About
About Instead Of Bread, the full story
Who?
Meet Gary McHugh
Hi, My name is Gary, and I am the founder and owner of Instead Of Bread. On this page, you will find out why I started the business and why I am so passionate about providing quality, low calorie products to anyone, like me, who is watching their weight, but still wants to enjoy delicious snacks and treats.
Hopefully this is a fun read for you.
Gary McHugh
My Journey
Why Did I Need Healthier Choices?
Back in 2019 my weight was out of control and I had allowed myself to become morbidly obese. One day while visiting my daughter my wife took a video of me trying to bounce my grandson on my knee, the problem was, there wasn't much knee available because my huge belly was in the way.
After seeing that video, I decided I had to do something about my weight. I researched a lot of weight loss methods. I knew the usual weight loss routes of strict diets and regular gym attendance would not work or be sustainable for me, I just like my food too much.
In the end I decided to join Slimming World which turned out to be an excellent choice, I actually eat more now than I used to and much more delicious food too.
The discovery
How I discovered Broghies
Every Slimming World group has a weekly feature called "the slimmer of the week basket". Basically, any member that wishes to do so drops one healthy food item in there, and whoever loses the most weight that week wins the basket.
I won this one particular week and there was a bag of Broghies inside. I had never heard of them and was curious, so I took them home to investigate. After taking a bite out of one of them, I nearly dismissed them, as they have no particular flavour of their own.
But after doing a little bit of research, I read that it is all about what you put on Broghies that creates the magic. Let's face it, you wouldn't eat a slice of bread on its own either, would you?
Long story short, Broghies very quickly became a staple food in our house, and I ranted and raved about them so much they became a staple food for many of my Slimming World friends too. I even managed to earn the nickname of "The Broghieman" I talked about them so much.
A bump in the road
The supply dried up
Originally, Broghies were available on most high streets in Iceland stores, then all of a sudden they stopped selling them. This left myself and a lot of other people in our Slimming World Group without our beloved Broghies.
After searching for another retailer that sold them and finding nothing, I decided to contact the manufacturer directly to see if I could get hold of a supply for both me and my entire Slimming World group. After contacting the company, they agreed to sell the product directly to me, albeit in much larger quantities than I was used to buying.
After posts on Facebook to see if anyone else was struggling to get them, and Slimming World members from other groups contacting me, I decided to Open Instead Of Bread UK.
Instead Of Bread is now one of two officially recommended sources for Broghies in the UK, and is featured on the main Broghies website as a UK supplier.
The range grew....
The need to satisfy the sweet monster
One of the biggest challenges I had with losing weight was replacing my chocolate habit, I was one of the world's biggest chocoholics.
I had tried several chocolates syrups, but a lot of them have a nasty fake sweetener aftertaste. Then I discovered the Sweet Freedom range. Delicious, natural syrups and spreads without the aftertaste, these became invaluable in keeping my sweet monster under control.
So I got to experimenting (you can see the results in the recipes section) with sweet toppings for Broghies and other low calorie sweet treat ideas, I decided to add some of the Sweet Freedom range to the site as they complement the Broghies perfectly.
So here we are
The ongoing mission..
So here we are. I am eight and a half stone lighter, still eating lots of yummy food and thanks to Broghies and Sweet Freedom I also continue to enjoy my Sweet and Savoury treats too.
My ongoing mission (cue the Star Trek theme) is to bring these awesome products to as many people as I can, and to boldly go where low calorie sweet treats have never gone before. While they may only have been part of my slimming journey, they were a big part of it and I want to share that.
I will continue for as long as I can to bring you Broghies, Sweet Freedom, and possibly other products in the future in plentiful supply and at affordable prices.
If you have time, you can help me in any one of the following ways:
For you: Be sure to join my newsletter below for regular recipes, competitions, and occasional offers.
For Others: If you have ordered with Instead Of Bread in the past, please consider leaving a review for the site, you will find buttons to do that on the testimonials page, this will help me share these products with as many people as possible.
For Others: Tell your friends, there are share buttons all over the site to share the pages on social media. Instead Of Bread is not a huge company, with the low prices that I charge we don't have a huge advertising budget, so this can really help.
Happy munching and crunching
Gary McHugh
