Who Are We?
Enliven Foods™ was founded by Robin Jeep--Professional Chef, Author and Nutrition Expert, Chase Worthen--former Natural Health Beverage and Vegan Buyer for Walmart US, and Mark Adams--longtime Organic Gardner and Food Production Specialist. They joined forces after working together on a Whole Fruit and Veggie smoothie for Walmart. Each has a unique journey which led them to Whole Food Plant-Based eating.
After suffering near fatal injuries from a horseback riding accident in 2002 Robin was unable to recover from subsequent gut health issues. The incident triggered a debilitating autoimmune digestive condition. In a desperate search for healing she discovered the most powerful tool—Dr Fuhrman’s Nutritarian diet. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is a board-certified family physician, seven-time New York Times best-selling author and internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing. Robin later became his recipe developer, cooking class instructor, dietary assistant, and patients’ health coach. Witnessing what many would term miraculous recoveries which were simply brought about by eating his Nutritarian diet gave Robin the confidence to become an Author and Instructor on whole food plant-based eating.
Ahead of his time, Mark Adams was a whole food vegan in the early 1970s. In 1980, he and his wife acquired a 100 acre farm in the Ozarks. During this time he started organic gardening and learned more about the power of fresh produce. Nevertheless, Mark’s diet slipped over the years as he added dairy, meat, and fast food. This led him to develop high blood pressure, lower back pain, fatigue, and gaining seventy-pounds. After meeting Robin and embracing current nutrition science he returned to his whole food vegan diet of the 70s, reversing his high blood pressure, losing the back pain, regaining his youthful energy, and dropping the seventy-pounds!
As a college freshman in 2007, Chase Worthen was living away from home for the first when he started to experience severe digestive health issues and was later diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. His doctor recommended taking a probiotic and eating a high fiber diet of fruits and vegetables. This improved his gut health and began creating a healthy microbiome. Later that year he embarked on a church mission to the Carolinas. Some of his symptoms returned as many of the church congregation members fed him typical southern fare which often required him to go home and eat fruits and vegetables to recover. Seeing the power of food as medicine led him to become passionate about nutrition. After finishing college he began working at Walmart Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas as the Natural Health Beverage and Vegan Buyer. There he took a cooking and nutrition class taught by Robin Jeep. This accelerated his recovery from IBS and taught him how to transition to whole food plant-based eating.