Heidi Normanton on Building HeyLO!, Rejecting Diet Culture and Bringing Joy Back to Bread

For the first part of our four-part conversation with Heidi Normanton, the founder of HeyLO! reflects on the frustration that unexpectedly became the foundation of one of the UK’s fastest-growing low-carb bakery brands.

Long before blood sugar and low-carb eating entered mainstream conversation, Normanton was grappling with something far more ordinary: the simple disappointment of food that felt like a compromise. The products available to her felt functional rather than enjoyable, built around restriction rather than real life. What followed was not an attempt to chase a trend, but a determination to create something that felt normal again.

From her kitchen in Leeds, that idea slowly evolved into HeyLO!, a brand that has built a fiercely loyal following by rejecting the joyless reputation often attached to “healthy” food. In this opening conversation, Normanton speaks candidly about years of diet culture, the emotional relationship people have with food, and why she believed healthier choices should still feel comforting, familiar and genuinely enjoyable.

What was the moment you realised low-carb bread just wasn’t good enough? It was probably when I realised I was eating it because I felt I had to, not because I actually wanted to. I remember thinking, "I’m doing everything else right, why does this still feel like a punishment?" Bread is such a normal part of life and suddenly I realised I was settling for something I wasn’t enjoying.

Was it taste, texture… or the fact it didn’t feel like real food? All of it really. Taste matters, texture matters, but the bigger thing was that it didn't feel like food you’d genuinely choose. It felt like "diet food". I think people know that feeling immediately.

Most people just put up with what’s out there. Why didn’t you? Because I’d done years of putting up with things. I’d been on and off diets since I was seventeen and I knew where that ended. Food is about feeling good, it shouldn’t be a battle to enjoy food without the constant weight of guilt.

Before this became a business, how personal was it for you? Very personal. This wasn't me spotting a category opportunity. This was me trying to make something that worked in my own life first.

When did it shift from "I need this" to "other people need this too"? When friends and family started asking for more. Then it became obvious that I couldn't be the only person missing normal food.

A lot of "healthy" food feels like a compromise. Why do you think that is? I think historically we accepted that healthier food had to mean less enjoyment. Somewhere along the way we decided "good for you" had to equal "not very nice".

Did you ever think people had just accepted that trade-off? Absolutely. I think people almost expected disappointment.

What did you refuse to cut corners on? Taste and texture. We could never have said, "Well it's healthy, so that'll do." It had to feel like actual bread.

At the start were you thinking like a founder? Not at all. I was thinking like someone trying to solve a problem in her own kitchen.

Was this built out of ambition or frustration? Frustration started it. Ambition probably came later.

What emerges from this first conversation is a founder driven less by disruption than by dissatisfaction. Normanton does not speak in the language of wellness trends or startup mythology. Instead, she returns repeatedly to a much simpler idea: people are tired of compromise.

There is a quiet honesty to the way she describes both food and health. No extremes. No moralising. Just the belief that eating well should not come at the expense of enjoyment or normality.

That mindset sits at the centre of HeyLO!’s appeal. The brand was never built to make people feel restricted. If anything, it was built to remove that feeling entirely. As the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that the success of HeyLO! is not simply about low-carb eating, but about a wider cultural shift in how people want to live, eat and feel.