Blenders and Breakthroughs
When obsession meets biochemistry
It started, as these things often do, with a dumpster and a bag of contaminated powder.
I had been dutifully scooping that Super Greens blend into my morning routine for months, trusting the label, trusting the marketing, trusting the whole green-tinted illusion. Then came the recall notice. Salmonella. The kind of breakfast bonus nobody orders. Into the trash it went, and I stood in my kitchen wondering what exactly I had been putting into my body while congratulating myself on healthy choices.
Mo would tell you I don’t do anything halfway. She would also tell you this is not always a compliment.
What followed was hours of research sessions with an AI assistant who, despite being made of math and probability, somehow developed what felt like genuine exasperation with my questioning. We went back and forth. I would ask something simple. It would launch into verbose paragraphs about cofactors and bioavailability. I would ask it to stop rambling. It would apologize. Then ramble again. We both needed to find our rhythm.
The thing is, when you eat meat, eggs, and starch like I do, you cannot just grab any smoothie recipe off the internet and call it longevity. The commercial greens powders promise the world in a scoop, but the deeper we dug, the more the whole industry started looking like a mirage. Proprietary blends hiding poverty-level doses. Spinach bases stealing your minerals through oxalate chemistry. Heat-processed mushroom powders that are mostly rice starch dressed up in adaptogenic clothing.
Meanwhile, the world outside my research rabbit hole continues its chaos. Policies shift. Leaders make decisions that ripple through everything. You turn on the news and wonder how anyone maintains equilibrium when the ground keeps moving. The confusion seeps in through every crack, this ambient uncertainty that makes you want to control something, anything, even if it is just the molecular composition of your breakfast.
So we built something different. A2 yogurt for the fat matrix. Collagen peptides at the dose that actually moves the needle. A dual-extracted mushroom blend that contains real beta-glucans instead of grain filler. Raw arugula eaten on the side while the blender runs, because the myrosinase enzyme only works when it is alive. And the critical fix we almost missed: kiwi instead of blueberries, because turns out 14 milligrams of vitamin C does not unlock 15 grams of collagen. You need 50. The blueberries were just showing up to work without doing any work.
The validation study came back. Our whole-food matrix beat the premium powders on every metric that actually matters. Fat-soluble absorption. Mineral bioavailability. Enzymatic activity. Toxicological safety. The expensive green powders excel at one thing: making a label look impressive while your body excretes most of it unused.
I am standing in my kitchen now with a protocol that sounds like it was named by a committee of biochemists, the Matrix-Fat-Synergy formula, but it works. Fresh arugula, a fuzzy kiwi, yogurt from grass-fed cows, supplements taken with the fat they need to actually enter my bloodstream.
Sometimes the path to feeling less helpless in a confusing world runs straight through your blender. You cannot control what happens out there, but you can control the matrix. You can respect the chemistry. You can stop trusting the mirage and build something real, one carefully researched ingredient at a time.
The contaminated powder in my dumpster was a gift I did not recognize at the time.
On This Day
2004: Mount Greylock Sunrise Hike – Mount Greylock Sunrise Hike, Jan 24, 2004 – a memorable day in my adventure diary. All set to see the day’s first rays from Massachusetts’ highest peak, but I missed the sunrise by 20 minutes. It’s...
2005: Full Moon – Had a productive Sunday – cleaned the car and house, and even squeezed in a hike at Blue Mountain. Tonight, I’m posting pics from Saturday’s unexpected mountain climb in the Bitterroots.
2006: Out of Control – Time for a blog update. My Lolo Peak trip didn’t happen, but my car sure took a trip to the bottom of South Fork Lolo Creek Gulch. Thankfully, with a friend’s help, we hiked in, chained it up, and...
2008: Below Zero At Pattee Canyon – It’s been freezing for three days straight, making me second guess my upcoming ‘spring break’. This break’s all about skiing and eating with my friend Paul from NY. We usually do it in March, but...
2010: Pirating the Treasure: A Night Ride to Remember – Night rides scream adventure, and last night was no exception. I geared up my “screw bike” (yep, it’s as tough as it sounds) for a 3-hour mock race in Patte Canyon. The loop? A challenging 6.3 miles...
2011: Riding through past memories – Sunday I headed out for my first road ride of 2011. As I rode along and visited all the roads in and around Missoula I thought back.
2011: Welcome Creek – Norman suggested it and I immediately thought it was a good idea. When recreating by myself I rarely have great idea. But when I get together with friends we always come up one. The expedition...
2012: Gravity Wins - A 5mph Tumble at Leverich Canyon – Leverich Canyon, usually a canvas for adrenaline-pumping descents, served up a different kind of thrill today: a slow-motion tumble that tested my balance and vocabulary. It all started innocently...
2018: Yellowstone Park and Back – We are still hoping that we get to live in the park this summer. Things are looking bleak since they tore down our transit hut from last year. Now we just hope something becomes available with WiFi...
2023: j25 – Well, yesterday did not go as planned. I seemed frozen. I almost did not get out to save myself. If I don’t go outside and bike, well, I basically go into a mindset of perpetual no return. A sinking...
2024: Adventures in the Big Freeze – A Missoula TaleHey pals, ever doubted your daring side while freezing in bed? That’s me in Missoula, just back from a fancy Washington Coast trip, feeling “less than rugged” in -32 degrees. Can’t...