"From Childhood Pain to Entrepreneurial Success: How Kate Overcame Personal Challenges to Build a Healthier Future"
- The Daily Mirror Rppfm 98.7
- Oct 16
- 6 min read
CHAT SESSION 128 with Kate Save ‘Be Fit Food’
Topic- Embracing the Unplanned: A Story of Resilience, Betrayal, and Rising Stronger
Monday 20th October 2025 1pm https://rppfm.com.au
A Childhood in Pain
For most children, tummy aches pass with rest and reassurance. For Kate, they became the rhythm of her childhood. From just 18 months old until she was 19, she endured crippling abdominal pain that would come without warning, lasting days or weeks. The episodes left her bedridden, violently ill, too weak to walk, and often too unwell to attend school. Her parents and grandparents cared for her the best they could, but no one could explain what was wrong.
Growing up in a cloud of unanswered questions forced her to develop resilience long before she understood the word. Pain was her constant companion, but so too was determination.
The Diagnosis That Changed Everything
At 19, after years of inconclusive tests, doctors finally discovered the cause: a choledochal cyst, a rare congenital abnormality of the bile duct affecting around 1 in 15,000 Australians. Left untreated, these cysts carry a lifetime risk of 5 to 21 percent of evolving into bile duct cancer.
Emergency surgery was unavoidable. On the day of the operation, as the world watched the horror of the Bali bombings unfold, she was alone in a hospital bed, hooked up to drainage tubes and catheters, clinging to life.
That day marked a turning point. Facing her mortality, she made a promise to herself: if she survived, she would dedicate her life to health—and help others avoid the pain she had endured for so long.
Building Health from the Ground Up
Fueled by that conviction, she pursued a double degree in Dietetics and Exercise Science, working seven casual jobs to put herself through university. By age 24, she founded Peninsula Physical Health and Nutrition, a consultancy and gym that grew into a 23-strong team offering multidisciplinary health services.
The business thrived, but the demands of entrepreneurship collided with motherhood. Six months after giving birth to her first child, she realized she was still working 60–70 hours a week, breastfeeding with one arm while doing payroll with the other. She was so consumed by work that one night, looking down at her baby asleep in her arms, she had to remind herself that she had even given birth. That was her wake-up call. She sold the gym and much of the practice, keeping only the clinical services she could manage without losing herself completely.
The Birth of Be Fit Food
One year later, life delivered another twist. In the maternity ward where she had just given birth to her second child, she sat down with a bariatric surgeon to discuss a new idea: creating scientifically formulated, ready-made meals to support rapid, safe weight loss without surgery. With her newborn sleeping in the next room, Be Fit Food was born.
The mission was bold but clear: to transform the health of Australia, one bite at a time.
Shark Tank: What Viewers Never Saw
The early years were slow and financially draining. Her co-founder warned her that going on Shark Tank would be “career suicide.” He continued earning a surgeon’s salary, while she worked full-time in the business unpaid. When she ran out of money, he offered to top up funds—on the condition that she surrendered more shares. She refused.
Instead, she applied for Shark Tank again. This time, she was accepted.
The experience changed everything. Overnight, sales skyrocketed by 1,500 percent, and her team expanded from five to 63 in just four weeks. Janine Allis, founder of Boost Juice, became an investor. From the outside, it looked like a fairytale.
But behind the cameras, reality was very different. The deal itself dragged on for nearly a year, filled with delays, negotiations, and uncertainty. During that same period, she was diagnosed with stage-one melanoma on her shin. Surgery came quickly, and while the doctors were optimistic, the timing was brutal. Just two weeks after the operation, with stitches still fresh and crutches tucked under her arm, she boarded a 6 a.m. flight to Sydney to appear on breakfast television. On screen, she smiled brightly, full of energy. Off screen, she was in pain, hiding her limp, determined not to let the world see her falter.
That moment taught her something profound: entrepreneurs often appear strong in public while carrying battles in private. They celebrate the highlights, but rarely see the hidden costs—the fear, the exhaustion, the pain behind the performance.
Betrayal and Buyouts
Success didn’t protect her from betrayal. One day, her co-founder called and said the problem with the company was her. He wanted her out as CEO. When she asked why, he bluntly replied, “We need a real CEO. A man.” It wasn’t the first time he revealed his attitude—he had previously dismissed staff concerns by saying there were “too many bitches in the workplace.”
It was crushing. But resilience was already etched into her DNA. Rather than walking away, she fought back. She bought him out, then the other two shareholders, reclaiming the mission she had risked everything to build.
This wasn’t just a business move; it was a reclaiming of her identity, a refusal to be silenced, and a statement to herself that her vision mattered.
Loss, Grief, and Carrying On
To fund the buyout and future growth, she turned to crowdfunding. The campaign was about to launch when tragedy struck again. Her mother—her greatest supporter—died suddenly and unexpectedly. Her father had phoned her only ten minutes earlier, asking her to come and help her at their shop. By the time she arrived, it was too late. Her dad was holding her mother’s lifeless hand. Her brother, sister, and she spent hours with her, admiring her beauty and saying their final goodbyes before the coroners took her away.
The timing was almost unbearable. Yet even in her grief, she carried on, fueled by her mother’s mantra: “That’s tomorrow’s problem.”
In those moments, she learned that resilience is not about suppressing grief but about carrying it with you—letting it sharpen your empathy—and still choosing to move forward.
Science, Impact, and Recognition
Through all the turbulence, her vision never wavered. Be Fit Food became the first commercial partner of the CSIRO Low Carb Diet, working with Professor Grant Brinkworth to bring evidence-based nutrition to the mainstream. They also participated in a clinical trial led by Professor Felice Jacka OAM—world-renowned for her groundbreaking SMILES trial linking diet and mental health.
To date, Be Fit Food has helped Australians lose more than 100 tonnes of body fat, reversing pre-diabetes, reducing cholesterol, and improving lives far beyond the scales. Along the way, she was honoured with the Telstra Victorian Business of the Year and the Telstra Championing Health Award—recognition not of her alone, but of a mission born in a hospital bed decades earlier.
The Inspired CEO
Alongside building Be Fit Food, she launched The Inspired CEO, a podcast and YouTube series where she interviews entrepreneurs and leaders about the real human cost of success. Behind every glossy headline lie sacrifice, heartbreak, and resilience—and sharing those stories has reminded her that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness.
Embracing the Unplanned
Looking back, her story is not one of perfect planning. It is one of illness, survival, betrayal, loss, and rising again. It has taught her that resilience isn’t about never falling; it’s about choosing to stand up every time life knocks you down.
Each unplanned twist has given her empathy, compassion, and a deep commitment to helping others. Her life’s mission is clear: to change the way we view health, to make nutrition the first medicine, and to inspire others to embrace their own unplanned journeys with courage and hope.
Because sometimes, the life we never planned for is the one that makes us whole.
Want to learn more about Kate Save’s mission, Be Fit Food meals, and her health vision?
Follow along for stories, science, and real food inspiration:
My hope is that when you’re looking at yourself in the
‘The Daily Mirror’
YOU SMILE
EMBRACE BEING YOU
AND FIND 10 MINUTES IN YOUR DAY TO NOURISH YOUR SOUL!
To get in touch with Cathy email smileinthedailymirror@gmail.com
'The Daily Mirror' acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.
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