Crush

Hunger Crushing Combos protein, fiber, and healthy fats on one plate. No macros. No calorie counting. Just kill your hunger while maintaining your nutrients. Tweak with AI according to need with Pro.

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Inspiration

We kept opening food apps and feeling worse, not hungrier streak shame, macro math, calorie scoreboards. Abbey Sharp’s work at Abbey’s Kitchen pointed at a simpler idea: the Hunger Crushing Combo (HCC™) build plates around protein + fiber + healthy fats so meals actually satisfy, without turning dinner into a diet.

Her framing stuck with us: “The simple secret to eating well without ever dieting again.” And her ethos that food morality and self-worth shouldn’t ride on what’s on the plate. CRUSH takes that public education and turns it into a swipe-first product: decide what to cook in seconds, see the HCC balance on every card, and skip the tracking theater.

CRUSH is inspired by Abbey’s public HCC teaching. It is not an official partnership with Abbey Sharp / Abbey’s Kitchen unless one is arranged separately. It is not medical or dietetic advice.

What it does

CRUSH is an AI-assisted meal-decision app:

  • Swipe curated Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner decks
  • Every recipe shows a Hunger Crushing Combo badge (protein / fiber / fats)
  • Preview → cook step-by-step → grocery list → calm history
  • Optional AI to customize a recipe or surprise you with an HCC meal
  • Freemium Pro via RevenueCat (custom decks, unlimited makes/saves, full AI)

Decision relief first. Tracking optional.

How we built it

Layer Stack
Mobile React Native (Expo) + TypeScript
Backend Python FastAPI + SQLAlchemy + SQLite
Subscriptions RevenueCat (react-native-purchases) — entitlement premium
AI OpenAI + HCC-aware local fallback

Product IDs: crush_pro_monthly / crush_pro_yearly. Free tier stays fully usable without purchase; Pro unlocks depth.

Challenges we ran into

  1. Faithful to HCC without medical claims - model balance as visible protein/fiber/fat signals + compassionate suggestions, not calorie police or disease treatment.
  2. RevenueCat across platforms - StoreKit/Play Billing + web demo upgrade for Ship-a-ton judges when native IAP isn’t available. We were not getting release approval so we dropped for now.
  3. AI that respects the combo - customize/surprise prompts must keep plates HCC-complete, not just “healthier sounding.”

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A calm swipe UX where HCC is always visible, not buried in settings
  • Freemium limits that still let free users cook tonight
  • End-to-end RevenueCat path: paywall → entitlement → server validate/webhook
  • Seeded decks that feel like real weeknight food, not spreadsheet meals

What we learned

Compassion scales better than restriction. Abbey’s combo model gave us a product principle we could ship: satisfy on purpose. RevenueCat let us ship Pro without rebuilding billing so we spent the hackathon on the kitchen, not the checkout.

What's next

  • Deeper custom decks and grocery intelligence
  • Stronger HCC suggestions when a plate is missing a leg of the combo
  • Explore a proper content partnership with Abbey’s Kitchen if aligned

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