Knowing what to eat and actually eating it consistently are two different things. Even someone who spends a career preparing food can struggle to maintain healthy eating habits. For Chef Gerick Manalo, that personal experience eventually inspired him to build a business around making everyday nutrition more convenient and enjoyable.
As Founder and CEO of EarthLab & Co., Manalo is bringing his culinary background into the wellness space, starting with a product-development journey that took more than two years. His first offering, 21 Greens + Antioxidants Power Blend, reflects an idea that has shaped the company from the beginning: people are more likely to maintain a habit when it fits their lifestyle and tastes good.
The challenge, he believes, is not simply knowing that vegetables are important. It is finding practical ways to include them in everyday meals and routines, especially when schedules become demanding.
Why Knowing What Is Healthy Doesn't Always Translate Into Action
Manalo's experience illustrates a familiar contradiction. As a chef, he understood balanced meals, food preparation, and how to make vegetables appealing to others. Yet applying that knowledge to his own eating habits was another matter.
"As a chef, I could tell you exactly what a balanced plate should look like, how to prepare vegetables, and even make them taste good for other people," Manalo shares. "But when it came to my own plate, I was the one avoiding them."
When his schedule became busier, vegetables were often among the first things he skipped. He tried making homemade vegetable and greens blends to compensate, but the results were not particularly enjoyable.
"It tasted terrible," he recalls. "I was drinking it because I knew I needed it, but eventually, I gave up."
That experience helped him recognise something important about changing eating habits. Knowing what is good for the body does not automatically make it easy to follow through.
"I've learned that knowing what's healthy is easy. Making it a habit is the hard part," he says.
For Manalo, taste and convenience had to become part of the conversation about better nutrition.
Making Healthy Choices More Enjoyable and Practical
Rather than approaching nutrition as a matter of discipline alone, Manalo looked at the problem through his experience as a chef.
Food is not just about its ingredients. Flavour, texture, preparation, and the overall eating experience influence whether people want to have it again. The same thinking, he believes, should apply to products intended to support everyday nutrition.
"I think the biggest misconception is that eating well means forcing yourself to eat things you don't enjoy," he says. "For me, it's really about finding a way to make better nutrition work for you."
This became part of EarthLab & Co.'s direction: developing products for people who want to make better food choices but do not necessarily have the time, interest, or inclination to follow complicated wellness routines.
"What I felt was missing was something made for real people, not just people who are already obsessed with wellness," Manalo explains. "Make it simple. Make it enjoyable. Make it fit real life."
He also makes an important distinction about the role of the company's products.
"We're not here to replace a healthy diet," he says. "We're here to make getting more greens easier in real life."
The idea is to offer an additional option for people working towards more consistent eating habits, rather than suggesting that a single drink can replace vegetables and other nutritious foods in a balanced diet.
How More Than Two Years of Product Development Led to 21 Greens
Turning that idea into a commercial product required more than a good recipe.
Manalo spent over two years working through formulation, ingredient sourcing, taste testing, packaging, and production decisions before introducing EarthLab's first product, the 21 Greens + Antioxidants Power Blend.
His approach drew heavily from the kitchen. He treated product formulation much like developing a dish, paying attention to the balance of ingredients, flavour, and texture.
But there was another consideration: would people actually enjoy drinking it regularly?
"For me, taste was non-negotiable," Manalo says. "If I'm going to ask people to make this part of their daily routine, it has to taste good enough that they actually want to come back to it."
The resulting blend brings together greens, fruits, antioxidant-rich ingredients, and probiotics. It was developed around the idea of making a combination of these ingredients more convenient to incorporate into a daily routine.
The process was not without its challenges. Supplier decisions, production costs, unsuccessful attempts, and the uncertainty of launching a new product all formed part of the experience.
"There were moments when we questioned whether we should keep going, but I believed in the problem we were solving," he shares.
"After more than two years of testing, failing, adjusting, and refining, we finally created something I was genuinely proud to put the EarthLab name on."
A More Realistic Approach to Everyday Wellness
For Manalo, building a wellness business has reinforced a lesson that goes beyond product development: taking better care of yourself does not always require a complete lifestyle overhaul.
"You don't have to completely change your life to start taking better care of yourself," he says.
His own relationship with vegetables has improved, although he admits he has not suddenly become someone who enjoys every kind of vegetable.
"Vegetables and I are in a much better relationship now," he jokes. "We're not best friends yet, but we're definitely talking."
That honesty is part of the perspective he brings to EarthLab & Co. Instead of expecting consumers to adopt perfect routines, he wants the company to develop products that address practical needs and make healthier choices easier to consider.
As the business looks beyond its first offering, Manalo says he intends to keep that problem-solving approach at the centre of product development.
"Every product should have a purpose and solve a real problem," he says.
From Professional Kitchen to Entrepreneurship
Moving from professional cooking to running a wellness company has expanded Manalo's responsibilities considerably. Beyond developing food and flavours, he now has to navigate business operations, production, suppliers, teamwork, and the decisions involved in growing a brand.
Still, he sees his culinary background as central to how he approaches entrepreneurship.
The discipline, teamwork, creativity, and adaptability developed in the kitchen continue to influence his work. The difference is that his responsibilities now extend well beyond preparing dishes.
"I'm still Chef Gerick," he says. "I just have a much bigger kitchen now."
His journey with EarthLab & Co. offers a relatable perspective on healthy eating: information alone does not always lead to action. Making better choices sustainable also means considering the realities of everyday life, including time, convenience, and enjoyment.
And sometimes, the first step towards a better habit begins with finding something you genuinely want to have again tomorrow.
