What new feature would make you use the membership every day?

December 3 2016 by , medical review by in About membership, Surveys

Meal plan?

What new feature would make you visit our membership site every day?

We asked our members this week and here are the most asked-for features:

1. Meal plans

Members want lots of meal plans of different types, tailored to their low-carb lifestyle, intermittent-fasting, keto, vegetarian, and dairy-free for example, with ready-made shopping lists.

We have been working on this for months and in January your meal-plan dreams will come true! And, later in 2017, members will be able to design their own personalized meal plans too, and shopping lists will be automatically created.

2. A tracking tool

Members want to track their progress, for example their weight, waist circumference, blood sugar, and carbohydrate intake.

We too like the tracking-tool idea, however making an awesome one is hard. What’s the main reason you want a Diet Doctor tracking tool when similar tools already exists? Please tell us in the comments below.

3. A forum

Members want to connect with other low carbers, for example through a forum.

We also want to make this happen, but we’re not sure about the forum idea. Is there a better way? If you have an idea, please tell us in the comments below.

Thank you for your help

We appreciate you taking the time to tell us what you want. Every month, we make decisions about what to work on next, and your suggestions help us make better decisions.

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32 comments

Top comments

Cherie
December 4 2016 6
I'll tell you exactly why folks want a tracking app or tool from this site.

It's because every and I mean every tracking app on the market relies on the BMI and they grade food based off of the failed recommended food guidelines.

So currently if you log your meals and eat LCHF despite how much weight you lose and how healthy you become the tracking app will constantly send you terrible advice. On the one I used it graded the food.

Guess what 75-80℅ of what I was eating graded "C" or "D" because it's full cream or red meat or its full fat and on the days I naturally fasted or forgot to log my meals the app would suggest I eat fruit or grains or my favorite suggestion low fat yogurt (who's side is this tracking app on?)! Even though you know your LCHF plan is working it grates on your nerves to see your meals graded poorly and to get suggestions that are contrary to what works.

Most Keto eaters use the current apps as a means to an end. We want to capture the data and share the results with our doctors or fellow keto friends.

I personally would prefer a tracking app that was Keto structured so if I was getting too much protein I'd get an alert or if my daily natural fats were low it would suggest things like eating avocado.

Someday, someday.....

Reply: #12

Read more →
Susan
December 4 2016 5
Please, please, please don't start a forum. It is bound to degenerate into a Facebook look alike, with trivial boring subjects, poor grammar, worse spelling. At present this website is informative, professional and it leaves pleny of place for individual comments and feedback. It's not broken, please don't "fix"it.

Reply: #14

Read more →

All comments

1
Jane Cierpicki
December 3 2016 1
I love everything about this lifestyle and your website! Started mid August! I am down 37 pounds, off one of my two blood pressure pills, and according to my doctor my sugar and cholesterol are the lowest he has ever seen! You are fabulous and perfect just the way you are!
I must say though that the meal plans sound like a fabulous idea!
Thank you!!
2
Bacon Addict
December 3 2016 3
We really need a forum! That's a great idea.
3
Jacqui H
December 3 2016 2
I think a forum is a great idea. It allows members to support each other, share experiences and also to ask questions. Also people could share information regarding their progress etc. I think a forum encourages people to become involved in the site and that could encourage the membership to grow.
4
Rob
December 4 2016 1
You say good tracking tools exist, perhaps you could tie up with one, or at least recommend one or more that would fulfill all the requirements
5
Apicius
December 4 2016 1
I think the tracking tool is win-win. It provides the member the ability to track metrics, and gives diet doctor team data. Data is king....you can learn a lot from data.

I would suggest you create a few macro categories for the metrics. This then helps to design the member's dashboard. For example, what companies do is use these typical categories to track the "health of a company": cost ($ spent per time interval), productivity (units produced per head count), quality (% defects in final products), safety (number of safety incidents per time interval). So, for a member on diet doctor site, an example of set of macro categories would look something like: food (amount consumed per time interval), fitness (state of physical health per time interval), serenity (state of mental health), conformance (ability to stay on plan).

