Some places are just begging to be visited by us- quality food, high protein, quality carb options, friendly staff… Thr1ve is one such place. One of the new emerging eateries that really focuses on quality nutrition. Here’s what we thought…

Nutrition- 10
Taste- 9
Service- 7
Ambience- 3
Extra mile- 10
Budget – Medium

*Scores are out of 10

Thr1ve: Overall rating – 39/50 on a medium budget

Mike

Thr1ve has been on our radar for a while. It has awesome natural food, great organic coffee and friendly staff that makes the visit all the more pleasant.

That’s not all that specific though is it… you see, the thing about Thr1ve is that it’s a ‘high protein, low carb, no added sugar’ based place that prides itself on creating and selling nutrient dense food.

This last part being the absolute key to nutrition and something most people are missing.

Just look around any public space and I hazard a guess that a large majority of the people you see will be, ahh, how do we say it… fat! Yes, no mincing words here, it’s exactly what you were thinking as the sentence took shape wasn’t it?

In Australia alone, close to 75% of men are overweight with around 42% obese. This is insane!

One thing that can be safely assumed about these people is that they are not eating nutrient dense food.

Certainly not the kind of nutrients we need. Processed fats, grains and sugars are rampant and it’s the general consumption, let alone over consumption, of these foods that are making us fat.

That’s exactly why places like Thr1ve are so good to see popping up- they provide the kind of food everyone should be eating. And not only that- it’s tasty and quick- the two things people usually buy on.

On the day I had the Free range chicken, grape, walnut and celery salad, which was packed and ready to go, however, this fact didn’t result in a bad meal, no. It was fresh, tasty and delicious.

I also had one of their smoothies. Now the warning with these is that they are the kind of smoothies many people wouldn’t go in for, purely because they’re not packed with sugar. If any sugar it is from a natural source such as dates.

I had the Berry Plus, with berries, coconut butter, acai and vanilla bean. It doesn’t taste like a cup of sugar, but it was good and packs a nutrient dense punch!

We know that Thr1ve makes great food, but there’s more. They also produce their own line of top quality supplements, with a protein powder and a greens powder on the market.

Nards

I heart Thr1ve. To the point that I will go out of my local bubble to walk there and get my hands on some tasty, fresh, nutritious food. I have even conducted business meetings in the food court just so I could share this place with people.

Along with all the reasons that MC has outlined above, finding quality food in the city is a rarity, and considering I value my health highly, it’s a refreshing oasis of goodness in a sea of below average ‘make-you-fat’ eateries.

When describing this to clients, I call it Paleo friendly, but I say “paleo” in the loose sense (this is where I actually use “air quotations” in its proper form! )

“Paleo” short for Palaeolithic, is a common dietary practise that base its nutritional guidelines on how we used to eat when we were early Homosapiens. The crux of the theory is that we as modern humans can only digest and absorb certain foods as was done by our early peeps, because we haven’t really evolved on a genetic level since then. To put it another way, we modern humans have modern brains in ancient bodies. According to this theory, it suggests that our bodies cannot cope with modern food – in particular wheat and dairy (anything after the Agricultural revolution really), and of course all the fake foods such as corn syrups, sugars, trans fats, soy etc… Specifically what this theory entails is avoiding all those foods mentioned, and only consuming meats, fats, vegetables and occasional fruits.

Of course with any dietary advice there are those who take it to the extreme, and also those who only apply what is particularly useful to them as an individual. I personally take a more moderate view of Paleo style eating, but what I do appreciate is the focus on clean, real foods, which is why I consider Thr1ve to be “paleo-style” (yep air quotes again).

I have been a follower of many Paleo friendly blogs and websites for a while now, and in my observation it seems that many are missing the point. There are numerous sites dedicated to the creation of Paleo treats – i.e. cakes, biscuits, muffins, and deserts etc which all use Paleo friendly ingredients as a substitute for the more conventional ingredients. My biggest beef (ahem, pun intended) is that whilst these recipes call for Paleo approved ingredients the recipes are still packing a punch as far as calories are concerned. The whole calorie thing is a whole new topic for me to rant about, however, I do believe that whilst counting calories can be very rigid and sometimes detrimental to a persons psyche, it is vital to understand that a calorie has a consequence.

To put it simply, if someone consumes a whole cheesecake made out of Paleo friendly ingredients, all its means is that they consumed a whole cheesecake made form more natural products. Can someone on Paleo still be fat? Yep – especially when they kid themselves that eating Paleo Cheesecake is healthy. I’m pretty sure there was no cavewoman whipping up some sugary (honey, agave, coconut nectar etc) delicious baked goods for her caveman when he came home and demanded some sexy time and food.

Anyhoo, I’m digressing (or maybe ranting), but the point I’m trying to make is that just because something is labelled as being healthy, it doesn’t mean it actually is.

Learn to be intuitive with your eating; give your body what it requires by truly listening to it, and instead of whipping up Paleo muffins maybe eat some more protein or veggies instead. Or better yet, go to Thr1ve and get one of their completely natural, no sugar added smoothies!

If you live outside of Sydney, then search for places like this. They do exist and they are an great tool to have in your nutritional armoury.

NN and MC