Harnessing Nature’s Power:

How BodyBelize and Silk Grass Farms Are Shaping Sustainable Well-Being in Belize

Inspired by the tropical beauty and natural powers of Belizean rainforest plants, Christine McIntyre envisioned a business offering products that nurture personal health and healing. With patience and purpose, she has built a customer base for BodyBelize Apothecary products — personal & therapeutic care, plant medicines, and more.

True to the company’s Belizean roots, many BodyBelize products incorporate cold-pressed organic coconut oil supplied by Silk Grass Farms, which shares her focus on sustainability, quality, and eco-conscious practices. “Their premium cold-pressed organic coconut oil not only enhances the efficacy of our formulations but also aligns seamlessly with BodyBelize’s mission to harness the healing power of nature and deliver superior organic products to both the Belizean market and customers abroad,” Christine says. 

Together, BodyBelize and Silk Grass Farms are tapping a market for one of Belize’s signature products — oil created by coconut palms that flourish in the country’s tropical climate and fertile soil. As a natural, minimally processed product of the coconut fruit, coconut oil has a wide array of traditional uses, including culinary, skincare, and cosmetic applications. 

Cold-pressed coconut oil is among the premium products created from crops grown on Silk Grass Farms’ roughly 8,500 acres of Belizean farmland. Customers for these products include companies like BodyBelize, Truly Turmeric, and iKOOMA seeking organic ingredients that meet high standards from the Non-Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) Project.

BodyBelize and Silk Grass Farms share a mission to use agriculture as a tool to heal and restore the environment, preserving the long-term abundance of natural resources while protecting high-quality jobs for local communities. “Our partnership with Silk Grass Farms enables us to support local agriculture while making meaningful contributions to the Belizean economy,” Christine says. “This collaboration ensures consistent, top-tier quality for our customers and underscores our unwavering commitment to ethical sourcing and sustainable practices.”

Building Awareness of the Benefits of Natural Products

The BodyBelize story begins in 1999 when Christine moved from Canada to Belize, where the tropical climate inspired her study of the country’s natural environment. “Among the materials I studied was Rainforest Remedies by Rosita Arvigo, which captivated me with its exploration of the rainforest’s abundant plant medicines and their uses,” she says. “This fascination sparked my interest in blending these remedies with the essential oils I had been using in my personal aromatherapy practices.”

By 2005, she felt ready to launch her first line of natural products in Belize — but the market wasn’t quite there yet. “At the time, natural products had a poor reputation, and few people were even aware of essential oils, let alone their therapeutic benefits. Introducing these concepts to a market skeptical of natural remedies and more accustomed to pharmaceuticals was no easy feat,” she says. “Determined to offer high-quality products with genuine therapeutic benefits, I faced significant resistance.”

For several years, Christine worked to educate Belizean locals and visitors about the benefits of aromatherapy, rainforest plant medicines, and natural healing. She decided to test the waters again and re-launched BodyBelize in 2015. “This time, the response was overwhelmingly positive—people were actively seeking natural alternatives to chemical-laden personal care products and synthetic medicines,” Christine says.

She chose to use organic, cold-pressed virgin coconut oil due to its superior therapeutic properties, but could not find a local source for that component of BodyBelize products. “At the time, all local producers relied on heat-based production methods, which diminished the oil’s therapeutic properties,” she says. “To uphold the high standards of our products, I was compelled to import coconut oil, despite my strong preference for supporting local suppliers and minimizing environmental impact.”

That changed in 2019 when Silk Grass Farms came into being as a reliable local supplier of quality coconut oil that met the standards of BodyBelize and its customers, which include numerous Belizean resorts. “Their oil satisfied my stringent requirements for quality, purity, and therapeutic value, allowing me to maintain product integrity while supporting a local business,” Christine says.

She also found a supplier with values — sustainability, community support, and ethical business practices — that closely align with BodyBelize’s mission, making the collaboration a natural and mutually enriching choice. “Thus began my partnership with Silk Grass Farms, marking an important milestone in BodyBelize’s journey,” she says. 

Supporting Local Agriculture and Growing the Belizean Economy

Since then, Silk Grass Farms has become a cornerstone partner for BodyBelize, offering a key ingredient for most of its formulations that are made with sustainability and quality in mind.

By sourcing locally from Silk Grass Farms, BodyBelize keeps resources within the country, supports sustainable agriculture, and contributes to the livelihoods of Belizean communities. “Together, we exemplify how ethical business practices can drive economic growth while maintaining a focus on our common core values,” Christine says. 

Thanks to exceptional customer service and product reliability, the two companies have established a trusting relationship. “What makes this partnership particularly unique is the alignment of our core values,” Christine says. “Their professionalism and passion for their work not only enhance the quality of our products but also strengthen our shared goal of creating eco-conscious, high-value offerings.”

Silk Grass Farms’ philosophy of prioritizing people and the planet — reinforced by its status as a Certified B Corporation — aligns with BodyBelize’s belief that business success should not come at the expense of environmental or community well-being. 

For Christine, a shared vision of creating value while preserving Belize’s natural and cultural heritage made the partnership an obvious and natural choice. “Working together allows us to reinforce our mutual commitment to sustainability, quality, and social and environmental responsibility,” she says.