Fitnuts: All Buttered Up

Though it would be a blatant lie to call ourselves even minutely healthy, hot on the heels of our interview with Crossfit Engine 38, where we stared enviably at their toned physiques, we have been toying with the idea of y'know, not chain smoking, trying to eat healthy, and perhaps – perhaps – even exercising. But we can start with the healthy eating part. Baby steps, guys, baby steps. After more than one person raved to us about this new healthy, homemade delicious range of nut butters by the name of Fitnuts, we decided to find out a little more.

The brand boasts seven different nut butters, from your classic peanut butter all the way to cinnamon raison almond butter (whaaat?). It's all entirely homemade, and unlike the peanut butter you pick up at the supermarket, it's actually good for you. It started approximately a year ago by healthy munchkins Farah Amin and Omar El Gawahergy as a corollary to their healthy lifestyle. "What got us into it is that both him and I are really into healthy eating," Amin tells us. "It's gradual – you start being health conscious and then you start researching recipes, trying to eat healthy, trying to make everything homemade…" Eventually, noticing that in Egypt we had few healthy peanut butter options in the market, they decided to fill that void by creating it themselves. "We started researching and experimenting with recipes – it's actually not that hard to make!" she continues.

Now the brand's got an unusually innovative and delicious-sounding range – we've got our eye/taste buds on the almond butter, as well as the chocolate hazelnut butter, which Amin tells us is essentially "the healthy version of Nutella." Umm, you had us at healthy Nutella. Despite the fact that they create all some of our all-time favourite flavours, all the products are in fact, healthy, because unlike their counterparts in the supermarket they aren’t "loaded with sugar, hydrogenated oils and loads of other chemicals." We don’t even know what hydrogenated oils are but they don’t sound like something we want wandering around our bodies. We're also fairly sure 93% of our meals are full of them. Fitnuts try and make it their mission to "educate the consumers as much as we can about the difference between regular and healthy peanut butter." But wait, how does one make a creamy Nutella-esque treat that doesn’t mess with your body? "We don’t add anything but all-natural sweetener," Amin explains. "Organic is a tricky term but you could probably call the butters that."  

Their timing in creating a healthy alternative of foods that are fan favourites, is rather perfect considering that, while we don’t exactly see McDonalds struggling any time soon, there's definitely been and undeniably noticeable shift in the public conscious of our samna-loving nation, where people are starting to veer more towards something of a healthy lifestyle. "Yeah, we weren't really aware of how big this health trend had gotten… we were a bit surprised to find how aware people were of living healthily." But all of a sudden, they discovered there was a serious demand. "There's definitely been sort of a boom in terms of healthy living, whether it's food or exercise programmes…" she tell us.

For now they're focusing on the butters, though they do give you lots of ideas for healthy treats on their Facebook and Instagram pages. However, take note, they are currently experimenting with protein muffin recipes, healthy brownie recipes, and a whole range of good-for-you baked goodies. "We learn as we go," she tells us cheerfully. Well, we personally can't wait to gorge ourselves with peanut butter covered brownies, guilt-free.

You can check out their Facebook page here or follow them on Instagram @fitnutscairo. 

Main image photo credits to Noura Fouad. Secondary image photo credits to @momarzouk.