More and more nutritionists are employing meal planning software to efficiently create meal plans for their clients and make it easier to modify them.
However, meal planning softwares can only be efficient if they have a comprehensive and detailed food database. It determines the rigidity or flexibility of a meal planning software and can help you judge which one to pick.
When creating a meal plan with your meal planning software, it must have a comprehensive food database so that you have the flexibility and versatility of creating a meal plan.
The first and foremost advantage that it provides is the possibility of creating a meal plan that your clients are comfortable with. If you can provide a favorable meal plan that adheres to their likes, dislikes, and preferred cuisine, it can be extremely easy to transition your clients into a healthier lifestyle.
Some of the advanced food databases also provide a calorie count and macronutrient content of each food item so that you can calculate the overall nutritional levels of each meal.
Furthermore, having a comprehensive food database can also help you add alternatives to each element of your meal plan. For example, if your meal plan features roti or bread as the carbohydrate source, you can add an option of maybe rice or oats that can be an equivalent substitute.
Your food database should feature a comprehensive list of food items covering a vast range of cuisines and locally available to the clients. This also provides flexibility and versatility in creating meal plans.
It is ideal to have detailed data on the calorie count and macronutrient content of each food item so that you can calculate the nutritional stats of each meal. This can help you create a more cohesive diet plan and add alternatives to each meal element.
An ideal food database should feature recipes and food dishes that range through multiple cuisines so that you can cater to the wider demography of the target audience. It can also help you create meal plans that are favorable to your clients’ palette, which can increase their compliance rate.
While you can suggest meal plans ranging from a plethora of different cuisines, it will be worthless if your clients don’t know the precise procedure of creating those meals. Hence, your database should also provide a good resource of recipes to guide your clients and help them extract the optimal nutrition from their products.
In the section, we will understand the food database(food details) and the know-how to create a new food item.
In this section, we will know how to create a plan template.
With a comprehensive food database, you can have the luxury and freedom to create flexible meal plans for your clients which are more comfortable and easy to follow. Not only will it increase their compliance rate, but it will also help you offer alternative food elements to break the monotonous feel of having a meal plan.
With Zoconut’s expansive food database, which includes more than 300 food items and 8000 food dishes across multiple cuisines, you can create the most ideal meal plans for your clients.