Nothing stirs your brain into gear like coffee. A key component of the morning rituals of millions around the world, we often claim we simply can’t function until we’ve had our morning hit. While it is certainly true that caffeine has a stimulative effect on the brain – Healthline says it stimulates our entire central nervous system – placing too much reliance on a cup of Joe and drinking too much of it in a single day can lead to various health problems.
I’m someone who has one, often two, large flat whites each day, made with oat milk, the greatest milk of them all of course. However, I would say my coffee habit has become more habitual than essential. I like the idea of heading to my local coffee shop, catching up with the staff who know me as a regular, and then taking a walk on the beach, or completing Byron Bay’s famous lighthouse walk.
While I don’t necessarily feel like I benefit from an obvious effect of this coffee – it’s true that your body can develop a tolerance to caffeine if you consume it on a regular basis – I have noticed on a couple of occasions that I’ve felt a spike in energy after drinking a single espresso, before heading to the gym.
Despite living in Byron Bay for the best part of 2021 and throwing myself into new experiences and a more relaxed way of living, switching up my coffee routine wasn’t something that I’d even considered. So, when a friend claimed he drank a magical powdered blend of various plants and other wild ingredients every morning, and felt similar or even greater effects than what you could get from coffee, my interest was certainly piqued.
Besides, I’d already tried Joe Rogan’s brain-boosting nootropics (to limited effect, I might add), so what harm could an all natural blend do to my body? In all honesty, I don’t know why it took me so long to ditch coffee.
Developed by Byron Inspired, the brainchild of Ryan Hollingsworth and his partner Jess, the Truth Blend as it is called, is a vegan-friendly powder comprising “a completely unique combination of certified organic & wild crafted Australian native, and exotic superfoods, synergistically combined to create ultimate efficacy through optimum assimilation.”
Ryan has been experimenting with different ingredients and different quantities since he was 18, having already developed a love for natural ingredients and their positive effects on the human body from a younger age.
He has gone to great lengths to find the very best ingredients for Truth Blend, ranging from the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, through to our very own Kakadu in the Northern Territory in Australia.
These ingredients include organic baobab, Australian lemon myrtle, Kakadu plum, broccoli sprouts, chlorella, brahmi, nigella sativa, ashwagandha, turmeric and matcha, to name a few. There are 33 ingredients that make up the Truth Blend, all meticulously measured out to provide the optimum combination for your body. So far, so Byron Bay.
Watch me take my first sip of the ‘magic’ blend in the video below.
Ultimately, Ryan and Jess are all about helping you to look after your gut, because good gut health can have myriad benefits for our “immune system, mood, mental health, autoimmune diseases, endocrine disorders, skin conditions and cancer,” according to Healthline.
But, what effects did I notice after I substituted my routine morning coffee for a serving of the Truth Blend? And is it any better than the products you can pick up for half the price in your local supermarket? Here’s what I discovered.
Don’t Expect It To Taste Amazing
The only slight downside to the Truth Blend is in the taste. But, to be fair to it, I’d say anyone would be hard-pressed to make a green powder that didn’t contain any artificial ingredients that tastes good. Some friends of mine who are already well versed in the art of chugging superfood juices and powders actually thought the Truth didn’t taste bad at all, and that “you can definitely get worse.”
But, it was new to me. I’m used to post-workout smoothies using flavoured protein powders, or just regular water, on top of my usual coffee. While my face in the video may appear pleased as pie, it cuts off before the slight grimace occurred.
I Genuinely Felt A Lift
One of the main reasons to drink the Truth blend is to give your body a boost of energy. However, it works slightly differently from caffeine in that the energy boost is delivered over a longer period of time, as opposed to a sharp hit.
I never necessarily felt ‘down’ when I woke each morning and concocted myself a serving, but there were days I felt decidedly more drowsy than others. But, just a few hours after drinking Truth, I felt noticeably happier, more upbeat and more willing to sit in front of my desk for work. In fact, I’d say the effects were far more noticeable than what I feel after my morning coffee, and there was no bloated feeling from the sheer amount of milk (even if it was oat).
I Didn’t Miss Coffee
This was the biggest surprise to me. The whole point of this experiment was to ditch coffee entirely and solely rely on Truth for my daily dose of energy. And, because of the effects mentioned above, I didn’t even find myself craving a coffee, or getting into the car to drive to my local cafe like some sort of muscle memory.
What also made it surprising, was that I’ve been drinking a morning coffee pretty much like clockwork for the past 3 and a half years. Not only then, was I able to pretty easily interrupt this routine, but I was also surprised to not feel any caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
I’ve yet to try a week or two without coffee and without substituting it for something else, but my colleague James has conducted such an experiment and found that by the end of his week of abstinence, he was severely lacking energy and symptoms of anxiety began to creep in.
I Trust That It’s Good For Me
This isn’t like some sponsored influencer posts you see on Instagram, where a company sends their product in the hope of raising brand awareness and exploiting the brainwashed population. I reached out to Ryan myself and asked if he’d be willing to let me try a sample of the Truth blend.
I even sat down with him to chat in greater depth about why the product was made in the first place, how he went through a rigorous trial and error process to find the perfect blend and what sort of effects the various ingredients have.
Ryan and Jess certainly know their stuff, and they’re completely transparent with regards to what you get with each serving of Truth. In fact, it’s why they called it Truth in the first place, because that’s exactly what you get.
It’s fair to say I’m not going to notice significant health benefits after drinking it for just a week, but the couple claim if I were to continue drinking it, I would likely find myself falling ill far less often (if at all) and that my body will be working at an optimum level.
It’s All Part Of The Byron Bay Transition
No sooner had I moved to Byron Bay earlier in the year, I found myself dressed in linen. While it’s certainly true that everybody wishes to be seen at a cafe working from their laptops on their own mindful or activewear business (it seems 5G is acceptable in that case), I feel like switching to a powder such as Truth gives me extra credit in being considered a ‘local’ (in the making).