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Maca, certified organic, powdered, raw
Important announcements from Shazzie
Is it really organic?
"Recently, there has been an influx of inferior
superfoods into the UK. When buying superfoods on the Internet or in shops,
ensure you are buying organically certified (if it says organic, it should
be accompanied by the details of the certifying body (OF&G or Soil
Association, for example). If it doesn't say who's certified it, ask the
seller for their certificate. For your protection, it's illegal to sell
uncertified products as organic."
Price matching
"If you find certified organic superfoods of a similar
quality to ours at a cheaper price, we will attempt to price match this
item. Please ring Denise or Angel on 08700 113 119 for a price match."
With love
"I have been taking maca for 10 days and can't believe the difference it has made to me. I FEEL GREAT" -- Marilyn Plant, Bury St Edmunds, UK
What is maca?
Maca is a root from Peru. It looks like a little turnip or radish, and is a traditional staple food in Peru. Its Latin name is Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon, but you don't have to remember that! It's also known as Peruvian ginseng, or Amazonian ginseng, but isn't related to ginseng at all.
Our Maca comes dried and ground into a powder, is certified organic and is not cooked. It is non-toxic and contains no dangerous side-effects or withdrawal symptoms.
What's so special about maca?
Maca comes under the herbal classification of being adaptogenic. Adaptogens, are herbs such as ginseng that are traditionally thought to help the body to adapt to increased or ambiguous stressors. Traditional texts claim that these types of herb have a generalised regulatory action upon homeostatic mechanisms throughout the body (Lopez-Fandon et al, 2004:471).
Maca is a very densely nutritious food that contains high amounts of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and all the essential amino acids (so often hard to obtain from a single non-flesh food). The amino acid content of this plant gives it an average bioavailable protein content of around 14% of the entire weight of the plant. Maca certainly has an impressive array of minerals, with notably high levels of bioavailable calcium. The vast majority of people today eat food that is lower in minerals than our wild foods of yesteryear. Maca's high-mineral content can help top up your mineral stores in a tasty enjoyable way. On top of that, maca also contains trace amounts of the hard-to-find vitamin B12 (though not enough to rely on by itself).
There is also a massive array of active phytochemicals (plant chemicals) present within maca, including the legendary macamides and macaenes, who’s supposed activity have been the topic of much research, especially amongst traditional diets of indigenous peoples of Peru. We actively encourage you to undertake your own research on these compounds and draw your own conclusions here.
How do I use maca?
Maca is so tasty! Shazzie eats the powder right out of her hand (often affording her some strange glances from onlookers), but you can mix it up into other foods if you like!
Maca tastes malted, like Horlicks! Try adding it to smoothies, nut milks, water, or energy balls.
Why we don't sell maca tablets or maca capsules
Some maca tablets are made from the same high-grade peruvian maca as our powder, but they are considerably more expensive. As a guide, a popular brand in the UK retails on the web for £13.95 for 800mg x 100 tablets. This means each bottle contains 80g of maca. This works out at £17.44 per 100g. When you compare that to our 100g of maca, which sells for just £3.55, you can see why we stick to powder! We also believe that maca, as a food, not a supplement, should be integrated with other foods and enjoyed. When you enjoy consuming something, you'll be more likely to do it consistently, rather than faddishly.
And, we now sell maca in 500g bags, as well as the well-loved 1k bags. These work out much cheaper for you than the 100g bags. So if you know someone else who wants maca, why not go for the big bag and share it out? All our family eat maca daily now -- and it's helped every one of us in different ways.
Now, if you still can't bear the taste of maca after all this convincing, you can buy empty capsules from chemists and health-food shops, and fill your own. This is a very meditative passtime!!
Shazzie makes a recipe with maca
References
A. López-Fando, M. P. Gómez-Serranillos, I. Iglesias, O. Lock, U. P. Upamayta, M. E. Car-retero. Lepidium peruvianum chacon restores homeostasis impaired by restraint stress. Phytotherapy Research. Jul 2004 (18,6). 471-474
Important legal note: Though we are happy to provide
products and services which will help you to improve your health and well being, we do not 'treat', or aim to 'cure' any disease. Under UK law only a medical doctor may 'treat' illness and disease with a medical origin. The information in this web page is for information purposes only.
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