Why HabitQuest exists

The problem I kept seeing

I’m a paediatric doctor working in the NHS in West London. A version of the same conversation happens in clinic most weeks. A family comes in. We talk about food and activity. They leave with a leaflet and every intention of doing things differently.

Two months later, nothing has changed. Not because the family didn’t care — they cared enormously. But because nobody had given them anything they could use on a Tuesday evening when everyone was tired and dinner needed to happen.

The audit that made it concrete

I looked at every child with type 2 diabetes under our care. Sixteen children.

Every single one was from a minority ethnic background. Most lived in the most deprived postcodes in the country. Almost all remained at or above the 99th weight centile despite escalating medication. Half had got worse rather than better.

What that told me was uncomfortable but clear: the medication was doing what medication can do. The part that wasn’t being addressed at all was everything that happens at home — and that was the part that actually mattered.

Why the existing tools don’t work

Most nutrition advice in the NHS assumes a Western diet. If you’re a Somali or Bangladeshi family, a meal plan built around pasta bakes and jacket potatoes is close to useless.

Most health apps are built for adults and retrofitted for children, usually by adding cartoon graphics to a calorie tracker. Counting calories with a nine-year-old is not just ineffective; there is good evidence it is actively harmful.

And almost everything is designed for the individual, when the evidence is unambiguous that for this age group, the family is the unit that determines whether habits stick.

What we built instead

HabitQuest gives a family one small thing to do each day, personalised to how they actually eat and what their child actually enjoys. The parent gets practical help. The child gets an adventure. Neither of them sees a number about their body.

The content spans 37 cuisines because that is what the families I see in clinic actually cook. Everything is designed to work with no gym, no equipment and no expensive ingredients, because that is the reality for the families who need it most.

Get in touch

Whether you’re a parent, a clinician, a school or a potential partner, I’d like to hear from you: info@habitquest.uk