.png;w=640)
NORTH BATTLEFORD — A former North Battleford woman with deep roots in the community has developed a food product that helps people stay full longer.
Stephanie Dekker, who now lives in Edmonton, grew up in the Battlefords and attended North Battleford Comprehensive High School before completing a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Saskatchewan. She later earned Master of Business Administration degrees from Cornell University and Queen’s University.
She is the daughter of David Dekker, retired former general manager and part-owner of CJNB, Q98 and 93.3 radio stations in North Battleford, as well as affiliated stations in Meadow Lake. David was also involved in the campaign to build the North Battleford CUplex, now the InnovationPlex, and the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts is named after the family.
Stephanie Dekker, now an entrepreneur, created the fibre powder supplement Barely Craving with Dr. Stephanie Liu. The product is available at BarelyCraving.com.
“It’s a premium fullness fibre product — all natural, one ingredient — made in Alberta,” Dekker said. “It’s essentially all Canadian. It’s packaged, produced and made in Canada.”
The product, which is FDA- and Health Canada-approved, is made from barley.
“We have a supplier with a patented technology to extract beta glucon from the fibre,” Dekker said. “It’s a pure, premium, tasteless soluble fibre you won’t find anywhere else.”
“I’m super excited,” she added. “I’m in the honeymoon stages with any sort of launch of any product. It’s exciting. It’s really good.”
Dekker said the product can be mixed with coffee, protein shakes or yogurt, and can be included in a diet to create a feeling of fullness.
“Fibre in general is just good for everyone,” she said. “But this fibre, because it’s so pure, it creates fullness. So people can take it prior to a meal or when they know they are going to be busy from day to day and won’t necessarily have time to grab food, and they don’t want to end up feeling starving later and grab junk food. It creates fullness. You can then choose to eat healthier options.”
She added the product helps maintain blood sugar levels, keeps energy levels up and supports gut health.
“It has a lot of these other benefits to it,” Dekker said. “It’s helping people make healthier choices when you take this on an everyday basis. Then, you can use it to manipulate your appetite and cravings, so you can get home and make yourself a salad or healthier food, instead of coming home starving.”
Dekker said she always wanted to find a natural, easier way to make healthier choices in her own diet.
“I’m now in my 40s,” she said. “Your body is different as you get older. I tried all the fad diets and weight management [diets] and I thought there has got to be something better.”
She said she has heard positive feedback from people who have tried the product.
“We’ve been trialling the product for quite a while before we brought it to market,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of success with people being able to either lose weight or feel better because the product essentially has very little calories to it. People use it to help extend their fast, and give them energy — some of those are athletes.”
David Dekker said he is thrilled with Stephanie’s success.
“I’m excited about this,” he said. “We’re very supportive and looking forward to watching the company grow.”
