In search of amusement, I settled in to watch the Super Bowl commercials only to find myself seduced by a nostalgic commercial that brought me back to the pop culture icons of my youth. Uncle Jesse selling Greek yogurt? Ok, I’ll bite.

The ad made me chuckle and got me thinking, who knows more about making Greek yogurt than a Greek-American founder of a healthy foods company?

Oh wait, that would be me.

Four years ago, after one of those life chapters where loss triggers self-reflection, I made a pact with myself to “make it meaningful or get out.” Quite literally, after seven years climbing the corporate ladder of brand management at Kraft foods in Chicago, I got out. I jumped out of corporate America and, and well, into yogurt…Greek yogurt.

Driven by the desire to create something that helps people live healthier lives and inspires others to make meaningful choices, I founded Tula Foods, named in honor of my mom (and not to be confused with the protagonist of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”). Taking the best of the “old world” and the best of the “new world” Tula Foods and Better Whey of Life Greek yogurt was born.

When I checked out of my corner office, hung up my suit and started running around town in the ubiquitous start-up attire of jeans and self-promoting fleece jacket, I realized my team and I were creating something more than just great tasting food. We became driven to create a food-losophy. (Yes, that’s right. In addition to creating my own company, I branded the way we think in our own words. You can take the woman out of brand management, but you can’t take the brand management out of the woman.)

Here’s why having a food-losophy makes sense to us. When you see organic, good source of fiber, only 100 calories or any one of the other myriad of health messages shouting at you from your grocer’s shelves, which food item do you select? Confused?  No kidding. Welcome to the world of being exposed to more knowledge than we can ever consume, but no clear direction on how to eat better.

Need a bumper sticker mantra? Try this. A calorie is not just a calorie. Really.

Calories alone don’t tell the full nutritional story. We believe in making foods that contain less sugar and carbohydrates and more protein and fiber to feel full longer. That’s our food-losophy.

We think that’s a “whey” better approach to choosing healthy foods than well, a Super Bowl ad that makes you nostalgic for those musically themed life lessons Full House did so well in the 90’s.

Have mercy indeed.  See how we compare to Dannon Oikos.

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