Outdoor Central Oregon Issue 3 | February/March 2018 | Page 32

32 PRODUCTS| LEFT COAST RAW Founder & Owner: David Cascadden Address: 20650 NE High Desert Lane Bend, OR 97701 Phone: 541-647-2533 Website: www.leftcoastraw.com David Cascadden was born and raised in Portland. In the late 70’s, he moved to Bend, after a working for the Rossignol ski company as a tech rep, to coach for the Skyliner Ski Team and to teach skiing for Mt Bachelor. In the summers, David mowed tees and greens in Sunriver. Then came a move back to Portland to study Theatrical Arts. In Portland, he landed some work in TV commercials. His most famous role was playing quarterback in a Coca Cola com- mercial. David landed more commercials and then joined the Screen Actors Guild. In 1987, David opened Cascadden Mountain Sports in NW Portland. The shop carried alpine and cross country skiing, backpack- ing, camping and mountain biking gear. In 1995, the shop closed and David moved to Sauvie Island, north of Portland and lived on a houseboat. There he attended classes and co-produced an independent feature film. In 1976-77, he became a tech rep for Rossignol. After moving to Washington, he and a partner founded Sherwood Valley Juice Company in 2012. David and his partner had different visions of what the company should be; his partner wanted to go mainstream and grow large while David was not interested in reducing quality to go mainstream, so the company split in 2014. David rebranded to Left Coast Raw and moved to Bend in 2016. David’s vision to keep his company at the high end of quality ingredients has paid off. Today, Left Coast Raw thrives as a raw, whole-food nutrition meal replacement in Bend. When David started LCR, he wanted to make shake blends that are similar in nutrition and taste to what you make at home, with fresh fruits and vegetables in your blender. The only way to do that is to use freeze dried ingredients. Nutrients from the native raw, whole-food source are far more beneficial than vitamins and minerals in an isolated form. LCR only uses whole-food freeze dried fruit and vegetable ingredients. There are no isolated vitamins or minerals in your shake. Left Coast Raw only uses organic, plant-based proteins, the combination of which pro- vides you with about a third of your daily requirement of all nine essential amino acids. All the fruits and vegetables are superfoods: spinach, apples, broccoli and so on. When eaten as a whole-food, you’re getting it intact, with all of the vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. When eating a combination of these foods, you benefit from a synergy of health-promoting effects as nature intended. Left Coast Raw is located on the east side of Bend where they hand-craft each of their blends in 200 serving batches to maintain the highest quality possible. David’s primary responsibility, and passion, is sourcing the best ingredients and formulating the raw, whole-food shake blends. If he’s not at “World Headquarters”, David might be serving samples at a store or one of the many events they sponsor. Otherwise, David will be out exploring the “Left Coast” wonderland where he grew up. A new logo has been put into place, new more earth friendly packaging is arriving, and two organic sports nutrition drinks will be launched. “Off the leash” will be a (green drink) and “Pursuit Pack Punch” will be (berry red). What sets Left Coast Raw ahead of all the other products out there? All products are raw; no heat is used in the process and there are zero fillers. David attends natural food shows, including Veg Fest in Seattle and don’t be surprised if you see him around Bend sampling his products. Available at Pine Mountain Sports, Food 4 All and online. written by Neil Korn