Erica Huss and Zoe Sakoutis return to Earth & Star.

If you have not heard of Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss, you may have heard of their first company: BluePrint Cleanse. The famous (now defunct) Juicing Program was launched in 2007 and quickly spread to the health and wellness industry, attracting fans of celebrities such as Blake Lively and Sarah Jessica Parker. Although various forms of detoxification (and controversy) are still ongoing, a lot has changed since Sakoutis and Huss sold the company in December 2012. Part of the aforementioned changes is a true revival of more comprehensive, older health practices that honor the long-term use of herbs and pants such as ginger, turmeric, and mushrooms. The latter, especially what Sakoutis and Huss focused on in their latest endeavor, aptly named Earth & Star: Organic, Mushroom Power, Plant-Based Drinks, Bars, and Tinctures, truly demonstrate the power of fungi.

"We are all using functional mushrooms and have really discovered that although both of us have experienced the main effects and results, whether it is sleep or attention and memory, we all feel that there is no real product or brand on the market that arrives in the way we hope to achieve Us," Huss told TZR. "Then serve as an extension to reach people in a user-friendly way. It feels like a very isolated conversation." Some of the mushrooms the brand uses in its blends include lion's mane that supports cognitive function and improves concentration, and supports the adrenal glands. And Cordyceps to increase aerobic capacity, Ganoderma lucidum to help the body recover and relax overnight, and rich in antioxidants.

Although mushrooms as a healthy ingredient are not a new concept, the complex science surrounding their different effects and uses is not always easy for everyone to use. In other words, Huss and Sakoutis are working hard to make functional mushrooms less mysterious, with a simplified ingredient list displayed on each can, and approachable marketing that breaks down and spreads the benefits in an easy-to-digest way. The result is that canned drinks and snacks mix mushrooms with matcha, green tea, oat milk, adaptogens, etc.

"For a long time, we have believed in plants as medicines, preventive health, and the idea of ​​maintaining and finding balance," Huss said. "So, therefore, we are constantly trying everything in the sun: new ingredients, new products and new delivery systems for old ingredients. We interviewed the founder of one of the leading mushroom brands at the time on a podcast, and we were very happy to be able to propose us We are excited about the problems encountered in the functional mushroom world. This is actually just a matter of trial and error, try everything, find effective methods, and persevere."

In the future, Huss and Sakoutis will talk about the "mushroom fever", where they think the health industry will go in the next few years, their current health and health practices, and so on.

Huss: There is now a veritable mushroom craze, and we see it is so exciting because the functional mushroom category is indeed beginning to gain some traction and response. You have the whole psychedelic movement. This is the application of these fungi in the therapeutic environment, which helps to open up the world of traditional psychotherapy, psychiatry and medication. It is really exciting to see so many opportunities in the whole kingdom. Then you go one step further and talk about the ingredients they use, which are also derived from the mushroom root system, used to create sustainable packaging and vegan leather. Really feel that there are endless opportunities here.

Huss: When we launched BluePrint in 2007, the word health did not really appear in daily conversations. Now, it does feel that it is the foundation and pillar of every brand and every category. I think some of it has something to do with the vast amount of information we can now, which was inaccessible 15 years ago because social media also exploded. When we launched BluePrint, social media like Facebook were just to find your high school friends, and Instagram didn't exist! Therefore, our business is completely spread by word of mouth, which shows its strength. Since then, this industry has exploded. I think this is a combination of people who really start to do their homework and understand that not everything the big brands provide us, whether it's medicines or "big foods" are true. People are suffering from lifestyle-oriented diseases because of the foods and products they consume, and they are really beginning to understand this.

The whole concept of preventive health is more important than ever. For the first time, people truly realized that their immune system is actually the key to preventing diseases and diseases. In many ways, just as all these things have come together in the past few years, and interest in alternative methods to support our defense has surged again. Mushrooms have been an important staple of Eastern culture for thousands of years. Americans started dancing a bit late, but we are achieving this goal.

