Meet Caroline Huffstetler of Nutty Life in Arlington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Huffstetler.

Caroline, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
During my junior year at Boston College back in 2009, I started to notice a sensitivity to dairy. I stopped my addictive froyo every day habit and lo and behold, the stomach issues went away. What was I going to do without froyo or without milk for my cereal and smoothies?!

Lucky for me, almond milk was an up-and-coming milk alternative, so I tested it out! To my dismay, I got terrible stomach aches after drinking it 🙁 My curious, investigative self researched every single ingredient found in your typical store-bought almond milk…and the results were terrifying.

Carrageenan? Yep, it might come from seaweed but after the chemical process it undergoes in a lab, it’s no longer seaweed at all. It’s known to cause bowel issues, and even bowel cancer, in lab rats. All those gums? They’re also known to cause bowel issues in lab rats. The purpose of carrageenan and gums in alternative milks? To thicken them (i.e. to make the almond milk seem like it has more almonds than it actually does); and to prevent separation (it’s normal for the water molecules to separate from the almond molecules…all the milk needs is a good shake!).

I cut milk and alternative milk out of my diet altogether…until my cousin Kourtney taught me how to make almond milk in 2013. I made it for myself and for friends and family…and everyone loved it! It had very simple ingredients: filtered water, organic almonds, organic dates, organic cinnamon, organic vanilla bean, organic cardamom, organic nutmeg, organic clove, and sea salt. Every ingredient was recognizable and my body felt so alive every time I drank it! Making almond milk was just a hobby for 2 years.

I found myself jumping from desk job to desk job, unsatisfied in my career…feeling like I had no purpose in what I was doing & getting bored. I needed a career that would keep me on my toes, force me to learn something new every day, and allow me to give back to my community. I launched a kickstarter for my almond milk venture & raised $5000 with no name for the business — just a clear passion to spread health and wellness!

Fast forward a couple years & here we are with nutty life, specializing in cashew milk. You can find our cashew milk in over 30 Boston-area locations & we just crossed state borders into Vermont! We also make vegan cookie dough bites & healthy body stuff. We believe what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body! Craig, master of body stuff, makes soap, body butter, lip balm, and deodorant.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There are constant struggles, which is why I love running a business so much. I never ever ever get bored. My very first struggle in the business was figuring out all of the rules and regulations of the food industry. It took me about 6 months to actually figure out what I needed to do to make my concept a reality / build up the courage to pay the fees required to get started. I was working a part-time job after I quit my full-time job to have some cash flow while I tried to get the business off the ground. The problem is: it’s hard to give it your all when your mind is occupied in other things. The business felt real when I decided to completely dive in and quit my side gig (about 1.5 years ago). The money definitely didn’t start to flow in right away so I had to adjust my spending and lifestyle to live off of less money and simultaneously invest in the business.

And the other struggles along the way: figuring out the business name, the packaging, the labels, the manufacturing, the bottling, the hiccups (i.e. your prep sink needs an emergency repair at the beginning of your production shift — yep, that one just happened). The struggles are pretty much endless but that’s what makes the successes so rewarding!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Nutty Life – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
nutty life is known for its cashew milks but has also expanded into vegan cookie dough bites and healthy body stuff. We are most proud of the fact that we will never add any weird chemicals or ingredients to any of our products. Our belief: what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body. We use simple and pure ingredients that come straight from nature. Our customers can trust that anything they pick up with the nutty life brand will be free of refined sugar & weird additives. We also always use THE WHOLE ingredient, meaning you get ALL of the nutrients from every ingredient we put into our products 🙂

Our cashew milks are sweetened with dates & we use A LOT more nuts in our cashew milks than typical store-bought nut milks. We don’t need to add any thickening agents (carrageenan or gums) because we give you the real deal! I have a major sweet tooth, so our cookie dough bites are a healthy, delicious way to satisfy your sugar craving. We use dates and maple syrup as a sweetener. As for our body stuff, the ingredients are so pure that you could actually eat all of them (but we don’t recommend it).

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We just moved into a new kitchen that is totally dairy free and gluten free (Food Revolution), which we are really excited about! Our hope for nutty life is that you will be able to find our products in all 50 U.S. states within the next couple years & all over the world one day!

Contact Info:

• Address: 2 Lake Street,
  Arlington, MA 02474
• Website: www.nutty-life.com
• Phone: 617.233.2562
• Email: info@nutty-life.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nuttylife.boston/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notmilks
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nuttylifeboston
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nutty-life-arlington

Image Credit:
@bostonfoodphoto on instagram
Nutty Life

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