Use Case: Nutrition Tracking

For you if: You want to understand what you eat – and how your nutrition affects your wellbeing.

Time required: 15–30 minutes to set up, then ~1 minute per meal

What You Can Achieve

Macro level:    Calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein
Micro level:    Vitamins, minerals, amino acids (via BLS)
Correlations:   Nutrition ↔ energy, sleep, symptoms

Example: You track caffeine and sleep quality. After 3 weeks you notice: coffee after 2 pm correlates with poorer sleep quality.

The Pareto Principle for Nutrition Tracking

80% of the benefit with 20% of the effort.

You don’t need to define every meal in detail. Focus on the 20% of foods and drinks that make up 80% of your diet.

Typical approach:
  ✅ Define in detail: daily meals, regular snacks
  ✅ Use as placeholder: restaurant visits, exceptions
  ❌ Not necessary: every detail of a one-off restaurant visit

Learning Path: Nutrition Tracker in 3 Steps

Step 1: Start Logging Immediately – Use Placeholders (5 minutes)

You can log food and drink right away, before defining any recipes:

1. Open the dashboard
2. Tap Food or Drinks
3. Enter a name (e.g. “Pasta Funghi”)
4. Create as a placeholder
5. Enter portion count → Save

💡 You can complete placeholders later when you have more time or the packaging is at hand.

Step 2: Define Your Key Recipes (15–30 minutes)

For your most frequent meals it’s worth going into detail:

→ How-to: Create recipes

Quick start via barcode scanner: 1. Tap → Barcode icon 2. Scan the packaging 3. Open Food Facts (OFF) finds the product automatically 4. Add portion details → Done

Step 3: Use Analytics (advanced)

Once you have enough data: - Weekly report: macro overview (fat, sugar, protein, …) - Micro analysis: vitamins, minerals (requires BLS-linked recipes) - Correlations: nutrition ↔︎ your own symptoms / wellbeing

Core Concepts of Recipe Management

Recipe

A recipe describes a food or drink with its ingredients and quantities. It can be simple (a single BLS entry) or complex (custom-defined ingredients).

Placeholder

A recipe without ingredients – just a name. Good for spontaneous entries. Not sufficient for nutritional analysis, but better than no entry.

Variant

A group of interchangeable ingredients from which you choose when logging.

Example: Coffee with milk
  Ingredients: coffee (ground), water
  + Variant "Milk": Whole milk | Oat milk | Soy milk | (none)

This lets you create one recipe and still be flexible in daily logging.

Data Sources for Nutritional Values

The app uses two databases:

→ More details: Data sources explained

OFF–BLS Linking

The app contains a growing mapping bundle: Over 1,000 OFF product categories are automatically linked to matching BLS entries. This means many scanned products immediately give you complete micronutrient data – without having to search for and assign BLS entries yourself. The bundle is extended with app updates and uses Wikidata data for automatic enrichment.

Additives (E-Numbers)

Ingredients in OFF products that contain additives (e.g. E330, E415) are shown in the ingredient list with their English name – so you immediately see that “E330” stands for citric acid and “E415” for xanthan gum. Localization happens automatically without an internet connection.

Advanced Search

In the OFF product search you can combine multiple search terms with a semicolon:

Example: "tomato; organic; crushed"
→ finds only products containing all three terms

This is especially useful when a single term returns too many results.

Tips for More Accurate Analysis

• Portion sizes – specify accurately when defining recipes
• BLS linking for OFF products where possible – many are already linked automatically
• Log regularly – patchy data distorts weekly averages
• Use variants to simplify entry

⚠️ Nutritional analyses are approximations. For medical dietary therapy always consult a healthcare professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I build recipes from other recipes? Yes. Ingredients can themselves be recipes – for example “Bolognese” can contain “Tomato sauce” and “Ground beef” as ingredients.

What if a product isn’t found in OFF or BLS? You can add it manually as a recipe with your own nutritional values (from the packaging).

How often is the OFF database queried? At most once every 10 seconds (per Open Food Facts usage guidelines). An hourglass shows the wait time.