Why Ashwagandha? Our Story
I'm typically skeptical of weird supplements. After owning a gym, being a personal trainer, and helping run a nutrition group with hundreds of members at any given time, I have heard of a LOT of supplements that claim to do incredible things. After researching them I usually come to the conclusion that they are a complete waste of money and won't help at all. In fact, there are really only a few supplements that have legitimate scientific evidence that they actually do anything (protein, creatine, fish oil, and *cough cough* ashwagandha). With that skepticism in mind, you can understand that it would take a lot for a supplement to convince me that it is worth taking.
A few years ago my wife and I were watching a video from two of our favorite people Sailing La Vagabonde. They are a couple that lives on a boat and sail around the world. At one point in the video they were talking about some of the food items they bring on their trips and mentioned ashwagandha. It sounded interesting and my wife took initiative and bought us a bag of the powder to try it out. At the time it was just labeled as a powder you can add to drinks to help you calm down and manage stress.
It tasted awful, but after giving it a shot and taking it every day for a few weeks, we genuinely started feeling a difference. I noticed immediately the first night that I slept extremely well, and after a few days we noticed improved energy and a general sense of feeling better. My daily workouts were going extremely well, I felt healthy.
At the time I still chalked it up to placebo. But if it was working then I didn't plan on stopping.
After a month or two of taking it consistently I started seriously wondering if this stuff was helping me as much as I thought it was. I actually stumbled across an article on a fitness forum that showed that a recent study had proven that ashwagandha improved endurance in athletes. I got hooked on reading studies about it and was blown away that there was legitimate evidence that ashwagandha was extremely beneficial but nobody was talking about it. It helped decrease cortisol levels, improved sleep quality, aided in muscle function and development. Why hadn't I ever heard of it before?
Around the same time that I was researching, CBD was blowing up in the fitness industry. I always wondered why CBD was so big but nobody was talking about ashwagandha. In fact, CBD doesn't even come close to having as much legitimate scientific literature on its effectiveness. It seemed like a fad product. I'm not saying CBD doesn't work, but I AM saying ashwagandha is proven to work.
I noticed that there were no ashwagandha brands that catered to athletes or talked about its amazing benefits for fitness. I decided with the help of my wife and some of our friends that we'd be the ones to bring ashwagandha into the fitness industry. I genuinely think it helped me, and I know it can help many others. Instead of having my clients throw away their money on supplements that don't work, I could recommend to them a supplement that is scientifically proven to help. It promotes natural, earth-fed, sustainable health. We are excited to grow the Lune Co brand and help others feel, perform, and sleep better just like we were able to.