Description
Description
Discover the simple, step-by-step method to create a formula tailored to your personal goals
Create a Blend That Fully Matches Your Goals
You can build your own powerful functional food blend using a few simple rules.
Your choices depend on your goals—whether you want muscle support, better energy, mental focus, or general nourishment.
In this article, part 2 of 2, you’ll discover an easy way to build a blend designed to strengthen your constitution for better energy and improved mental clarity.
But first, if you haven’t read part 1 of how to build your own functional food blend, go here:
Part 1 of 2: How to Build a Functional-Food Smoothie That Actually Works
Your Daily Smoothie Can Do More Than You Think
- If it’s built the right way
To review the five core superfood products that we discuss below, you are invited to explore the Smoothie Lovers Starter Pack (including a special offer and a free gift), here: https://www.znaturalfoods.com/pages/smoothie-lovers
Ok, let’s get started!
Start With Five Functional Foods Designed for Energy & Focus
To support this goal, we begin with five Z Natural Foods products:
- Organic Grass-Fed Whey Protein Concentrate
- Organic Coconut Milk Powder
- Organic Extra Rich Cacao Powder
- Organic Freeze-Dried Super 8 Berry Blend
- Organic 7 Mushrooms Blend
Each product offers unique, nourishing attributes found in the whole-food matrix—and each plays a special role in your blend.
Step 1: Choose the Base—40–50% of Your Blend
Start with your lead functional food. This is the foundation and makes up almost half of the formula.
- For muscle support, your base is whey protein.
- For overall constitutional strength, the 7-mushroom blend becomes the foundation.
- For brain support, cacao and the 7 mushrooms (with reishi and lion’s mane) make a strong base.
This simple choice anchors your blend and directs the final outcome.
Step 2: Add Complementary Foods; 30–35% of Your Blend
Next, select foods that enhance the mechanisms of action of your base ingredient.
The Super 8 Berry Blend is a strong complement. It provides powerful polyphenols and antioxidants that support a healthy inflammation response, protect tissues from oxidative stress, and help the body repair itself.
Berries like Acai also offer impressive fatty acid profiles that support recovery and healthy inflammation levels.
Step 3: Add the Enhancer—The Final 15%
The last step is choosing the ingredient that improves absorption and effectiveness for the entire blend.
Here, Coconut Milk Powder is ideal.
Its rich supply of MCTs acts as a carrier, helping your body absorb and utilize all the other nutrients more efficiently.
Adjust Your Ratios to Match Your Needs
Your goals may change—and your blend can change with them. Adjust any ingredient to create endless variations.
Example:
Increase coconut milk, mushrooms, and cacao and reduce whey (while removing berries) to create a blend you can add directly to your morning coffee.
Functional foods give you limitless options based on your goals and how you adjust the ratios.
Why Synergy Matters: The Blend Is More Powerful Than the Parts
As you discovered in part 1, formulation is both a science and an art. More importantly, the power of functional food blends comes from synergy—where the whole becomes more effective than each ingredient alone.
When you build blends using these principles, your creativity is your only limit.
Now, let’s review the powerful ingredients in this formula.
A Closer Look at the Nourishing Qualities of Your Five Ingredients
7 Mushrooms Blend: A Wide Range of Nourishing Polysaccharides
Mushroom fruiting body extracts contain a diverse range of polysaccharides, believed to play a major role in supporting healthy aging. These include:
- Chitin
- Beta-glucans
- Alpha-glucans
- Hemicellulose
- Mannans
- Xylans
- Galactans
Up to 90% of these polysaccharides are insoluble, and around 80% are chitin—including beta-glucans bound to chitin or protein.
Polysaccharides are known to support immunological, neurogenic, cardiovascular, microbiome, and other nourishing actions.
While beta-glucans are often emphasized, modern research shows mushrooms contain a vast array of compounds that contribute to their potency. Throughout history, medicinal mushrooms have proven themselves to be some of the most versatile, nourishing foods on earth.
Super 8 Berry Blend: Powerful Polyphenols & Antioxidants
This blend delivers a potent spectrum of polyphenols—plant compounds that act as “reducing agents” and work with antioxidants to support:
- A healthy inflammation response
- Tissue protection
- Tissue repair from oxidative stress
Flavonoids, flavonols, and anthocyanins are key players, and Acai provides a rich supply of them.
Many health experts recommend consuming at least 2,000 mg of flavonoids daily from foods and supplements to support healthy aging.
Cacao: One of Nature’s Most Revered Foods
Cacao—the purest form of chocolate—has been treasured for centuries.
Rich in flavanols such as epicatechin and catechin, and abundant in procyanidins, cacao delivers strong antioxidant activity.
The fermentation process is what gives cacao its deep, rich flavor and helps unlock its nourishing qualities. Once the white pulp surrounding the beans ferments (not the beans themselves), the beans transform through anaerobic and aerobic stages.
Cacao is truly a food where flavor and function work hand in hand.
Coconut Milk Powder: A Powerful Source of MCTs
Coconut milk powder supplies four key MCTs with unique properties:
- C6 — Caproic Acid
- C8 — Caprylic Acid
- C10 — Capric Acid
- C12 — Lauric Acid
MCTs generate ketones, believed to fuel brain cells more efficiently than glucose. They support metabolic changes, including mitochondrial biogenesis, and help improve nutrient absorption—such as enhancing the bioavailability of fish oils.
MCTs digest easily, absorb quickly, and play a key role in carrying nutrients deeper into the body.
Whey Protein Concentrate: High-Quality Undenatured Protein
Whey concentrate is a complete, 80% protein source containing:
- ~3 g carbohydrates (per serving)
- ~2 g fat
- Rich levels of BCAAs, especially leucine
- Undenatured protein structures
- Natural lactose
Undenatured proteins retain their native structure and bioavailable nutrients. They include beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, immunoglobulins, and lactoferrin—making them highly effective for nourishment.
Your Functional Food Journey Starts With One Simple Step
You now have a clear, simple way to create your own synergistic blends using whole-food ingredients.
When you use these guidelines, your only limit is your creativity.
Start Building Better Smoothies—Without Guesswork
If you want to apply everything you just learned—without having to source, test, or balance ingredients yourself—
👉 The Smoothie Lovers Starter Pack was designed for you.
It brings together thoughtfully selected functional foods that work with each other, not against each other—so you can experience synergy from the very first blend.
👉 Explore the Smoothie Lovers Starter Pack here: https://www.znaturalfoods.com/pages/smoothie-lovers
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The Author’s Bio
Michael Stuchiner is a Master Herbalist and proud graduate of The School of Natural Healing and has worked in different areas of this field for over 25 years. He is a retired elite-level powerlifter who competed for 27 years. As an avid international traveler, he is passionate about the use of medicinal and tonic herbs, as well as foods traditionally found in local markets in the 35 countries he has visited. Michael shares his years of experience as a Master Herbalist, traveler, and athlete through the hundreds of articles he has written and his YouTube channel, "A Master Herbalist Perspective." He is considered a true educator in this field. For more articles written by Mike, go here: Master Herbalist.
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