Four years ago, I was sitting in the back of the car when my mother-in-law’s phone rang, and she was told the news that her cancer had spread to the surrounding lymph nodes. I was stunned, unable to hold back the sting of tears in my eyes.
This was the prompt for my journey into what became Euphebe. I researched additional solutions beyond the pending chemo and discovered that what we eat massively impacts our immune system and overall health. More importantly, I learned that good food can give us the power and ability to turn around our health and wellbeing. With a new mission in mind, I started Euphebe in my kitchen in May 2015.
Having read academic studies and pretty much every physician-authored New York Times bestseller on the market, the scientist in me wanted to put a new theory to the test. What happens to the body on a whole-food, plant-based diet? What happens when you cut out sugar? Most importantly, how do you get people to make these big changes and stick to them?
I coerced my former boss, Gerrie, to be my guinea pig, and soon her whole family and office of 11 were in. It was a crazy but exciting month of endless cooking, educational emails, personal coaching, handwritten labels, and delivering heavy bags of food to the financial district. Twenty-eight days later, with double-digit pounds shed, glowing skin, stories to share and “the best blood work in 17 years”, Euphebe was born.
We’ve come a long way since those pilot days. Over the past three years, thousands of people have been through Euphebe and have reset the way they think about eating. They’re free from the shackles of dieting or tracking calories. They’re empowered by the freedom of eating and feeling well. Our clients are reversing diseases, feeling lighter and energized again, all without effort.
Euphebe taught me that initial change is hard — no one really likes changing a lifetime of eating habits — but the unique combination of prepared meals, education and one-on-one coaching was the effective kickstarter people needed to shift into a new way of living.
Now, more than ever, our society is spending more time and effort thinking about wellbeing and learning about the impact of food on our health. Yet we’re still in the midst of a health crisis, with healthcare costs outpacing any metric of growth, whether it be GDP, inflation or wage earnings. And, to be clear, this health crisis cannot be “blamed” to an ostracized subset of society — it is pertinent to each and every one of us.
With that, I am thrilled to announce that Euphebe is rebranding and launching as Plantable.
We see a future where people are empowered to eat healthy for life. Plantable is our catalyst to create this future. The core elements of our platform have not changed: Our plant-based, chef-prepared meals make health change easy by cutting out processed ingredients and added sugar. And our one-on-one coaching and educational curriculum help people unlock a new way of thinking about food.
As we look forward, Plantable will become the go-to platform to empower people to take back control of their wellbeing. With science at our core, we will continue to reverse chronic disease, restore energy, confidence and self-esteem. Collectively, we can improve the quality of our lives, save money at home and reduce the $2 trillion annual health care spend that is directly related to food-associated disease. And certainly not least, we can radically improve the health of our planet.
Four years ago, when I found out about my mother-in-law’s cancer, I was catapulted into a brave new plant-based world. I discovered that we are, in fact, able to take back control over what’s on our plate, our health and our wellbeing. And I’m optimistic that others want to discover this knowledge, too.
I’m so happy with the results we have achieved in these past three years with Euphebe. Today, I’m proud to embark on our next chapter: bringing Plantable into more homes and offices, touching even more lives, and making a life free of unnecessary disease and suffering a reality.
Thank you for journeying with us on this important mission.
Nadja Pinnavaia, Ph.D.
Founder, Plantable