This is taken from our Spring 2015 issue. Subscribe here to receive our summer issue and three more.
By Aaron O’Donohue
A healthy lifestyle is more than avoiding or incorporating specific foods for a few weeks. For better wellbeing, strive to get more sleep, as the body goes into repair mode. Drink enough water, bodies need to be hydrated. Get some daylight, it helps our circadian cycle; light in the morning stops the production of melatonin and we wake up quickly. And ensure you’re exercising. For more balanced energy levels for all of the above, reduce sugar in order to avoid roller-coaster peaks and troughs in blood sugar and insulin levels.
Alison Stroh, founder of Wicklow-based company Dr. Coy’s Health Foods, saw a gap for a truly healthy snack, when her research showed that snacking is where we frequently slip up in trying for better nutrition. In 2012 she approached Dr. Johannes Coy, an award-winning German oncologist, to propose offering chocolate with certifi ed health benefits to the Irish market. She also recruited her brother to assist in building the business. The company participated in the Supervalu Food Academy programme and has been supported by Enterprise Ireland.
Based on medical research, Dr. Coy’s offers an innovative, patented “nutritional chocolate bar” which has lower effects on blood glucose levels compared to chocolate containing sugar. The bar is high in fi bre and vitamin E and is gluten and lactose free. With 45% cocoa it also won blind taste tests. The company believes that any nutrition regime should be sustainable and enjoyable and both founders practise what they preach with their young families.
