “superfood” has been overused to the point where some people choose not to use it at all. Most of the time we’ll use “hero ingredients” but we also acknowledge that the term superfood is still in use so we’ll use it from time-to-time. 

What Does Science Say About Superfoods? 

In a blog post by Harvard’s School of Public Health Superfoods or Superhype, they conclude: “There’s no scientifically based or regulated definition for superfood, but generally, a food is promoted to superfood status when it offers high levels of desirable nutrients, is linked to the prevention of a disease, or is believed to offer several simultaneous health benefits beyond its nutritional value.” 

Are Vegan Superfood Smoothies Healthy? It depends 

Generally nutrition science professionals view superfood smoothies positively but it does depend on exactly what you put in them. Of course there’s also the quality and diversity of the ingredients. Here’s registered dietitian and natural food chef Miranda Hammer’s take in Time Magazine: “[Hammer] recommends adding ingredients such as maca, acai powder, lucuma, cacao, spirulina, herbs like cilantro or parsley and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger or turmeric.”

Finding Harmony Between Science and Lived Experience

When it comes to what we consider superfoods we are all for regulated standards and laboratory studies that work in harmony with the experience of real people. And we see intuitive wisdom and scientific insights working best when they work together, supporting one another. So while we do respect the history of superfoods we focus on our hero ingredients (Chaga, Cacao, Vegan Proteins, etc), where both qualitative and quantitative evidence lets us know there’s something there. It’s hard to discount blueberries, cacao or chaga mushrooms from having potent effects that other foods do not, whatever we choose to call them.

And Now The Story of Our Formulator-in-Chief, A Q&A With Adele Engel 

We’ll be diving into superfood smoothie hero ingredients in greater depth. Our commitment is to ground our content in scientifically backed human wisdom. And speaking of wisdom let’s turn to our Q&A with GoodStuff™ formulator Adele Engel: 

What’s your involvement with ViraOne?

I am the original formulator of the product and I continue to work with ViraOne on a consultant basis. 

How did you first get involved in nutrition and health services? 

I have been involved with herbal and plant medicine since I was a young child. As far back as kindergarten I knew I wanted to help people with their healing journeys.  My grandmother was my first teacher. We foraged wild foods to make health skin tonics when I was 10 years old. I began to experiment with herbs, like ginseng, when I was 12 years old.  I began offering services on a professional level in the 1990's. In 2003 I opened a wellness centre in Calgary, based on optimal nutrition, biofeedback, coaching, psychology and much more.

Can you speak of your own nutrition and healing journey?

I became a formulator using superfoods in about 2000 to deal with my own health challenges.  I was both chronically and acutely ill - in fact - I was "dying" from many conditions that brought me to my knees: including cancer and liver failure. At one point, I was on 11 different prescription drugs.  I formulated a plan to get off of all of them but one, by using superfoods.  I began working with Ron Teegarten, David Wolfe, Truth Caulkins and even His Holiness, The Dali Lama - to name a few.  I developed a formula that saved my life and regenerated my liver.  

From Patient to Wellness Professional 

This grew into a retail offering named Essential Nutrition Mix (GoodStuff’s Original blend).  I graduated from The International Institute of Nutrition and spoke to 2000 nutritionists and health coaches in Long Beach, CA at the invitation of the founder, Joshua Rosenthal. He deemed my original mix to be "perfect nutrition in a blender".

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned along this journey?

An optimal health journey is never static:  It is a lifelong commitment that requires adjustments along the way.

Anything else you’d like to share with the community? 

No matter what your health concern is or if you just want to improve your performance: nutrient-dense convenient superfoods are extremely effective and affordable.  A ViraOne superfood shake/smoothie is on par cost-wise with a latte at your corner coffee shop except it has 200 times the nutrition.