It's official. With a name like Candy, I was born with a sweet tooth.

A sweet tooth that needed instant gratification. Growing up in South Africa, it was pretty easy to get my hands on koeksisters, malva pudding and milk tart. Unfortunately the feeling of sweet happiness never lasted long, as I began to suffer from skin ailments and an immune disorder. Conventional medication helped, but it only treated the symptoms and not the cause. Whenever I stopped, my issues flared up worse than before. I just could not understand why this was happening to me.

The real turning point came when we lost my dad to cancer in the prime of his life. That was when my mum, Sharon, and I started to question our lifestyle and look for answers. Mum often says, “It really is when you have a fall in life that a lesson is learnt and a true awakening occurs.” Knowledge is power, and that was certainly true for us.

We began researching how the body works and realised that if food is the ultimate fuel, serving every cell, then surely it must also be the reason a body depletes. That led us to raw foods, correct food combining and wholefood nutrition, and as we brought those teachings into our lives we found an unbelievable transformation, in our bodies and in our minds. My skin cleared up and I was no longer reliant on chronic medication. Mum looked younger and lost a lot of weight. We had bounds of energy and a new zest for life.

Embracing the new lifestyle meant giving up commercial products full of gluten, milk and processed sugar, and it became tremendously difficult to satisfy a sweet tooth. We tried the gluten-free bars and vegan goodies on the market, but they all tasted processed and unnatural, with corn starch, concentrates, artificial sweeteners and other additives we couldn't even pronounce. We needed something magical that could satisfy our sweet tooth without compromising our health.

It was in my twenties, in Switzerland, that my creative and culinary skills came to the fore. After numerous attempts I finally found the perfect combination of natural nutrition in a delicious raw gourmet truffle. It was love at first bite, and the cherry on top was that I could pronounce every fresh, raw and unprocessed ingredient. Simplicity at its best.

That opened the door to many other delectable creations which today are adding sweet happiness to many lives… and I hope to yours too.

Candice ChettyFounder · Certified vegan nutritionist