Why I Made the FreeRangers Super Smoothie More Than a Protein Powder
- Gary Moller
- 6 hours ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 43 minutes ago
FreeRangers Super Smoothie - More Than a Protein Powder
Every now and then somebody asks me why they should use our FreeRangers Super Smoothie when they are already taking a protein powder, a collection of vitamin and mineral supplements, or perhaps both. It is a perfectly reasonable question. There are hundreds of nutritional products available today, ranging from high-protein sports powders through to elaborate combinations of vitamins, minerals, herbs and other nutrients. Many are perfectly good products when used for the purpose for which they were designed. The important question, as far as I am concerned, is not which brand is supposedly better than another, but what we are actually trying to accomplish with our nutrition.
I have no interest in rubbishing other manufacturers in order to promote our own product. There are some excellent nutritional companies, including manufacturers here in New Zealand, producing high-quality protein powders and supplements. In fact, you will find many of these for on our Freerangers website. If somebody has a particular requirement and a product meets it well, then it may we may well already have it. If not, then we will go out of our way to find it, or maybe we can find something even better for you. The FreeRangers Super Smoothie came about because I was trying to solve a somewhat different problem.
A protein powder has a particular job to do
A conventional high-protein sports powder is generally designed to provide a substantial amount of protein conveniently. That can be very useful. An athlete finishing a demanding training session may want an easily prepared source of protein, just as an older person struggling to consume enough protein might benefit from adding some to the diet. There is nothing particularly complicated about the principle. If somebody needs more protein, a good-quality protein powder can be a convenient way of obtaining it.
Protein is importantnot only to athletes. It becomes increasingly important as we grow older because muscle, bone, connective tissue, enzymes and many of the structures involved in repair and recovery require a continuing supply of amino acids. One of the problems I encounter with older people is that their overall food intake may decline and their protein intake can decline with it. When this occurs alongside declining physical activity, the gradual loss of muscle and strength can begin to undermine mobility, balance and independence. Bone itself is not simply a lump of calcium. It has a substantial protein framework upon which its minerals are deposited, which is one reason I have long argued that maintaining strong bones involves considerably more than swallowing calcium tablets.
There are already plenty of protein powders available, including some very good ones. I saw little point in simply producing another one.
“I did not want to make another protein powder or another handful of pills. I wanted to make it easier for people to build a genuinely nourishing meal.”
Supplements have a legitimate place as well
The same principle applies to vitamin, mineral and other nutritional supplements. I have spent much of my professional life working with nutrition and nutritional testing, and supplements have an important place in my clinical work. If testing, diet, health history and the circumstances of the individual indicate a particular nutritional requirement, carefully chosen supplementation may be useful.
However, the word itself tells us something important. They are supplements. They should complement a nourishing diet rather than become a substitute for one.
It is remarkably easy today to accumulate an impressive collection of bottles, capsules and powders. One product contains vitamins and minerals, another contains antioxidants, another amino acids, another herbs, and before long somebody can be swallowing a substantial number of supplements while the basic quality of their food remains relatively poor. I would rather turn that equation around. Get the foundations right first, then use specific supplementation intelligently where there is a good reason for doing so.
Our own nutritional approach therefore puts food first, with an emphasis upon quality protein, eggs, meat, fish and seafood, dairy, vegetables, fruit, traditional fats and other minimally processed, nutrient-rich foods. Supplements complement that foundation rather than replace it.
I wanted something around which people could build real food
The FreeRangers Super Smoothie began with a different design brief. I wanted a convenient nutritional foundation around which somebody could build a substantial, nutrient-dense smoothie using real food. The idea was never that somebody should put some powder into a glass of water, swallow it and imagine that nutrition had been taken care of for the day. I actually want people to add food to it. Depending upon the person and their circumstances, that might include full-fat yoghurt or milk, berries, banana, good-quality fats (olive, coconut, avocado), and other whole foods.
This also means that there cannot be one perfect Super Smoothie recipe for everybody. A highly active young athlete may require considerably more total energy and protein than an older person who has become sedentary and lost appetite, muscle and bodyweight. Somebody recovering from illness or injury may have different requirements again. A growing teenager is different from a woman in her seventies, and somebody working outdoors all day has different nutritional demands from somebody sitting at a desk. This is why I prefer to describe the Super Smoothie as a nutritional foundation rather than pretending that anything in a packet can somehow constitute a complete diet for every human being.
