Meet Louisa From Funky Fat Foods: On a Mission to Create Delicious Foods Bursting with Healthy Fats
It has already been more than half a year ago that I met Louisa from Funky Fat Foods (previously known as Keto Cacao). This lady who is full of energy and always working on improvement, is committed to creating the best food products that are high in healthy fats whereas low in carbs. Her passion is contagious, and I am really happy that we got to know each other since we are going to do some cool stuff in the future!
As Keto Cacao, 3 keto chocolate bars were available: dark, hazelnut, and coconut. Now, with Funky Fat Foods, you can shop 5 different flavours: dark, coffee, coconut, hazelnut, and white. We ordered our first batch, and cannot wait to try them! Keep an eye on our Instagram where we will share our experience soon.
First, it is time to get to know Louisa a bit better!
Hi Louisa! Could you tell me a bit more about your background, and how you came into contact with the keto way of eating?
For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about health, sports, and nutrition. Growing up, my parents owned a health store in Amsterdam and they were the distributor of different mineral waters from around the world. In our family, talking about health and nutrition is something we constantly do (which can sometimes annoy friends or new lovers in our family).
After I graduated in 2017, I went traveling in South-America where I visited many cacao farms. I was intrigued by the beauty of cacao and its health benefits. I have always loved eating dark chocolate but never knew about the tremendous cacao varieties. During this trip, I spent a lot of time reading articles from Dr. Mercola and as I had been eating low-carb for a longer time, learning about a keto lifestyle was such an eyeopener. Before eating keto, I was already consuming mostly sugar-free products, but still lots of carbs from fruits and starchy vegetables. I never understood why I was constantly having cravings, feeling bloated, experiencing sugar crashes and unstable energy levels. Looking back, I was afraid of eating too much fat, as they are calorie-dense and back then I believed this would make me gain weight. Now I know way better!
I have been eating keto-based for over a year now. I focus on consuming wholesome foods high in healthy fats, contain moderate amounts of protein, without sugar and low in carbs.
Saying yes to the healthy fats! So, which products do you eat a lot to make sure your diet is well-formulated?
I never run out of MCT oil / powder at home for my smoothies or morning coffees. Other favourite foods are avocados, pecan nuts, macadamias, coconut oil / avocado oil, fatty fish, leafy greens and eggs. It is so easy to make a quick breakfast or lunch with these main ingredients and it keeps me satisfied and energized for a long time. Besides that, since I have started my own chocolate brand I of course regularly have a Keto Cacao bar. It is exactly the snack I need after my workout or a long day at the office. For dinner, I always make something quick, normally a salad bowl with lots of olive oil or my favourite vegetable brussels sprouts with some bacon or fish.
We want to know more about Funky Fat Foods, and how you started with Keto Cacao! Can you share your journey from the moment you got the awesome idea up till now?
During my trip to South-America, I knew I wanted to work with good quality cacao and create a product out of it. First I did a lot of market research on what is out there in terms of low-carb chocolate. Surprisingly, I found many bars using additives like soy lecithin and artificial flavours. Either to make the bars more attractive or for a smoother texture. I was fed up with eating products containing ingredients that I cannot even pronounce or have never heard of before. To maintain the nutritional benefits of cacao it should not be mixed with a high amount of dairy products and different types of sugars. Yes, also a lot of ‘natural sweeteners’ such as honey, maple syrup, and agave syrup contain sugar.
As a result, I teamed up with an award-winning chocolatier here in Europe and after a lot of testing, we launched the first trials of Keto Cacao in February 2018. We’ve started with a small online shop and three flavours (Dark, Coconut and Hazelnut). All sugar-free and vegan. We produced small batches over that year and labelled all the packaging by hand. It was a great way to see how the world would react to it. We've received several stories from customers all over the world that Keto Cacao really helped with their cravings, surviving long office hours and so much more… This made me realize it was time to take Keto Cacao to the next level.
Happy to share that Keto Cacao is now part of our umbrella company Funky Fat Foods. We’re still the same people, same company but with a complete new look and improved flavours. This change is part of our new strategy to focus on nutritious tasty to-go products filled with healthy fats. Obviously still without sugar, fillers or soy.
Working hard on creating products that really fit the needs of your customers, I admire that! So if you have to describe Funky Fat Foods in 3 words, what would they be?
Honest, Fatty, Nutritious.
Always interesting to know: what makes the bars from Keto Cacao different from other keto bars?
We make chocolate bars with healthy fats and high-quality ingredients to help you feel and perform at your best. No sugar, no soy, no fillers, no crap. We don’t use sweeteners that spikes insulin, we focus on the quality and benefits of cacao by choosing only a few ingredients and we add extra MCT’s from c8/c10 for more energy and satiation. It’s all about getting long-lasting energy from fat instead of a quick fix from sugar.
Wow, that is awesome. Which other awesome things are you planning for the future, where do you see Funky Fat Foods in 5 years?
With Funky Fat Foods we’re really here to just empower you to go for your max potential in life. We aim to have a platform were we offer more to-go products rich in healthy fats and low in carb together with informative content to guide, motivate and support people on their high-fat, low carb lifestyle.
Looking forward to everything that is coming! Last but not last, finish this sentence: Keto is here to stay, because …
Overall health is way more important than a quick fix to just lose weight and feel like shit!