Ep. 55: Energy Intelligence With Founder & CEO of Rasa, Lopa Van Der Mersch - a podcast by Chef Bai

In this podcast episode, Bailey shares a conversation with Founder & CEO of Rasa (Adaptogen-packed wellness tonics) Lopa Van Der Mersch. Together they talk all about our morning habits/routines that are either helping us nourish our bodies with energy or extract energy from our bodies.  

Lopa explains about Rasa the company which specializes in super functional coffee alternatives and adaptogenic tonics. Lopa breaks down how she came up with the idea to start Rasa and her passion to change how we approach our morning routine. How we need something to nourish us, rather than to extract energy from us. This helped fuel the idea to start the rasa coffee alternatives. It got her thinking.....couldn't we put tons of amazing herbs in this morning ritual that’s fantastic for people's health, stress, energy, libido, mood, and immune system?? Yes!! She worked with professional herbalists on how to find the right balance of herbs that’s safe, delicious, and most importantly, that have these functional purposes.

Together they talk about their experiences with coffee, including the negative ones which fueled an increase in anxiety, irritability, and mid day crashes. One quote she saids is “Coffee borrows energy from tomorrow to feed today.”, which many of us don't think about when we reach for that cup of Joe in the early hours of the day. Coffee spikes your cortisol just like stress which effects our energy all day. 

“If either of us said, I need to have two glasses of wine in the morning, then I’m totally fine” That's what we do with coffee, no one questions it. It creates a significant amount of dependency in the body. Your body gets addicted to it, and stops creating its own cortisol, which creates this burn out later.

So many people now are becoming burnt out from this 0-100MPH with everything now slowly opening back up in this post pandemic life. It's so important to balance our energy levels without being on this hamster wheel of caffeine in the morning and alcohol in the evening. 

Now more than ever, its important to be taking care of yourself, which all starts in your morning and how you start your day. It's in the little things that add up, to eventually help or hurt our mental health overall. One example used was paying attention to your breath, because it is the easiest way to help regulate your nervous system. She also gives suggestions for people who are trying to wean off coffee. 

Lastly, they briefly go over the product itself, the different varieties, the sustainability of the packaging, the adaptogenic ingredients, and the importance of others companies to follow suit. “It really is an offering from the heart. Something that will have impact on the world. Something that will help change peoples lives. Something that will be a fair exchange of energy.”

Whats next for Rasa? They are working on their fully compostable packaging right now, along with more varieties and flavors. You can check out the products and more on instagram @wearerasa 

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Don't forget to pre-order my new upcoming cookbook: "Cook. Heal. Go Vegan!" 

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