This thinking is consistent with one of the central principles behind FreeRangers. Food is more than fuel. It supplies information and raw materials to a living organism that is continually repairing, rebuilding and adapting itself. The body is always trying to maintain and heal itself, and our job is to provide the conditions that allow those processes to take place as effectively as possible. Good food, appropriate movement, adequate recovery and sleep, meaningful relationships and a healthy environment all belong within that much larger picture. Wherever possible, nutrition begins with nutrient-dense whole food rather than trying to reconstruct a diet entirely from isolated compounds. Hence my caution about online health gurus who are breathlessly promoting the next wonder supplement or device.
“The Super Smoothie is not intended to replace good food. It is intended to make eating good food easier and more consistent.”
Protein is important, but it is not the whole story
Our Super Smoothie brings together quality NZ grassfed whey protein with hydrolysed collagen, premium New Zealand blackcurrant and other carefully selected nutritional ingredients. There is reasoning behind this combination. Whey is an excellent complete protein and provides essential amino acids needed for maintaining and rebuilding muscle. Collagen has a different amino-acid profile, including amino acids abundant in connective tissues. I do not regard collagen as a replacement for a good complete protein such as whey. They serve somewhat different purposes and can complement one another within the wider diet. You could say the older we get, the more collagen we need in proportion to other nutrients.
Then there are the plant ingredients, including our New Zealand blackcurrant, which provides naturally occurring anthocyanins and other plant compounds that would not ordinarily be obtained from a conventional protein powder. I am deliberately cautious about making extravagant claims for individual ingredients because nutritional effects depend upon dose, the overall diet and the individual consuming them. I have spent too many years working with people to believe that adding one fashionable ingredient suddenly turns a product into a miracle food. "Food" is the miracle.
Our Super Smoothie is not somehow a “better protein powder”. A specialist sports protein may provide considerably more protein in a serving, and if maximum protein intake is the objective, that may be exactly what somebody wants. Our design brief is broader. We are trying to provide a nutritional foundation around which people can conveniently build a nourishing meal from real food.
New Zealand provenance is important to us
The Super Smoothie is principally a New Zealand-made product, and I am proud of that. We use New Zealand-sourced whey protein from our predominantly pasture-based dairy industry and premium New Zealand blackcurrant, and wherever practical we want to use excellent New Zealand ingredients. New Zealand has extraordinary natural advantages when it comes to producing food, including a temperate climate, rainfall, pasture, skilled farmers and growers, and a long history of producing excellent dairy products, meat, fruit and other foods. We should value those advantages and build upon them.
This is not an argument against imported ingredients or products. Some things simply cannot be grown or produced economically in New Zealand, while some of the best examples of particular foods and nutritional ingredients may come from elsewhere. The sensible approach is to judge them on their merits. Where we have a genuine New Zealand option of excellent quality, however, I would like us to support it.
As FreeRangers develops, I also want us to place increasing emphasis upon provenance. Ideally, we should be able to tell people not merely what is in a product, but where the important ingredients came from, how they were grown or produced, and why we selected them. Ethical production, responsible agriculture, nutrient density and fair treatment of producers are all part of the direction in which I want FreeRangers to develop.
“I would rather build on the extraordinary food-producing advantages New Zealand already has than simply search the world for the cheapest ingredients we can put into a bag.”
The FreeRangers Marketplace is the first practical step
This brings me to something that cannot be found on the nutritional information panel on the back of the packet. Our first major task is to get the FreeRangers Marketplace properly established. We want it to become a thriving home for small and medium-sized New Zealand growers, farmers, manufacturers and producers whose products and practices broadly align with the aspirations of FreeRangers, including having real people behind the tech, and ones who care.
There are many good people scattered throughout New Zealand producing excellent food and useful products, often on a relatively small scale. They may be family businesses, specialist growers, regenerative farmers or small manufacturers who are very good at what they do but struggle to compete for attention against multinational companies and large retail chains with enormous advertising budgets, purchasing power and established distribution networks. A small grower can produce an exceptional product and still struggle to get it in front of enough people to build a sustainable business.
We would like FreeRangers to help change that. This does not mean asking people to buy something simply because it comes from a small New Zealand producer. The product still has to be good. Quality, integrity, value and responsible production matter. Where we find growers and producers doing things well and whose aspirations broadly align with ours, however, we want to help connect them with New Zealand families who are looking for those products. If we can help these businesses prosper while providing families with better choices, then everybody benefits.