Huss: Of course we rely on experts in the field: practitioners who adopt our products and accept what we are doing. By doing homework and finding ways to work for us, we now come to you and say,'Well, this is what you need to know, this is history. We provide so much information on our website, and we like to dig into science very, very deeply. We have a complete blog section with various stories from different types of research, including the recognition of Cordyceps mushrooms by Chinese doctors thousands of years ago, and a foraging guide to help you identify different edible mushrooms when you are outdoors. Then we There is a complete section where you can delve into our white paper report and understand all the scientific knowledge behind our products. It is really important for us to portray the whole picture, not to say, "Hey, we invented this thing" and forget the fact that people have been using mushrooms on the other side of the earth for thousands of years. Some things can be learned from the long-term practice of other cultures, and now is the time for us to understand them and pay attention to them.

Huss: A lot of it now is about prevention. I want to say it has always been, but I think more now than ever. I always try to focus on detoxifying food, and I do tend to treat food as medicine. I will consider it according to its effect on me, but there is also a lot of fun to eat. There is a very deep supplement cabinet, which I dig every day, from algae to seaweed to magnesium oxide. Over the years, functional mushrooms have become part of my daily life. Once I stop taking them, my feelings will be very strong. I can't concentrate, I can't fall asleep, and the recovery time seems to be longer. They are really strong.

Sakoutis: We have always been deeply rooted in this world and dialogue. So I think it’s impossible for us to keep adopting, testing, and experimenting. My refill cabinet will definitely be deep, and it will rotate based on my feelings, the season, and whether I am going through something specific (such as poor sleep or stress). In the past 15 years or so, we have encountered problems and incidents in our lives, which must have made us wake up and evaluate. So, about five years ago, I adopted a meditation practice that I had never had before, and I focused more on daily exercise and sweating every day. In terms of food, I am a very enjoyable person, so it is impossible to rule out the oysters and martinis that Zoe and I like to indulge in together. This is about balance. Eighty percent of the time, I eat in a plant-based way. This is not compulsory because I crave green. I crave things that are moisturizing, filling and fibrous. Then 20% of the time, I am willing to do anything. When taking this approach, I feel more balanced mentally and emotionally. Because it is well known that deprivation will never give anyone any benefit.

Sakoutis: "There is a lot of controversy about the fruiting body of mushrooms and the root structure called mycelium. In most cases, this is a very unregulated space, so many brands remove mycelium from mushrooms. This method has two main problems. First, it is not a real mushroom, which means that we think that the beneficial compounds we obtain do not exist because we are looking for polysaccharides and β-glucosides. Sugar and the like, they provide all the functions. Mycelium is cheap to grow because you can grow it on grains or rice. This is the second problem because many people don’t understand that what they eat is basically crushed Rice or any rice grown with mycelium.

This is very deceptive. Many companies use phrases such as "full spectrum" and claim that "we use mycelium and fruiting bodies at the same time" for marketing. The fruit body simply refers to the real mushroom, which is the source of most of the health benefits of functional mushrooms, because it is the source of most β-glucans. Mycelium also has its advantages. It is widely used as a plant-based meat substitute and environmentally friendly packaging in different markets. But it does not have the same physical effect as the fruit body, consumers need to pay attention to this.

We have a problem with this because we are trying to deliver something that has real therapeutic effects, completeness and efficacy. We think that others in the field will try to do the same thing because at the end of the day, if the product people use has no effect on them, and they feel uncomfortable because there is no obvious benefit, they will not accept it anymore. Therefore, it reduces the entire category, which is a bad business move.

We hope that there will be more transparency and honesty around the theme of mushrooms and mycelium. This is why we use a very important space on our website for clinical research, so you can enter there and actually read what we are talking about. This is a battle we face and we are trying to figure out how to yell on the top of the mountain to make sure people understand what they are actually consuming. We want to encourage them and educate them to read the ingredient list and understand different marketing terms.

Huss: There will always be brands taking shortcuts and cutting corners so they can save money. It has caused damage to the entire industry, and apart from consumers doing their homework and really understanding how to read labels, I don't know how this ended.

The only other thing we want to see is changes in social media. The culture of social media influence has gone off track, so it is difficult to understand what you are getting, and it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake. I don't think there is a solution right now, but I think it will eventually work or go in a different direction.

Sakoutis: You must do this with integrity. We are all about capitalism, but you can't deceive. You must make authentic products that are truly delivered.

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