Adapt-what? Adaptogens

This word is used more and more and it is a fact that the majority of the Spanish population does not know what they are. Do you want to know why they are one of our best allies? What are its benefits? Do they have contraindications?

Keep reading, we will tell you everything in this post.

CONTEXT: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANCESTRAL STRESS AND CURRENT STRESS

Our body evolved to secrete a hormone in times of stress, cortisol . It increases our heart rate and helps release energy among other things. It was very useful for the physical stressors that the human species has faced since ancient times (running away from an animal or fighting someone, for example).

The problem is that we have changed these stress peaks for chronic stress situations (worries at work, rush, lack of sleep, etc.) and your body reacts in the same way. We do not give our body a break and this chronic stress is what is behind multiple pathologies among others: depression, obesity, anxiety attacks...

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it" - Jim Goodwin

Your body is able to adapt to a certain amount of stress , and sports and physical challenges are also challenges for our body. Your body doesn't know if you want to win an Olympics or if you're running to avoid being eaten. An attempt is therefore made to adapt in case in the future it has to face a similar challenge. Little by little we fill "our glass" with our activities and stressors during the day (personal worries, lack of sleep, training...) and there is a moment when if we do nothing it overflows.

ORIGIN OF ADAPTOGENS

During the Cold War, scientist Nicolai Lazarev began looking for substances that would help Russians improve performance in a situation of great stress.

He began looking for plants that grew in hostile environments under the premise that if they were able to withstand great adversities, they must have developed compounds that, if consumed by people, would help them overcome stressful situations.

He studied thousands of plants and in the end... He found what he was looking for: he named them adaptogens .

Nicolai Lazarev , discoverer of adaptogens

For a substance to be adaptogenic, the following criteria must be met:

It must be harmless : they are safe for the human body and do not produce harmful or negative effects on the human body. Unlike medicinal plants, adatogens cannot have side effects, by definition.
Non-specific response in the body : they improve tolerance to any kind of stressor: physical, chemical or biological. For our body, sleeping little, doing a lot of sports, being overwhelmed or not eating well are also stressors.
They regulate or normalize the body: They promote homeostasis, if an organism is down it stimulates it and if it is too active it helps to calm it down.
They can act bidirectionally and this characteristic is typical of adaptogens.

WHAT ADAPTOGENS TO TAKE

Given our current lifestyle, if we want to avoid the harmful effects of stress, perform more and better at work/sport and feel more energetic, turning to adaptogens makes all the sense in the world. At Baïa Food we spent time asking ourselves this question. We have been working with Andean maca root for a long time. This Peruvian root was the main food of the Incas and we knew from our own experience that it was a great help in controlling stress.

Increases performance and sexual desire ( study ); In this study , it was found that rats supplemented with maca could swim longer until exhaustion. It also helps improve menopause symptoms in women ( study) . The effective dose is about 3g/day.

But we wanted to go one step further. We asked ourselves what else we could offer besides maca to help alleviate a problem as widespread as stress.

It was then that we decided to make the best adaptogenic blend on the market, with several premises: it had to be maximally effective, be easy to take and be delicious.

OUR PURE BLEND - NATURAL BALANCE

Analyzing studies, we saw that the adaptogen that had the most scientific evidence in its favor was ashwagandha .

Used since ancient times in Ayurveda Medicine, its scientific name is Withania Somnifera.

In multiple studies it has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety (study) . But it also increases testosterone ( study ), perhaps that is why it has been shown to be anabolic ( study ) and also helps improve sperm quality ( study ) and sexual function in women ( study ). Its effectiveness against arthritis has also been demonstrated, and it has anti-cancer properties ( study ) due to its compound witaferin A, effective against various types of tumors.

Most studies show effectiveness with the root of the plant, so we decided to use the KSM-66 extract in our blend, which comes exclusively from the root.

To make it delicious we add pure Peruvian cocoa and carob, without any sweetener or added sugar. With just 10g a day you will be taking the effective dose of ashwagandha and maca, with a delicious cocoa flavor.

We are going to make a limited production of 200 units . If you haven't done so, you can sign up now for our priority list to be the first to find out about the launch and access the pre-sale that we are organizing.

Do you have any questions about adaptogens? We read you in the comments

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