9.2 Creating the second prototype
The changes that we need to make to our application template, that will add functionality with menus for the people who have some special conditions, is to create an additional page with the possibility of selecting that special conditions or needs. For example, gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, vegetarian, vegan and so on. And adding the possibility to edit this data on the user account page.
The list of special conditions will be added to and updated when we will collect necessary information about diets from specialists and trusted sources.
For the first version of the application, we can choose, for example, a diabetes and lactose intolerance diet and then extend the list of the diets. Every diet will require help from a specialist to create it. But there are general meal recommendations that are documented. For example, the list that is published on nurselabs.com is an educational platform with information for nurses. It contains diet recommendations for the list of diseases. For example:
Table 9. Examples of what type of foods should be avoided with some health conditions.
Acute renal disease Low Protein, high-calorie, fluid-controlled, sodium-controlled, potassium-controlled
Chronic renal disease Low Protein, low-sodium, fluid-restricted, potassium-restricted, phosphorus restricted
For the full list see Appendix 5.
Another example is studies that were conducted by Michael Georgoulis, Meropi D.Kontogianni and Nikos Yiannakouris in 2014 concludes: “Interventional studies also demonstrate the beneficial role of the Mediterranean diet in type 2 diabetes mellitus management, with patients allocated to the
Mediterranean exhibiting greater improvements in glycemic control and CVD risk factors, compared with those following a control diet.”
So using trusted sources we can create special menus for our application. For example, for lactose intolerance:
Day 1
Breakfast: Avocado-topped egg toast with 2 slices whole-grain or rye toast, 2 eggs, poached or cooked to your liking, ¼ small avocado, mashed, salt and pepper to taste and top toast with avocado and egg and 1 serving of soy or nut beverage (461 calories, 38 g carbohydrates, 8 g fibre) Lunch: 2 cups/2 servings (500 mL) quinoa black bean and mango salad (320 calories, 46 g carbohydrates, 8 g fibre).
Dinner:2 cups/2 servings (500mL) Indonesian tofu stew with spring vegetables (This link opens in a new window).
, 1 cup (250 mL) cooked quinoa, spinach or kale salad, 1 tbsp (15 mL) light salad dressing (462 calories, 55 g carbohydrates, 11 g fibre).
In the review by Hodges, J.K et al., (2019), the authors mention: “Ensuring adequate calcium intake throughout the lifespan is essential to building and maintaining bone. Lactose intolerance may predispose individuals to low calcium intake as the number of lactose-free, calcium-rich food sources is limited.”
Lactose intolerant people avoid dairy products, therefore the consumption of calcium might be insufficient, which will lead to bone health damage. So our application will generate a weekly meal plan that will include vegetables such as spinach or kale, that contain calcium.
Same for diabetes. There are sources that contain useful information about meal plans for people with this condition, for example, www.diabetes.ca. But the information if spread around different sources or suggested weekly meal plans are not versatile enough. Our application will solve this problem.
Example menu for diabetes:
Breakfast:2 slices whole-grain or rye bread, 2 tbsp (30 mL) peanut or almond butter and 1 cup (250 mL) berries (443 calories, 60 g carbohydrates, 11 g fibre, 49 g net carb)
Lunch:2 servings (1 cup/250 mL) quinoa, black bean & mango salad and ½ whole-wheat pita (8 inch/16 cm), 2 tbsp (30 mL) hummus (457 calories, 68 g carbohydrates, 12 g fibre, 56 g net carb) Dinner:1½ servings (¾ squash) wild rice & apple stuffed acorn squash (save another half for tomorrow’s lunch) and 6 oz. (180 g) grilled or baked pork loin chop (save 3 oz./90 g for tomorrow’s lunch) with steamed carrots* (480 calories, 60 g carbohydrates, 12 g fibre, 48 g net carb)
9.3 Application prototype changes
We need to add a page that will gather the information from the user about his health condition. This page will be shown during the registration process. And the user would be able to change this setting later in the account settings.
Registration process page with a list of possible health conditions:
Figure 22. Prototype. Registration step.
Updated user account page with the possibility to change Special diet data at any time.
Figure 23. Prototype. User account page.
Another change that we added after interviewing people was the time of cooking in the recipe description:
“Maybe adding times in recipe descriptions? It would be helpful to see how long the recipe will take time to cook.” - Male, age 35, data architect.
9.4 Conclusion
After adding necessary changes to our application, so it will meet the requirements that we gathered from the people that we had interviewed and the information we found, we have an application that focuses on special diets.
Our main target group and early adopters are people who found out that they have some disease that requires them to change their eating habits. The problem that we encountered is that we can’t use the dietitian consultations because we can’t run blood tests. But what we can do, is use general
recommendations from official sources. Another example of that kind of source is the Finnish Medical Society website kaypahoito.fi. Almost every disease has its own nutrition recommendations for
example if we will take problems with the upper stomach and reflux symptoms, we will see that people with these symptoms should avoid such products as irritant foods (citrus fruits, spirits, tomato, coffee, onion, intense spices, fatty or fried food, chocolate, mint).
Because this information is general we can use a chatbot to provide advice to our users. The chats for the chatbot would be created with the help of a professional nutritionist. So for us, it will be a one-time payment to the specialist and then we can reuse this information.