Hana Mustafa was all set to work in her father’s bakery and carry on its proud family traditions. But an interest in nutrition and a focus on cardiovascular and sport performance saw her take an interest in ketogenic health – aka keto – where the body burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates, producing ketones for energy. She explains her journey to found Keto Hana…

What was it like to grow up in a bakery?

Well, it means deep down I’m definitely a baker! I remember running around my dad’s bakery and loving watching his customers enjoy all our new creations! But as I got more obsessed with what I was putting in my own body, it didn’t feel right feeding our customers sugary treats (sorry dad).

When did you first become interested in Keto?

I’m a bit obsessed with nutrition. I even studied it part-time while I was working in the bakery. It was through that learning that I became fascinated with how nutrition impacts biology and particularly what eating keto can do. So, I convinced my husband to try a strict ketogenic diet with me for six months and run our own experiments.

A lot of people gravitate towards keto because of weight loss, but that’s not what we were interested in. We love to exercise and we’re all about longevity and sustainability, so we were interested in its effects on sport performance and cardiovascular health. We tracked our ketone levels every day, but also got a full blood panel test every month to check everything was okay. At the end of the trial, we felt the best we’ve ever felt. And that’s why Keto Hana exists.

​​How did you turn your passion into a business and start Keto Hana?

Keto has incredible benefits, but it can be unbelievably inconvenient. It means prepping your food from scratch, knowing what macronutrients you need and not really buying anything in a packet. Life is really busy – people have got work, children, it’s so hard to find the time to prep every meal. But I spent hours in the kitchen experimenting and I loved it!

Since I was prepping the granola for us, I wondered if there were other people out there who want to be keto but don’t have the time. I thought, why don’t we package this up and see if we can help those people? And that was the start of our journey.

Are the ingredients key?

Yes! It’s all about the ingredients. I’m very choiceful about what I eat and I would never create something that I wouldn’t eat myself. It’s all about ingredients. We put the ingredients on the front of our packet for a reason – we want to shout about what is in it! People don’t need to turn over the packet to see what they’re getting. We’re totally transparent and nothing is hidden.

Has anything from your baking past carried over or is it a completely different process to create keto products?

Having been a baker definitely helps. I grew up around food and was taught to make everything from scratch. You see how everything works – like pairing flavours together. But making grain-free, sugar-free keto products taste as good as the sugar version or the grain version is the challenge. That’s what I strive to do with our products.

I love taking an ingredient with an amazing nutrient profile and finding a way people can’t resist it – I wanted to show that keto can taste incredible. I’m Cypriot and we love our food. I don’t believe you should have to choose between enjoying food and being healthy. We’re combining the two. And that’s why it’s really important that all of our products taste just as good as the non-keto versions.

What results have you achieved?

Nowadays we realise that a huge number of people eating our granola are not eating keto permanently, they just want to eat less sugar or to reduce their carbohydrates. And that’s amazing because it means we can nudge so many more people towards a healthier life. It’s probably a lot more now, but a while back one of our team told me we’d sold over one million breakfasts, and I’m super proud of that. If swapping sugary cereal for our granola is the one healthy choice someone makes that day – that’s a win.

Find out more at Ketohana.co.uk