NutriPar

Problem Space 

Problem Statement  

Diet-conscious individuals who are passionate about food NEED A WAY TO quickly find recipes that meet their nutritional goals BECAUSE discovering new recipes and ensuring they align with their dietary requirements can be a time-consuming task.

Problem Background  

As someone who is both a bodybuilder and a foodie, I am conscious of my nutritional goals, but I also want every meal to be delicious and varied. As a result, it can be time-consuming for me to find different recipes that meet both criteria.

The goal of this app is to reduce the hassle involved in recipe finding for diet-conscious individuals, such as those on cutting or bulking diets, or patients following dietary recommendations. Currently, such individuals have two options for meal preparation. They can either rely on their experience to come up with a recipe that will possibly meet their nutritional goals, or search for recipes on Google or social media. However, the first option requires extensive experience and often results in limited meal choices. The second option cannot guarantee meeting nutritional goals and often requires a significant time commitment.

Research Insights

User Pain Points

I did 2 interviews of my friends who feel: 

• Time consuming when researching on recipes that meet their nutritional goals
• Resulted recipes include ingredients they don’t want or hard to get
• Although many fitness apps or apps that focus on strict dietary plans recommend recipes, but users still can’t easily find recipes they like 

Supporting Data

Both of my interviewees are unhappy with current solutions as they are time consuming and not accurate

Landing on the Solution

Based on our target users’ pain points, we knew we wanted to work on features based on the following scenarios:

• Scenario #1: nutrition goals can be easily input

• Common nutrition metrics, such as the amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, will be displayed on the screen with input boxes and units of measurement (for example, %, kcal, g)
• Users can enter their desired number into these input boxes
• A plus button will be provided for users to add more detailed metrics, such as the amount of sugar, sodium and fiber

• Scenario #2: recipes accurately meets users’ nutrition goals

• The database generate recipes meet the inputted goals

• Scenario #3: recipes excludes ingredients that users don’t want

• Add a red ❌ button on the nutrition input page. Users can click the button to input ingredients they don't want for their search
• Include sections in the user profile where users can input ingredients they never want to see in search results

• Scenario #4: suggest the intake amount of nutritions

• Know your users by including a list of dietary preferences in their personal profile section, similar to dating preferences in dating apps. These preferences may include height, weight, nutritional goals (losing body fat, gaining weight, etc.), and more.
• Provide a short description and warnings for recommended nutrition plans.

• Scenario #5: Recommended recipes are localized, meaning they meet users' appetites and the ingredients are easy to obtain.

• Get to know the users - collect geographical information about them.

Future Steps

I have tried ChatGPT-4, and it can easily generate recipes that meet my nutritional goals. AI can certainly contribute a lot to this product, but the question is how?

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