Gut health and brain health, the business we're really in – Americano Foods

Gut health and brain health, the business we're really in

Nutrition: About our Commitment to Health

The truth is that gut health and mental health are inextricably connected. The gut has nerves and sends communications to the body! This means that happiness very literally begins with what we digest. In our 8+ years of business, learning that mental health is strongly correlated with gut health added fuel to our pursuit. It drives us not to profit off of poor-health inputs because we know they lead to poor outcomes. Functional Medicine brings us this science, and as Dr. Hyman M.D. discusses, "persistent inflammation can be linked to everything from Alzheimer's and dementia to ADD, ALS, depression, and even schizophrenia" (for more on this source, listen here.) 

People feeling happy and healthy from the inside out fuels us. 

Natural food isn’t always sexy, it’s traditional but we’re proud to offer a product that we all depend on.  At its best food can contribute to people living their best and healthiest lives but at its worst it can be absolutely detrimental to those very same lives. We wish that our industry could be characterized as one that is beneficial. It’s critical, but not necessarily beneficial. It is a spectrum that is tragically wide and ranges from good-for-you products to products that can barely be considered food as they fill people up but don’t nourish their bodies and actually work against often unsuspecting consumers. 

We see big brands cutting products with other things like hydrogenated oils, palm oil and the elusive "natural flavors" (more on that later!). It feels gimmicking and wrong. What you see in our minimal ingredient products is what you get. It’s especially priceless to us when you taste our nut butters and feel like a food company cares about your overall wellbeing.

Beware of Deceptive Marketing

In a food & beverage space of many deceiving ingredient labels, packaging hacks, and unethical food practices to be heart-centered and committed to growing organically and ethically often feels more daring than it should. This is most represented in our refusal to be lured in by pervasive “bad marketing” or greenwashing as a way to generate sales. It's also prevalent in continually choosing quality products over higher-margin ingredients (sugar is 10x cheaper than peanuts). Compare Nutella with our lower-sugar spread (satisfy the sweet-tooth craving but toss the excess sugar!)

Food production is a difficult space (many food companies don't last, many sell or fold). We offer this human-centric approach as a challenge to traditional understanding of how to run a food business. Especially to women in our industry, this is an example of how to not only survive during turbulent times (made it through pandemic times, wahoo!) but create “business insurance” that pays off for years. 

Our Vision:

We envision a world where access to healthful, nutrient dense whole foods is the standard for everyone regardless of economic circumstance. Where sugar isn’t used as a substitute for flavor and where societal well-being and the well-being of body and mind are the focus of the food system.

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published