Author Topic: Food/symptom diary  (Read 2227 times)

Food/symptom diary
« on: 01 April, 2019, 08:34:22 am »
Over the last couple of months i’ve convinced myself that i’m wheat or gluten sensitive.  (Stomach and bowel issues for a day or two after consuming wheat).

I used an app called cara that hopes to tell you most common foods on your best & worst days, but it has no concept of ‘time of day’.  So, if I forgot & ate bruschetta (ciabatta) then felt like crap & ate salad etc for the next two days it’ll tell my my most common food was salad etc  :facepalm:

Does anybody have recommended apps they use for this?

Thanks

Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #1 on: 01 April, 2019, 11:39:47 am »
App?

I have, in the past, kept a food diary.

The most important thing is to remember to use it and write down everything you eat. Also remember that ingredients change.

I was caught out by Pringles. Used to be potato plus salt and flavourings. Then they changed them to 50% wheat in an effort to avoid paying VAT.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #2 on: 01 April, 2019, 12:42:43 pm »
I'm a smartphone-free Luddite so you can ignore me anyway.

No app would be much use unless it knew ALL the ingredients of all you ate.

Suspect a paper notebook would be better, combined with FULL information gathered at leisure from a desktop/laptop.

You might compile a list of wheat breads so you don't forget...

sib

Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #3 on: 01 April, 2019, 12:55:30 pm »
Myfitnessapp is easy to use as a food diary (in additional to exercise if you wish).
It does record/analyse the content particularly cals and carb/fat /protein.
It won't show gluten.
Notwithstanding any queries about its accuracy it does raise your awareness about what you're eating.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #4 on: 01 April, 2019, 04:25:08 pm »
A friend just takes photographs of everything they eat, and goes through the google photostream later to log things in a Bullet Journal (which I think is a wanky time-sink, but seems to be less of a distraction than an electronic equivalent might be), along with symptoms, sleep quality, etc.

This seems more reliable than getting the journal out and logging food at the time, particularly when eating in a hurry to manage medication side-effects.  Your ADHD may vary.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #5 on: 01 April, 2019, 04:30:06 pm »
No app would be much use unless it knew ALL the ingredients of all you ate.

Suspect a paper notebook would be better, combined with FULL information gathered at leisure from a desktop/laptop.

Surely in this context an app is just an easier (and more importantly, searchable and statistics-generating), always-with-you way to keep notes.  If it doesn't let you enter arbitrary food, then it's unfit for purpose.  Naturally I'd lean towards luddite technology like a spreadsheet or flat-file database, but maybe a specific app can save some of the work by eg. being able to recognise food items from their barcodes.

Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #6 on: 02 April, 2019, 07:15:18 am »
I was hoping there is an app that’d know most ingredients- would happily pay for that!  :thumbsup:

Main convenience is the fact I always have my phone, but i’m not against a good old spreadsheet (I do love a pivot table!)

Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #7 on: 02 April, 2019, 07:57:41 am »
I was hoping there is an app that’d know most ingredients- would happily pay for that!  :thumbsup:

Main convenience is the fact I always have my phone, but i’m not against a good old spreadsheet (I do love a pivot table!)
See my pringle incident. No app could possibly keep up with the changes, and nobody with a serious allergy (or intolerance) should rely on such a thing. Read the ingredients!
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #8 on: 02 April, 2019, 10:08:49 am »
See my pringle incident. No app could possibly keep up with the changes, and nobody with a serious allergy (or intolerance) should rely on such a thing. Read the ingredients!

Understood, I'm just learning about this intolerance as it's new to me - means I don't know how much detail to track or check, as I'm not even sure what i'm intolerant to yet :(

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #9 on: 02 April, 2019, 01:16:02 pm »
I think EVERY manufactured food merits review of its ingredients every few months.

I spend AGES reading about the ingredients and composition of my groceries even though we have neither a weight problem nor any food intolerance.

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #10 on: 02 April, 2019, 04:49:25 pm »
There are some reasonable apps out there, although perhaps not entirely suitable for you.

I recommend you look At:

NutraCheck (UK based)
Cronometer (very detailed breakdown of macros, electrolytes etc)

MyFitnessPal that lots of people use often has incorrect data added by customers, plus it has loads of US products which are different to ours.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #11 on: 14 June, 2019, 02:26:33 pm »
Bobby, you work for a Software house, can you not get someone to write an app for you? Could you get it to zap barcodes to grab the ingredients automatically?

Hope you are in good spirits and this food thing is not getting you down.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

Re: Food/symptom diary
« Reply #12 on: 30 June, 2019, 04:19:21 pm »
Cheers Dave, am getting there - pretty much understand that I have a low tolerance to gluten-foods, and doing well avoiding that on a day to day basis... cycling is a different challenge, am still going to leave audax alone for a while yet (but got a new MTB to stay fit on instead  :thumbsup: )