Get better with Better Blends!

Hello! I hope you are all doing well! I am back with another photoblog post!

I am thrilled to have my friend John Redmond on the photo blog! John is originally from Minnesota but currently resides in Chicago and is the Founder and Owner of Better Blends. We met about four years ago through mutual friends! John was also my doughnut partner in crime, literally, we'd drive 30 minutes just for doughnuts - honestly, no regrets.

All images on here have been taken by myself.

John is the proud owner of Ben, a golden retriever. If you didn't know this, goldens are my favorite dogs, so I like to claim that I have partial custody. :D I took a photo of Ben (you'll see down below), that was also featured in my art show that I did last fall.

I am so excited for John's journey with Better Blends! He has already done a lot of great things! As a business owner myself, I enjoy collaborating and hearing what other business owners do, mainly their journey to getting to where they are now. It's fascinating!

First of all, thanks John for the support and for coming on the photoblog!

Tell us about yourself and what is happening in the world of John?

I think the perfect word to describe what's going on in the world of, John is: realignment. When you go from working at a company to running one life takes re-adjusting. Whether that be your professional life, personal life, or social life. But it doesn't just happen overnight. It's been about a year since I launched my company (8 months to be specific) and every now and again I find myself re-aligning how I structure my time, and energy in a way that helps not only propel my personal and social life, but as importantly my business. This year has especially been challenging. It seems like every month presents a new event that requires myself and my business to reflect on how we can best accommodate and respond to what's happening in our environment and that typically involves a great deal of alignment. 

Tell us about the journey to Better Blends:

So up to about 4 years ago I had always been a healthy person. I loved eating my fruits and veggies, I was active, I played sports all throughout elementary, middle, and high school, but then something happened. One day I just couldn't eat fruits and veggies or really food in general without getting severely sick. Usually, I ended up in the hospital. What became a cancer scare fortunately turned and all too diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis. A not-so-rare irritable bowl disease that effects the lives of 200,000 people every year. 

For months I couldn't eat the food I was use to. Instead, my doctors told me that I should start eating wonder bread and pop-tarts because they were processed and this was easy for my stomach to digest. But I refused to take that route. I was not going to put into my body food that I knew was bad for me and so I reached out for help. I found a dietitian who specialized in Ulcerative Colitis and Crohns Disease and in our first meeting she changed my life forever. She told me that I can still have fruits and veggies, but blended, in smoothie form. Reason being, is that when your blend fruits and veggies you tear apart the fiber that would otherwise cause the sever inflammation as it passes through your stomach and as quickly as I found this out I became a smoothie connoisseur (not really, but I made a lot of them) Over the course of a year I developed TONS of smoothie recipes and it was fun, but to an extent. After about a year, the grocery trips, and investment of prep-time and money got to be too much. So I started looking for an alternative. 

Around this time, a bunch of online, subscription-based, pre-assembled smoothie kit companies started to pop up - so of course I gave them a try. But after about four month I had spent almost $400 in smoothies, which is CRAZY.  So I hit the unsubscribe button and went to my local grocery store hoping to find a smoothie kit that was in a convenient, single-serve cup, that I could buy as I needed and didn't cost me a fortune. However, it seemed like everywhere I looked I came up empty handed. After searching high and low, far and wide, at multiple grocery stores across Chicago I couldn't find anything like what I had been subscribing too and it was at that moment when I realized that I knew this product was missing from the market and that I was going to be the person to bring it to stores and so here were around about a year (8 months) later! haha 

What are the flavors?

Strawberry & Banana, Peanut Butter & Banana, Mint & Cacao, Blueberry & Matcha, Acai & Sweet Cherry. All of these flavors give you essential vitamins, fiber, antioxidants and potassium. Also, they're gluten free and vegan! For additional nutrition information, click here.

Where to buy?

Currently sold at local grocery stores in the Chicago area and located in the frozen food aisle right by all the frozen fruits. For a list of grocery stores, click here.

Eat Good, Do Good!

We donate to Crohns and Colitis Foundation

What other activities do you enjoy doing outside of being a bossman?

Things that I truly enjoy doing would be gardening, exercising outdoors, hanging out with my family and close friends, and of COURSE playing with my only child (dog) Ben. OH, and I absolutely love the weather. Fun Fact, I almost went to college for meteorology to become a broadcast journalist. 

Favorite spots in Chicago or Minneapolis?

Oooooh, this is a great question. My favorite spots in Chicago would be #1 my friend Alex and Chris's rooftop, followed by any park near the water, followed by any restaurant with outdoor patio seating, following by my couch in my living room with the Weather Channel playing in the background. 

Thanks so much John for your time and coming on my photoblog!

To here more about Better Blends you can find them on instagram, facebook, and their website.

Feel free to leave a comment blow or contact me with any questions!