THE PIVOT by Taylor Collins

I have been a strong advocate of taking the opportunity to "pivot" my entire life. When I use the word, I am referring to creating change in your daily existence that is a 180-degree turn to your normal life. Often this change can be dramatic and life altering. Pivoting can be incredibly scary, but it helps you break out of daily routines, learn more about yourself, and ultimately can lead to great rewards.

One of the greatest pivots of my life led to starting EPIC and I want to give you an example of how that risky decision led to the creation of an industry changing food company and a the greatest journey I could have ever dreamed.


It may shock you to learn that pre-EPIC both Katie and I were vegans. We were both competitive endurance athletes that thrived on pushing our bodies and spirits to the maximum limits. Somewhere along the way we incorrectly believed that peak fitness was achieved through a high carbohydrate plant based diet. Conventional and outdated sports nutrition still holds this dogmatic belief and through research groups such as the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, athletes are still being improperly instructed to fuel their bodies on sugar and avoid diets containing fat. Katie and I have always had an interest in animal welfare and as poor college students that rode our bikes 30+ hours each week, it wasn't hard for us to eliminate meat from our diets.

Within 6 months of becoming vegetarians, Katie began struggling with serious gastrointestinal distress. I was suffering from chronic fatigue and both of us were malnourished. Recovery took longer, emotionally, we were breaking down, and physically, we were becoming sick. Our instinct at the time was to "eat cleaner" and that led us to becoming vegan and ultimately following a raw foods diet! At this point, our symptoms were magnified and climaxed with chronic injury and debilitating stomach aches. We were at an all-time low point and decided that we had to make a dramatic change in our life.


Here is where we pivoted! Within a few days we changed our diets a full 180 degrees. We went from eating a diet of plants to consuming a diet of grass fed animal protein and fats. We were both skeptical that this would help us, but we were open minded enough to try. We didn't have anything to lose and were sick and tired of feeling like crap. Within days we had a physical resurrection of epic proportions. Katie quickly restored her gut health and liberated her body from chronic pain. Both of us noticed immediate improvement in recovery, cognitive function, and overall exuberance towards life! Through modifying our diets we became better athletes and overall better people.

We were so excited about our newfound discovery that we decided to start a company called EPIC! We wanted to make high quality animal proteins accessible to all and give consumers convenient protein rich snacks that are consistent with the evolutionary diets of our ancestors! The rest is history.


The last two years of our lives have been magical and full of good health, fantastic stories, and unbelievable people. None of which would have occurred if we hadn't made a huge pivot in our quest to optimize our own well being. I encourage everyone to continuously question his or her day-to-day existence. Complacency is a state of mind that breeds an inability to develop over time. You must shatter the temptation to develop deep-rooted routines that prevents you from growing, learning, and living life to the fullest.

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