Hit 100: Diabetes-friendly eating made easy

Diabetes is the world’s fastest growing chronic disease, affecting around 1.7 million Australians. This figure includes diagnosed diabetes of all types, along with silent, undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with modifiable lifestyle risk factors, and can often initially be managed with healthy eating and regular exercise.

Earlier this year, a world first health-tech startup launched in Australia to tackle our growing diabetes concern. Hit 100 is Australia’s only meal delivery service catering specifically for people living with diabetes.

Through the program, customers sign up to receive diabetes-friendly meals delivered to their door, accompanied by a simple 100-point food tracking system accessed via an app.

Meals have been developed by Hit 100’s team of Accredited Practising Dietitians and endorsed by the Glycemic Index Foundation. The service is currently available in Sydney, and is rolling out nationally over the next 12-18 months.

We had a chat with Hit 100 founder Karn Ghosh about how the program works.

How did Hit 100 come about?

In my time working in the healthcare system in Taree in rural NSW, I had the stark realisation that the current obesity crisis was triggering a tsunami of preventable lifestyle-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes.

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I feel incredibly strongly about this issue, and really believe in the power of business and technology to drive meaningful and impactful change in the area of preventative medicine, in the public health context.

Describe the journey from concept to today.

We began by surveying over 2,400 people living with diabetes about their health and the support they needed, and have been solution-focused and science-based in everything we have done since then.

We learnt that food and mealtimes were by far the biggest source of frustration, which is why we have launched with an affordable, home-delivered, complete meal solution, coupled with a 100 points system.

How does the 100 points system work?

In this age of dietary misinformation and food fads, it’s confusing for people to know who to listen to. That’s why we brought together a team of diabetes experts to develop our unique 100 points system, which comes to life via an online app – designed to help you manage your diabetes by making healthier food choices.

By using a 60 second health profile we’re able to personalise the points system and meal experience to individual requirements and goals. All you have to do is log your food and drink intake and score points based on how healthy the food or drink is for you. The aim is to hit 100 points a day.

What does the future of the program look like?

We are building out our technology platform to allow us to become the most trusted resource for the management of diabetes, where we will provide science based support for people, as and when they want it.

We’re busy developing community, coaching, education, and physical activity initiatives that will allow both users and their healthcare professionals to seamlessly communicate, measure, manage and maximise their health outcomes.

Fast facts: Diabetes in Australia

• 280 Australians develop diabetes every day. That’s one person every five minutes.
• More than 100,000 Australians have developed diabetes in the past year.
• The total annual cost impact of diabetes in Australia is estimated at $14.6 billion.
• Type 2 diabetes accounts for 85% of all diabetes and this is increasing.
• Type 2 diabetes usually develops in adults over the age of 45 years but is increasingly occurring in younger age groups including children, adolescents and young adults.
• Family history is only one of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.