Amelia Shares Her GoMacro Story
How GoMacro co-founder Amelia Kirchoff won her battle with cancer and created a nutrition bar company dedicated to sharing the power of a plant-based lifestyle
In the spring of 2000 we purchased our farm in Wisconsin. 120 acres, overgrown with weeds. The weeds were so tall that we didn't even know we had an orchard! We knew it was someplace special and saw its potential, in spite of the overgrown weeds and dilapidated farm. We called it Posilippo, which is Greek for "pause from pain" or "medicine for sore eyes." Posilippo was a place in ancient Italy located on the hills outside of Naples. Famous for its views, Plato and many other famous philosophers would go there to contemplate. We worked hard, renovating the barn, restoring the orchard and planting a big vegetable garden.
Today, Posilippo has become our family's favorite place to get together, relax and enjoy the beautiful views. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, my daughter Jola immediately called an aunt who had been diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma five years prior and been given less than twelve months to live. She had researched alternative treatments and converted to the macrobiotic diet. Today she is healthy and cancer free. I weighed my options and decided to do the same. After a lumpectomy and brachytherapy, I turned down five years of tamoxifen drug treatment and embraced the macrobiotic way of life. I eliminated eggs, dairy, refined sugars and flours, hydrogenated oils, processed foods, additives, artificial colorings and preservatives, and animal products.
Posilippo became my haven, my "pause from pain." I was in the perfect place for converting to a macrobiotic diet; a diet in which all fruits and vegetables should be homegrown and eaten in season. As my health improved, so did my appetite and I craved the sweets I used to eat. I immediately started to experiment with natural sweeteners and the grains and fruits grown on the farm to create macrobiotic desserts. My daughter Jola, who was a teacher in Chicago at the time, introduced some of the desserts to a local health food store in Chicago. Sherwyn's became our first customer and we officially converted our barn into a commercial kitchen and the farm became the home of GoMacro. We have since moved to a larger facility in Viola, Wisconsin. Sadly, the original GoMacro kitchen and the family barn burned in a fire in the spring of 2014. That was a devastating event for our family and everyone in our GoMacro family, but again, we persevered and are learning to accept this loss as another opportunity for gratitude and letting go.
At GoMacro our mission is to manufacture wholesome, clean snacks, because we believe that food and food quality impact health, happiness and well being for all. We want people to stop thinking of food as a short-term fix and start thinking about the bigger picture: long term health and a lifestyle of eating pleasure with products that have positive effects on the world and people around us.
For us, environmental concerns are paramount. We believe our forests and oceans are our most important resources and we choose our ingredients accordingly. We source ingredients from growers that abide by fair and safe standards for both workers and the environment. We also encourage and support local production and distribution infrastructures, sourcing U.S. made ingredients as much as possible.
All our products are made with the best quality ingredients containing vitamins, minerals, fiber and omega-3. By ensuring that these ingredients are also Non-GMO Project Verified and USDA organic, we maintain the biodiversity of ecosystems throughout the world while simultaneously providing nutritious food. Without the use of additives or preservatives, we make our snacks every week and ship them direct to you. Everything is made to order, all part of a healthy, macrobiotic lifestyle.