At Garden of Life, we're used to hearing from plenty of amateur and professional athletes who love to fuel their work outs and prepare for competitions with Raw Protein. Now available in new Chocolate and Vanilla flavors, it's no surprise that kids love it also, which is why we recently took the opportunity to teach young athletes how to shake it up and go raw!
Because we love to sponsor events in our community, we recently visited with boys and girls attending the Taylored Athletes Next Level summer basketball camp in Boca Raton. Future hoop stars from ages 5-17 attend the camp under the direction of former professional player James Taylor, who drills and instructs the youngsters for six hours every day. It's a far cry from many camps that are like babysitting services with swimming pools, arts and crafts and video games. At this camp, it's all blood, sweat, tears and SERIOUS basketball all day long for these kids who are harboring big hoops dreams. With all of them secretly wondering if they could one day be the next LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, it was the perfect time to talk to them about the importance of nutrition and Raw Protein!
Last summer, Garden of Life founder Jordan Rubin visited the Next Level camp and spoke about the importance of eating a healthy whole foods diet. This year we reminded them that elite athletes simply can't afford to eat junk food if they want to perform well. Instead, their growing bodies need essential vitamins, nutrients and protein to build muscles and make them healthy and strong. A few of the kids said they knew that protein is crucial to athletic performance, but none of them knew that protein could be derived from plant sources, which is the foundation for Raw Protein.
"If you want to get to the next level, you have to eat like a champion, too!" said Coach Taylor to the curious kids when we handed out Garden of Life Raw shaker cups and a sample of Chocolate Raw Protein for everyone.
The kids were excited to learn they could mix Raw Protein with water, juice, almond milk, chocolate milk and many other options and that a springy little ball in the bottom of the shaker cup would help them "shake it up and go raw!"
As the sound of rattling shaker cups filled the gym, a few teenagers approached us and wanted to know exactly what "raw" nutrition meant. We explained it in the easiest way possible by telling them Garden of Life's raw dietary supplements contain all of the whole food vitamins and nutrients you need and none of the processed, "bad stuff" or fillers you don't need. They seemed more than satisfied with the answer, but also wanted to know if Raw Protein tasted good.
"Some protein shakes taste gritty or like chalk," complained one camper.
By this time, one middle schooler had already ventured to a drinking fountain to mix the Chocolate Raw Protein with water. A few shakes later and the first taste tester emerged.
"This is the bomb! I'm tellin' my Mom about this as soon as I get home!" he said.
For more information about Taylored Athletes, visit www.tayloredathletes.com and for more about why Raw Protein is the #1 selling protein at health food stores nationwide, go to www.gardenoflife.com. Or you could just ask your Mom!