When Simon Kitching was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in his early 30s he admits he put his head in the sand, hoping it would “go away” if he just took his tablets.

Despite watching his own father struggle with the complications of type 2 diabetes for many years and knowing it ran in his family, Simon didn’t take serious steps to change his lifestyle and manage his own type 2 diabetes until a few years later.

These days, Simon visits the gym three to four times a week before heading to work. He mixes cardio with weight training and takes time to walk his dogs every day. After establishing a daily exercise routine, he began to focus on the food he ate.

While he was eating well, Simon had a problem. After eating breakfast and then hitting the gym the mid-morning hunger pangs hit. Simon wanted a protein or muesli bar he could snack on that was low in sugar and didn’t have artificial sweeteners. There was nothing available to fit the bill, so Simon decided to create his own.

He began experimenting with different ingredients and flavours and admits it took a lot of trial and error before he got the flavour right. Using ingredients that helped Simon control his blood glucose such as chilli, cinnamon, coriander and ginger, he set out to also create a gluten free bar. He swapped oats for quinoa flakes, coconut, chia seeds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds and nuts.

From there Savoury Tooth was born. These days Simon is on top of his diabetes management and looking forward to a long life hopefully free of diabetes-related complications.