It all started with a desperate search for a solution to the Founders' severe allergies. Doctors, specialists, shots, antihistamines, nasal sprays… even a move from St. Louis to the pleasant climate of San Diego — nothing worked.
Finally, Dan sought help from a gifted clinical nutritionist, Dr. Diana Fatayerji, who performed a holistic diagnosis and concluded he had both gluten and dairy sensitivity causing inflammation in his body. That infammation was making Dan especially reactive to environmental stressors. He removed gluten, dairy and most sugar from his diet and within one month experienced significant improvement — no more pills, shots or sprays! Not only that, he lost weight and felt better than he had in years, possibly ever! Caryn, Dan's partner and Co-Founder, was also suffering from chronic health issues (sudden and significant weight gain, intestinal distress and extreme exhaustion) and no one she sought help from could figure out why. Dr. Diana recommended similar dietary changes as she had for Dan and they had the same ‘miraculous’ effect — improved energy, no more bloating, weight loss, and Caryn just felt better. With all the inflammation out of their systems, they both faced the same challenges— taste and nutrition. They wondered: How can we have our food taste so great we'd actually look forward to eating it every day? and, How do we start out the day - with enough protein in the right balance with fiber, fat and carbs - to get our bodies and minds working at 100%? Change was hard but they were committed because of how chronically sick they both were and how much better they felt right away with the new diet. Still, breakfast was the biggest problem to solve. The gluten free breakfast foods on the market were tasteless and had the consistency of cardboard. None of them had the right balance of protein, carbs, fiber and fat. Shortly after eating them, they felt hungry and ended up with cravings the whole day. They were constantly thinking about food! Caryn has low-level hypoglycemia, so it was even worse for her. She would get shaky, headachy and weak without enough protein and fat. So Dan started including sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (foods already balanced by nature) into their pancakes, cereals, oatmeal, waffles and muffins. Voila! Their minds and bodies felt nourished, and they felt full longer so their ‘hunger cycles’ weren't getting out of whack first thing in the morning. Inspired by this discovery, Dan worked for years on improving baking mix formulas for a perfect balance of protein, carbs, fiber and fat. He started sharing his breakfast and snack creations with family and friends, all of whom said they tasted so good they couldn’t believe they were gluten free and POSITIVELY healthy. Hundreds of hours of development and testing resulted in SunFlour® — the base of all our baking mixes. Dan and Caryn were excited to be able to share SunFlour® and SunFlour® mixes with you for over a decade. In late 2024 Pure Functional Foods, their SunFlour® milling partner for many years, took over ownership of this amazing brand. We at Pure Functional Foods are excited to continue providing you with the nutritious and delicious products you have come to enjoy! 
Pictured here: Dan Tegel, Ph.D. and Caryn Staebler, Ph.D. Co-Founders of Think.Eat.Live. Foods