Nutritionists never seem to tire of telling us that a’well-rounded’ diet includes this and that plus plenty of water. That smoking, booze, caffeine, sunbathing, pollution, pesticides – and it would seem, venturing outside our own front door – are all health hazards.

It’s not that we don’t know what we need to do for a shot at longevity, but essentially it boils down to the twin practicalities of convenience and cost – both time-wise and otherwise – especially when you’re juggling a towering in-tray in one hand, family in the other, and social life in the other. (Well spotted – most of us don’t have three hands, proving that the perfect lifestyle is a tall order in our busy modern times).

The legendary Dr Philip Kingsley charged my friend a fat sum to tell her that the secret to healthy hair is to eat quality protein for breakfast. Not always practical if it’s all you can do to grab bag, pass and keys in a dervish whirl most mornings. So I’m all for health shop supplementation, particularly as the butchers aren’t open at 8am. And yet I can’t help eyeing those fake-looking formula powders in health food shops with sceptical caution born of “once-bitten” experience. A cursory glance at these tubs’ list of ingredients generally reveals more harm than good. I once bought a gargantuan tin of soya protein powder, which tasted so unlike’strawberry’ and so very like talcum powder, that it remained in the cupboard, neglected, for the best part of a year, before it was consigned to the bin. I hate wasting food as much as the next person, but reasoned that this wasn’t food, more like polyfilla.

Memory is selective, and my interest was recently piqued by a visit to a health food shop that revealed a’new generation’ of powder: Better You’s Total Nutrition Superfood. This pea-green organic powder contains nothing but Soil Association Organic-certified phytonutrients the label assured me, including pre-sprouted barley, whole apple, flaxseed, barley grass, quinoa, spirulina, bilberry fruit, carrot, turmeric and kelp. In short, superfoods worthy of the Olympian gods, although I note that pomegranate, acai, acerola cherry and the latest nutritional buzzword – Chia seeds – is missing from the list. Seems the Olympians can’t have it all…

The point is, there is no rubbish in Total Nutrition Superfood’s ingredients list: No wheat, lactose, preservatives, artificial colours, yeast or added sugar. And before the cynics among you add “and no flavour”, I found that it actually tastes very palatable indeed. Delicious even, in a fresh, nutty way – which, for a product so packed with natural enzymes and antioxidants, is surely an oxymoron. All credit to it: Total Nutrition Superfood is the one exception to my usual rule that anything overly healthy inevitably tastes revolting… 

It’s all there: Vitamins A and the full spectrum of Bs, C, D and key minerals including calcium, chromium and zinc, cystine to Lysine and omegas 3, 6 and 9, plus all the major digestive enzymes from Beta-Amylase to Pepsidase and Protinase to maximize your body’s absorption of all these goodies. The latter is important as most of us when stressed don’t eat mindfully. We gobble down a sandwich on the hoof without even looking at it, let alone chewing it thoroughly to give our digestive enzymes time to’register’ what they need to get working on. Then we wonder why we’re gripped by indigestion and slumped over our laptops by tea-time.

You may think this Hulk-green Total Nutrition Superfood powder would be more conveniently condensed in to popable pill form, but powders are faster acting while releasing energy slowly in to the bloodstream, so now we know. Just one-to-two scoops daily of Total Nutrition Superfood mixed into a glass of fruit juice or smoothie are what the proverbial doctor ordered. A 100g serving provides a low fat 6.8g of total fats, of which only 0.5g are saturated; plus 13.5g of dietary fibre and 13g of protein.

I doubt even the Olympic gods had such convenience. As a mere mortal, I’m a convert to the powers of this superhuman powder: It’s green, it’s mean and is turning me into a heroically healthy machine.

Total Nutrition Superfood costs £15.30 for 200g from health food shops, Holland & Barratt and www.betteryou.uk.com