It’s got 50 times the Vitamin C of oranges and it’s loaded with benefits—for mamas particularly. In this post and video, I’ll tell you all about it, my new favorite food-based supplement, Camu Camu Powder.
Camu Camu powder video review
What is camu camu?
Camu camu is a shrub that grows along water in the Amazon rain forests of South America, particularly Peru. Historically, the fruit and leaves have been used to treat all sorts of ailments from cold sores to shingles to the common cold. It’s also been used to enhance eye health as well as to help with low energy and gum and teeth problems.
And of course, people eat the tart fruit as food.
In the U.S., camu camu is sold in the form of a powder, since the fragile fruit doesn’t ship well, and used as a nutritional supplement.
camucamu
How I began using camu camu powder
I was first drawn to camu camu powder because it was a real food source of vitamin C. At the time, we were heading into winter and I wanted to boost my levels naturally. Camu camu powder has the highest food-based form of vitamin C of any food known on this planet. In fact, one teaspoon of this camu camu powder contains over 600 mg of vitamin C! This is over 1000% of the RDA of this vitamin.
I also like that camu camu powder is high in antioxidants, which can fight off nasty free radicals that can lead to inflammation and disease. Camu camu also has a rare variety of antioxidant called withanolides which studies have shown to actually kill cancer cells!
So, I started taking a teaspoon of this camu camu powder in my morning yogurt with a dollop of honey, since the powder is quite sour.
I used the camu camu powder for about a month, and I noticed that my monthly cycles started to regulate. At first I didn’t get it. What’s going on? What have I changed?
The only thing I could pinpoint was the camu camu powder.
My menstrual cycles used to be sporadic
Before I had my second child, Paloma, I was super regular with my monthly cycles. Like Big Ben, I got my period every 28 days without fail.
After I had Paloma, my cycle would not regulate. It was also coming earlier. It would arrive at 22 days, 23 days, 26 days, 24 days, 21 days. It was never predictable, and it just made life a little more chaotic.
I believe camu camu powder helped make my cycles more regular
After a month on the camu camu powder, my menstrual cycles regulated to every 28 days again. Nice!
I did a little research to see if it really could’ve been camu camu powder.
Sure enough, Vitamin C has been shown to help lengthen the luteal part of your cycle, and it also can strengthen progesterone levels too.
This was my experience with taking camu camu powder, which after all is packed with Vitamin C.
The good thing about camu camu is that it’s a real food supplement
All that’s in most camu camu powders is, well, pure certified organic camu camu powder. No fillers, no sugars, no nothing.
Because it’s a whole food, you’re getting phytonutrients, you’re getting anti-oxidants, you’re getting all the co-enzymes, the co-factors, which makes it really nutritious for the body.
So it’s really just like cod liver oil or any of those other food-based supplements.
I also noticed that I had more energy
I noticed by taking this supplement that I had more energy, and it was more sustaining throughout the day, but I couldn’t figure out why.
It finally dawned on me that, ‘Oh my gosh, Vitamin C is really good for our adrenals.’
These little adrenals that sit on top of our kidneys are so important. They drive all of our sex hormones, our stress hormones, so these are things that really take a hit when we become a mom, or when we’re pregnant, because we’re just pulling on those adrenals all of the time.
Being a mom taxes your adrenals
Even as your kids get older, and aren’t in the tiny infant stage or tumbling toddler stage. You may not realize it, but parenting is very stressful. For example, I’ll be on a play date with Paloma and I might seem all fine and dandy, but subconsciously I’m always on edge because: what if she hits her head on the corner of that table? Or she runs after that ball and goes into the street? Or what if this or what if that? You’re always in this protective mode because you’re trying to take care of these little people. It’s exhausting and stressful.
Our adrenals can just get trashed through parenting. Having a daily Vitamin C shot is really, really helpful to support the adrenals and avoid adrenal fatigue.
Camu camu powder is great for colds and overall wellness
Of course, most agree that vitamin C is great for immunity, and since camu camu has a ton of vitamin C, plus naturally occuring co-factors and phytonutrients, it makes sense that it could help with colds. People also suggest it really can help with eyesight. So it’s a win, win, win.
Camu camu is also said to help with shingles, asthma, atherosclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, gum disease, headaches, osteoarthritis, and herpes. However, studies haven’t proven this one way or the other.
Try adding some Vitamin C derived from real food to your diet
I highly recommend you add vitamin C to your diet with natural vitamin C powder. But it doesn’t have to be camu camu.
You can try amla berry powder, there’s acerola cherry powder, or a host of other superfruits that are available as powders.
I prefer camu camu powder because it has the highest known Vitamin C content of any food on the planet.
Steer clear of synthetic Vitamin C!
One last tip, do not take those synthetic Vitamin C’s out there. They’re usually derived from GMO corn, and you don’t get all those wonderful co-factors and co-enzymes that you do with the whole food.
How about you?
Do you take Vitamin C? What kind? Is it food-based? Have you noticed any differences? Share with us in the comments below.
