Danielle Ryan Wellness 2023: Live in Vitality!
In the realm of holistic wellness and the art of harnessing nature's bounty for optimal health, few individuals shine as brightly as Danielle Ryan. As a distinguished Registered Herbalist (RH) affiliated with the esteemed American Herbalists Guild (AHG), a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, and the driving force behind the innovative strides at Four Sigmatic as the Head of Education and Innovation, Danielle Ryan has seamlessly woven together her profound expertise in herbalism, nutrition, and innovation. Beyond her corporate role, she stands as the visionary Founder of Danielle Ryan Wellness, a testament to her unwavering commitment to spreading the gospel of holistic well-being. With her multifaceted background and a deep-rooted passion for empowering individuals on their wellness journeys, Danielle Ryan is a true luminary in the ever-evolving landscape of natural health. Join Delivery Rank and find out more about Danielle!
Can you tell us about your journey from being a Registered Herbalist & Holistic Nutritionist to becoming the founder of Four Sigmatic? What inspired you to combine organic Arabica coffee with functional mushrooms?
Prior to Four Sigmatic, I had a private practice focusing on functional mushroom based treatment for autoimmunity and chronic illness. I was blown away by the vitality reemerging in my clients after bringing functional mushrooms into their daily regimens. My personal preference was to teach clients to make their own medicine or learn my process so eventually, they could be self-sufficient and no longer rely on me to provide their formulations or make their medicine. It was frankly too much to ask for many clients and I needed a simple way for them to get high potent functional mushroom extracts into their routine in a way that was aligned with my values as an herbalist and as such, which I knew would give them the best results. To this day, Four Sigmatic is one of the only brands I would recommend. While our products are creative and trendy, when it comes to the ingredients themselves, we use ingredients in the same way our herbal ancestors have been using them for thousands of years. When it comes to mushrooms, this means log-grown or wild-harvested, 100% fruiting bodies, and extracted. Beyond this, every ingredient is not only certified USDA organic but each ingredient and final batch is 3rd party laboratory tested which gives me the utmost confidence in the cleanliness and quality of each product.
Functional mushrooms and organic Arabica coffee may seem like an unlikely pair at first but they actually pair amazingly well for several reasons. First off, the functional mushrooms we use in our coffee are considered adaptogens, a group of natural mushrooms and plants that essentially help your body adapt to stressors (there is much more than that- you can check out Tero and I’s new book “Healing Adaptogens'' to get the full story!). Adaptogens must be taken consistently to reap their benefits. We know it's hard to start a new habit, especially a habit that involves mushrooms most have never even heard of! So we thought about what routine’s people already engage in daily. It turns out that ~70% of Americans drink coffee everyday. What a perfect way to get adaptogens into one’s daily routine without having to do anything different, new, or have an extra step in their routine to remember. Beyond the routine aspect, functional mushrooms are incredibly bitter. Turns out that one of the only bitter flavors American’s know and love… coffee! The taste is delicious and masks the flavor of the mushrooms so it truly just tastes like a delicious cup of dark roast Arabica coffee. Last but certainly not least, most of us drink coffee to wake up our minds and while caffeine does a decent job at this, we are also left with a crash and afternoon jitters. The functional mushrooms we add to coffee, take our best seller Lion’s mane for example, is a nootropic that supports cognitive function, creativity, and focus. It enhances why we are drinking coffee in the first place. Adaptogens also support the adrenals, which are taxed from excess caffeine, so most don’t get a crash or jitters from mushroom coffee. Truly a win, win, win and then some!
Four Sigmatic's products blend traditional herbalism with modern nutrition. How do you ensure the balance between these two approaches while creating products that are both effective and delicious?
Turns out that the ways of traditional herbalism are now being confirmed by modern science and nutrition. Herbalists experimented for years with trial and error to understand what forms, dosages, and combinations yielded the best results. Now, we have tools in modern science and nutrition to validate these traditional practices. As such, it is easy to marry the traditional with the modern. We believe nature knows best so follow traditional herbal practices when it comes to sourcing, extraction and the formulation of ingredients. Our “modern” take is applying these tried and true ways into new and innovative formats that are easy for people in the modern world to use and enjoy daily.
The concept of "mindful consumption" is central to Four Sigmatic's philosophy. How do you see this philosophy resonating with today's health-conscious consumers?
Being mindful means many things. For us, it’s all about being conscious about the ingredients you are fueling your body with. As such, we not only use 100% organic, plant-based ingredients in all of our products, we also leave out anything that is not real, whole food, vitamin, mineral or botanical. This means you will never find natural or artificial flavors, gums, fillers, or non-organic ingredients in any of our products. This comes back to our brand name, “Four Sigmatic”, where we create our products centered around incorporating the world’s most nutrient dense and researched foods on the planet.
Four Sigmatic places a strong emphasis on sustainability. Can you share some insights into your sourcing and production practices that align with your commitment to both health and the environment?
Absolutely! Sustainability is a key pillar for us at Four Sigmatic. First and foremost, we source 100% real mushroom fruiting bodies that are log-grown or wild-harvested (there is one exception here, Cordyceps, that is a fascinating story for another time!). Getting real ingredients grown in the woods they evolved to fruit on means without healthy ecosystems, namely forests and trees, we would have no mushrooms, and no products. As such, we care a lot about trees. We have a 10 year partnership with TenTree, where we are offsetting more carbon each year than we emit as a company making us more than Climate Neutral but Climate+. We also have a deep understanding of the repercussions of agriculture on the environment and only source 100% USDA certified organic ingredients across our entire portfolio. Supporting organic agriculture has many arms, including saying no to harmful pesticides and herbicides and investing in a future where our soil is protected and topsoil can continue to regenerate. Beyond being Climate+ and 100% organic, we are a fully plant-based company. Plant-based means using resources lower down on the food chain and as such, preserving large numbers of resources along the way. We are always striving to do better as environmentalists and love consumer feedback about how we can continue to improve.
Four Sigmatic has gained a dedicated following. Could you share a memorable success story or testimonial from a customer who experienced significant positive changes in their health and daily routine after incorporating your products?
Excellent question! We receive heartwarming success stories daily through our customer service team. A common theme is busy moms, healthcare professionals, or people in recovery from a number of ailments that make the simple switch to mushroom coffee from the coffee they drank before. In a number of weeks, their vitality comes back. More energy, better focus, more time in the day to do the things they love or spend time with their kids, better sleep, and the list goes on. In Tero and I’s new book, we share individual stories of clients from my private practice and Four Sigmatic consumers who have written to us about their truly profound experiences from bringing high quality, organic, 100% fruiting body functional mushroom extract into their daily routine. What are you waiting for? ;)
If you would like to find out more about Danielle Ryan Wellness, visit https://www.danielleryanwellness.com/