Article link: https://www.15min.lt/gyvenimas
Author of this article:
Aistė Turčinavičiūtė
Journalist of the Life section
Snieguolė, who creates energy balls: desserts can be "sinless"
“How often do you want something tasty, but when you taste it, you feel guilty about the high sugar content?” – Snieguolė asks a question that many people ask.
A few years ago, a woman solved this dilemma for her family by creating “sotukus” – energy balls in a variety of flavours and enriched with nutrients. Now she’s already sharing the magic of “satiation” with other people, turning snacking into a delicious and healthy moment.
Healthy living alongside work
As Snieguolė tells 15min, before she started the “sotuki” business, she had been following a “safe and stable” path for a long time. After graduating from the then Vilnius Pedagogical University in 1996, she immediately started working as a technology teacher. Later, when the school was reorganised, she studied English at Šiauliai University and defended her title of methodologist.
“But every 1st of September was a challenge and a huge tension for me. I had a great time with the students, we are still friends, but the whole and the frame were a constraint. A phrase from a brilliant 12th grader at a graduation ceremony really stuck out: ‘You are a great teacher, but you lack brutality’. That’s when the idea that it’s time to make a change came to me. We raised 4 sons, and when the youngest graduated from grammar school, so did I”, she says.
When the pandemic and quarantine started, according to Snow White, she allowed herself to “just be and wait for the answer to what I really want to do”. The answer came quite naturally to the woman – she just had to look back to an area she had been interested in since her youth.
“In addition to my work, I have been involved in a healthy lifestyle since I graduated: I was involved in the Lithuanian Healthy People’s Union, managed a health club, organised healthy lifestyle events at school and summer camps for children, and completed a wide range of yoga and meditation courses and healthy cooking courses myself.
In our family, we have been practising different dietary theories for a long time, and we choose what works and what fits. We are now in our third decade of a family that alternates between vegetarianism, green eating, fruit-eating and omnivorous eating, which we diversify with detox programmes. The inner need to share what I know has brought me to one point – to promote health-promoting plants, also known as superfoods,” reveals Snieguolė.
Nutrition – the key to a healthier life
Her current “sotukai”, made from a variety of plant-based products, reflects her long search to incorporate as many valuable nutrients as possible into her family’s daily diet. “I’ve known for a long time that our well-being, health and even our mood are linked to what we eat. What is clear is that a varied diet gives the body everything it needs for energy and health, without the need to look for supplements in pharmacies”, says Snieguolė.
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Although she says it is easy to eat healthy at home, she was faced with a dilemma: what do you do when you are at work, travelling, or don’t have time to cook?
“There is such a great choice of plant-based products nowadays – more than ever before – but when you’re caught up in work and activities, it’s a challenge to eat a full diet every day. Breakfast smoothies are a lifesaver, as they can hide a lot of superfoods, but what to do when you’re not at home? Looking for ways to give my family something valuable and handy to take with them to work, study or travel, I created sotukus. When you are hungry and have a snack to hand, the chances of eating unhealthy food are greatly reduced,” says the Kelmis resident.
As the woman points out, the idea of “sotukus” soon paid off. After all, so many people are now avoiding added sugar, saturated fat, dairy and gluten. What’s more, these energy balls attract shoppers because they are packed with valuable calories, vitamin E, potassium, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, calcium, zinc, iron, as well as fibre, which guarantees long-lasting satiety.
Snieguolė, who currently runs a business in Kelmė with a colleague and her husband, offers as many as 9 varieties of “sotuka” to customers. From macchia and cashews in dates, to lingonberries and gingerbread in almonds, to sea buckthorn and quince in apricots, there’s a favourite flavour for everyone in this variety. Just a few balls per snack are enough to make you feel full and satisfied.
“Knowing that my smoothies contribute to the health, well-being and mood of my eaters inspires me to create and share,” she smiles.