Q&A with Your Super Co-Founder Kristel de Groot
Your Super has been a hugely popular addition to The Clean Beauty Edit so Dawn recently put a few questions to Kristel de Groot, co-founder of Your Super and one of Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs to find out more about how she keeps healthy and well, and growing an ethical, community based business in a global economy.
Your Super was born out of necessity when your boyfriend Michael was diagnosed with cancer in his 20’s. Tell us a little bit about that journey and of how Your Super came to be.
Your Super was born out of a very personal journey. When Michael (my co-founder and fiancé) and I received news that Michael had cancer at age 24, health became our top priority.
I studied business in school but spent my free time learning and reading about health and specifically how what you eat affects your health. So, to help Michael build up his immune system and restore his strength after chemo, I began mixing different superfoods together, making smoothies and put him on a detox. After his energy levels increased and he began feeling stronger, we knew we had to share the power of superfoods with the world as 9 out of 10 people don’t eat enough fruit and veggies every day. Superfoods are a very convenient way of increasing your daily intake. Westarted working with nutritionists to create 100% organic and sustainable sourced superfood and plant protein mixes, and Your Super was born.
You take a lot of care sourcing organic ingredients from around the World for your superfood powders and ensuring that they are GMO free and of the highest quality. This level of detail and consideration should be given to all the food that we eat and the products we consume, by brands and by consumers. Tell us more about some of the steps you are taking to ensure Your Super is contributing to a healthier, more ethical, and more sustainable World.
At Your Super, our mission is to improve people's help with the power of plants. We’re reaching so many people around the US and the world and really helping change their lifestyle to be more plant-based and healthier. We have our Superfoods Mixes, which are very functional so you can really easily use them in your daily diet with water, put them in your cereal, in your smoothies or yogurt. We also just launched Ready-to-Eat bars. This is another step to really make it so easy for people to eat healthy. And this is our goal, to get into millions of peoples households and really make a shift in the way they eat.
We are also committed to a 100% transparent supply chain sharing with consumers a step by step look into how and where ingredients are sourced. Our plant-based Superfood and Protein mixes and bars contain 5-6 naturally dried superfoods. Every ingredient is grown, harvested, 3rd party tested, and packaged 100% sustainably. The ingredients are certified organic, Non-GMO certified, Glyphosate-Free, plant-based and gluten-free. You’ll never find any sweeteners, stevia, artificial flavors, fillers, preservatives or additives.
As a Certified B-Corp we are committed to making the world a healthier place and through our partnerships with nonprofits such as Action Against Hunger where we established a 1:1 give back program providing a lifesaving food bar for every mix purchased. To date we have provided 1,572,121 food bars to malnourished children and expecting mothers across the world.
You enrolled at the World-renowned Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York to learn more about integrative nutrition and wellness. I am currently studying there too and find it an eye-opening, transformative experience. How did your time there impact your outlook on health and wellness, and your business model?
The one piece that really stuck with me is that health is so much more than just what you eat. You can eat super healthy, but if you are unhappy in your relationship you are not going to feel energetic and healthy. They share a full circle of all different areas of your life that influence your health, from food to exercise, meditation, finances, relationships and so on. I think that was really an aha moment and something we really try to support our customers with as well.
I always say Your Super is more than just our superfood mixes, we want to be our customers' health buddy. To truly make a lifestyle change you are going to need some support and we try with our community, educational content and amazing customer support team to help you along your health journey.
What would you love everyone to know about good nutrition and how to achieve it?
Listening to your body plus consistency (not perfection) is key. I think many people are looking for this magic pill and want to be told exactly what to do. I believe we all need to listen to our body more often - it is speaking to us and it leaves clues. How do you feel after that particular meal? What are you craving? Some days you will eat more and others you will eat less - and that’s ok. And what might work for one person, might not work for you.
On a very practical level eat more plants! 9 out of 10 people don’t eat enough fruit and veggies every single day. I personally eat plant-based all the time, if that's not for you right now try making fruit and vegetables 80%-90% of your diet you will feel so different!
My last tip is to read ingredient lists versus the tables. Focus on eating real foods, understand what you are putting into your body and worry a little less about this table and calories in food but more about what the food actually contains. If you don’t know how to pronounce something or what it means – you might not want to eat it!
Other than nutrition, what else do you think is key to optimal health, especially now with the dialogue around Covid-19 impacting us all?
Take time for yourself to destress. You can eat all the kale in the world, but if you are stressed 100% of the time you are not going to feel great. For me that is my morning, I get up meditate, drink lots of water, move my body eg. pilates, run or hitt class, read my affirmations and review my goals, write grateful lists and end with an amazingly big Your Super smoothie.
What does your daily self-care routine look like?
My morning routine is a big part of my self-care routine, and then during the day I try focusing on staying hydrated, making sure I am breathing during many zoom calls, sometimes standing instead of sitting the whole day can make a difference. At night cooking a meal, turning on mantra music, stretching a bit, washing my face and putting some nourishing oil on there are all little rituals that ground me towards the end of my day. Self-care is really being clear on what you need every day or week in order to feel good and making sure you prioritize those over everything else.
You work alongside Michael and together you run your own business, so life and work must be very blended for you. Do you manage to keep a work-life balance at home?
We try our best every single day! Flexible boundaries is where it is at. We love what we do and are so passionate about helping people, so yes during dinners or beach walks we will talk about work but it just honestly is exciting. Most of the time I love that my work and life are blended, because my work is truly the change and difference I want to make in the world personally.
Having the morning and evening routine is important. Saturdays tend to be our exploring days, meaning we explore a new hike, or try a new sport eg. surfing - just do or see something we haven’t done before. Plus we committed this year to taking 4 weeks of holidays at minimum.
You are obviously a huge fan of smoothies as a nutritional booster. I am too. For me, it is the ideal breakfast in the morning, and they make me feel great. What is your favourite smoothie recipe?
So hard to just pick one… it’s always changing every month and I try to keep switching it up. Love using a bunch of different Your Super mixes in the morning and one of my favorites currently is:
Superwoman Smoothie
- 1 tsp Plant Collagen
- 1 tsp Moon Balance
- 1 tsp Forever Beautiful
- 1 tsp Energy Bomb
- 2 tsp Chocolate Lover
- 1 ripe banana
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
- 1/2 cup frozen cauliflower
- 1-2 cups water
- 1 tbsp almond butter
What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
There are honestly so many but one that is very relevant right now is to “trust yourself”.
Your gut feeling is real, and it is always spot on - you have to listen to it. I think in business it’s so often about data, models, and doing things exactly how they should be done but what you learn over time is that there really are many routes to Rome and that it’s important to trust yourself and not overthink things. For me it’s listening to my gut feeling that helps me make the right decisions every day. Another piece of trusting yourself is to simply believe that you can do anything as long as you believe in yourself.
What is next for Your Super?
The team is growing to improve the overall customer experience from creating more products that truly improve people's health, to faster delivery, to more educational content, to looking at other sales channels. There is always room to grow and improve!
You can shop Your Super organic superfood mixes with us below. This March we are offering a FREE Your Super Starter Pack, worth €25, when you spend €125+ (ex. shipping) on The Clean Beauty Edit. The Starter Pack contains 7 of their top selling powders and is a great way to boost your nutrition daily and on the go. Offer available while stocks last.
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