There is an important economic principle here as well. I want good growers to be able to make a decent living. I want small manufacturers and family businesses to prosper. I want young New Zealanders to see opportunities in farming, food production, skilled trades and enterprise. Wherever practical, I would like more of the value generated from our land, skills and ingenuity to circulate within our own communities.
“Our first job is to build a thriving Marketplace for good New Zealand growers and producers. If we can make that work, it becomes the engine for everything else FreeRangers hopes to achieve.”
The Marketplace will fund the FreeRangers Community
The Marketplace is intended to become the financial engine for the wider FreeRangers Community. Our intention is for that community work to be funded entirely through commercial activity generated by the Marketplace. I do not want to create an organisation that becomes permanently dependent upon government grants, wealthy benefactors or large corporate sponsors. Independence is important because it gives us the freedom to concentrate upon the things we believe genuinely contribute to a healthy society: strong families, resilient children, healthy ageing, nutrient-dense food, regenerative agriculture, practical skills, capable communities, personal responsibility and a closer relationship with the natural world.
There is something satisfying about the circular nature of this model. People purchase good products. Their purchases support the Marketplace. The Marketplace gives good small and medium-sized growers and producers another avenue through which to reach customers. Successful commercial activity then provides the resources for the educational and community work of FreeRangers. The better the Marketplace works for everybody involved, the more we can do.
This isn't about longing for the past, nor is it a call to reject modern technology, medicine, or commerce. FreeRangers focuses on blending valuable contemporary knowledge with timeless principles that people often overlook. Good food is crucial. Movement is significant. Families are important. Nature is vital. Useful skills are essential. Personal responsibility is key. Strong communities are important. These elements don't just materialise because someone in Wellington drafts a policy document; they need to be cultivated and developed.
Putting my money where my mouth is
Those who have followed my writing over the years will know that I have long been an outspoken critic of the New Zealand health system and of aspects of our social and political direction. I have written repeatedly about what I believe we are getting wrong with health, nutrition, ageing, children, families and the way we produce and value food. Criticism has its place, particularly when systems become so large and entrenched that practices continue simply because that is the way things have always been done.
However, there comes a point when criticism is no longer enough. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and complain about governments, health bureaucracies, multinational companies, supermarkets or the general state of society. If I genuinely believe that there are better ways of doing some of these things, then at some point I have an obligation to stop merely talking about them and have a go at demonstrating an alternative.
FreeRangers is me putting my money where my mouth is.
I really do want to make a difference. I want to spend the years available to me helping to build something practical that gives people better choices rather than merely telling them what is wrong with the choices they already have. That begins with the Marketplace because good intentions without an economic foundation tend not to last very long. If we can create a commercially successful marketplace that supports good small and medium-sized New Zealand growers and producers, while giving families easier access to their products, we have created something tangible upon which the wider FreeRangers Community can be built.
I am under no illusion that this will be easy, and I certainly do not imagine that FreeRangers has all the answers. We will make mistakes, learn from them and adjust as we go. That is how worthwhile things are usually built. But I would much rather spend the coming years trying to build something useful than spend them merely writing articles about everything that is wrong.
“I have spent plenty of years pointing out what I think we are getting wrong. FreeRangers is me putting my money where my mouth is and having a go at building something better.”
There is a much bigger purpose behind the bag
When somebody buys a bag of our FreeRangers Super Smoothie, our first obligation is to provide an excellent product. A noble philosophy is no excuse for an ordinary product. But once that fundamental requirement has been satisfied, something else happens. That purchase helps us establish the FreeRangers Marketplace.
Our vision is ambitious, but deliberately simple:
we want to help make New Zealand the best place in the world to live and raise a family.
We are not going to accomplish that by selling bags of Super Smoothie, and I would never pretend otherwise. But every worthwhile undertaking has to begin somewhere. I would much rather begin by creating good products, supporting good producers and building a commercially sustainable Marketplace than by writing another grand mission statement and waiting for the Government or somebody with deep pockets to finance it.
That, ultimately, is what makes the FreeRangers Super Smoothie different. It began as an attempt to make good daily nutrition easier. It is made here in New Zealand, draws upon some of the excellent ingredients our country produces, and is intended to be combined with real food rather than replace it. But it is also one of the products helping us build the FreeRangers Marketplace, and that Marketplace is intended to provide the economic foundation for everything that follows.
It is not simply another bag of protein powder. It is good nutrition with a much bigger purpose behind it.
Medical Disclaimer
This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended as personal medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult an appropriately qualified healthcare professional regarding your individual circumstances, medications and health conditions.
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