Bethany Eaton was a frontline police constable working the beat as a Met police driver in Hackney, East London – and you can imagine how stressful that must have been! So after seven years Bethany decided to throw in her truncheon and retrain as a nutritionist. She had a successful practice at the renowed Hale Clinic for eight years.
Today I catch up with Bethany in the swish Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge where she is announcing the appointment of the new brand ambassador for her coconut inspired line of yogurts CO YO. He is James Duigan, none other than personal trainer to supermodels Elle Macpherson and Rosie Huntingon-Whiteley amongst others and owner of three gyms (including the one at the exclusive Bulgari) and author of the best-seller, Clean & Lean Diet.
James Duigan and CO YO founder Bethany Eaton announce their collaboration at The Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge
It was while working with clients who had specific food intolerances that she set out on a quest to find a ‘free from’ alternative to milk and soya yogurts. In 2010, she and her husband, Paul, discovered a new coconut yogurt which had launched in Australia and set about bringing it to the UK.
When Bethany explains it sounds simple, but the family – the couple have two young children, James, age 7 and Megan 2 – had to finance their dream by remortgaging their home.
“But I was determined,” she says.
CO YO Coconut Milk Yogurt – £1.99 for 125 g pot and on sale at Waitrose, Wholefoods, Planet Organic and Ocado
The raw material is harvested from organic coconuts – pesticides and chemical free – in Sumatra and the only addition is a natural sweetener called Xylitol but plans are in hand to remove this. Each 100g of yogurt contains 1 whole coconut and is 100% free of dairy, gluten, lactose, soya and has no added sugar.
The facts about facts in coconuts:
- Coconut is one of nature’s richest sources of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs)
- MCFAs are smaller, easily digested and burned by the liver for energy – like carbohydrates but without the energy spike
- MCFAs actually boost the metabolism and help your body use fat for energy, as opposed to storing it, so can actually help your body become leaner
- MCFAs improve heart health
- MCFAs boost the thyroid
- MCFAs support the immune system
CO YO is available in several flavours: natural, chocolate, berry mix, mango and pineapple. A new vanilla flavour is on its way too. We tried the natural flavour. Our verdict: 100% delicious!