healing with food

Alex Brainhart, Chéf

After moving from Europe to California, I quickly gained weight.

The hustle of L.A. left me without time to cook, and I soon faced additional issues like acid reflux, brain fog, and low energy.

Local food tasted 30% sweeter. Regular items like bread had up to 10 more ingredients, most of which were hard to pronounce.

Curious about the impact of food on health, I began exploring the connection between diet and sickness. I learned about plant-based, sugar-free diets, and intermittent fasting. Through this journey, I discovered that the main issues impacting my health were added sugars, ultra-processed ingredients, industrial oils, and other harmful chemical ingredients.

Adopting better eating habits resolved my health and weight issues quickly. But my love for a sweet treat with a good cup of coffee remained.

The next challenge was finding sweets free from sugar, additives, cheats, and junk. I developed a habit of scanning every ingredient list on every boxed food.

It's still shocking to me, how all this is legal. Take a look at this world-famous premium chocolate's ingredients:

"Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Skim Milk Powder, Butteroil, Soy Lecithin as Emulsifier, Vanillin: an Artificial Flavor), Hazelnuts, Sugar, Palm Oil, Wheat Flour, Whey, Lowfat Cocoa Powder, Soy Lecithin as Emulsifier, Sodium Bicarbonate as Leavening Agent, Salt, Vanillin: an Artificial Flavor."

All that glitters is not gold, is it?

Unable to find truly good options in stores, I started making my own.

Strictly Good sweets are crafted using 100% plant-based ingredients sourced predominantly from local California farmers.

Take our Sweet Almonds + Raisins Dark Chocolate, which has the longest ingredient list in our product line:

"Chocolate (Cocoa Liquor Wafers, Cacao Butter), Caramelized Almonds (Almonds, Coconut Chips, Coconut Water, Coconut Oil, Vanilla Bean), Golden Raisins."

Natural sweetness in this chocolate bar comes from coconut chips (which caramelize almonds during roasting) and golden raisins.

Each bite of Strictly Good products delivers a luxurious natural taste without added sugars, cheats, or junk.

That's how I started my mission of healing with food.

Want to join The Mindful Eating Tribe?

Subscribe now 👇