The way macro metrics work in companies is that they use the concept of lagging and leading indicators. A lagging indicator is the macro view of the category, while leading indicators give the day-to-day tracking which needs to be tracked frequently to see if you will meet the macro goals. So it will look something like:

FOOD
Number hours fasted today
Number of meals today (eating more than one hour apart is a separate meal)
Number grams carbohydrates today, or N/A if full day fasting
Percent fat in food today, or N/A if full day fasting

FITNESS
Waist circumference today
Energy level today (provide Likert scale for member to score)
Pain level today (provide Likert scale)
Number minutes light exercise today, like walking, biking, etc.
Number minutes hard exercise today, like tennis, weight lifting, etc.
Weight this week (measure weight only one day per week)

SERENITY
Number hours slept today
Happiness-Sadness level today (provide Likert scale)
Stress level today (provide Likert scale)
Hunger level today(provide Likert scale)

CONFORMANCE
Number of incidences of non-conformance to eating LCHF today
Number of incidences of non-conformance to fasting regimen today
Number of incidences of non-conformance to light exercise today
Number of incidences of non-conformance to heavy exercise today
Number of incidences of non-conformance to going to sleep on time today

The secret to good tracking is keeping the most important leading indicators, and that's it. You have to be brutal and chop out any metrics that can be redundant, or less important. Also, the secret to good tracking is called "balanced scorecard" perspective. The best companies in the world follow this, and this is why they have become powerful. So, from a diet doctor perspective, don't just track food and weight...it's probably necessary to track health and mental fitness, for a "balanced" approach.

Note that number of calories is nowhere on the list provided...useless data.

Anyways, that's my two cents...

Reply: #10
6
Bam Bam
December 4 2016 1
You're using WordPress and there are plenty of good Forum plugins available, a forum would be a great way for us the compare different experiences we have all had on LCHF
7
Peggy
December 4 2016
A vegetarian meal plan would be great. Thanks!
8
Cherie
December 4 2016 6
I'll tell you exactly why folks want a tracking app or tool from this site.

It's because every and I mean every tracking app on the market relies on the BMI and they grade food based off of the failed recommended food guidelines.

So currently if you log your meals and eat LCHF despite how much weight you lose and how healthy you become the tracking app will constantly send you terrible advice. On the one I used it graded the food.

Guess what 75-80℅ of what I was eating graded "C" or "D" because it's full cream or red meat or its full fat and on the days I naturally fasted or forgot to log my meals the app would suggest I eat fruit or grains or my favorite suggestion low fat yogurt (who's side is this tracking app on?)! Even though you know your LCHF plan is working it grates on your nerves to see your meals graded poorly and to get suggestions that are contrary to what works.

Most Keto eaters use the current apps as a means to an end. We want to capture the data and share the results with our doctors or fellow keto friends.

I personally would prefer a tracking app that was Keto structured so if I was getting too much protein I'd get an alert or if my daily natural fats were low it would suggest things like eating avocado.

Someday, someday.....

Reply: #12
9
Irene
December 4 2016
I already use an app to monitor vitals etc as well as amount of carbs, protein and fats. Have done so for 4 years and very happy with it so not sure whether having an online dietdoctor one would be more beneficial. Meal plans sounds good though not essential for me. I like the current simple clean look of the website and for me, has plenty of information, videos, receipes etc to keep me going! Keep up the good work!
10
Reply to comment #5 by Apicius
Susan
December 4 2016
Try a spreadsheet.

Reply: #13
11
Susan
December 4 2016 5
Please, please, please don't start a forum. It is bound to degenerate into a Facebook look alike, with trivial boring subjects, poor grammar, worse spelling. At present this website is informative, professional and it leaves pleny of place for individual comments and feedback. It's not broken, please don't "fix"it.

Reply: #14
12
Reply to comment #8 by Cherie
Tracey
December 4 2016
I agree. None of the currently available apps let you set the macros to LCHF and leave it at that. They all show/begin with calories, and the systems send messages telling you that you're off track. They're mostly loaded with ads as well. Unlike so many other diet sites, this one is free, science-based, simple, and easy to "consume." I would trust an app/tracker from dietdoctor over any others.
I also wonder about your working with a company that already has a large database of information, and a platform, but that you customize for this program. They all have some good features, but drawbacks.
Sparkpeople does something I love, which would be my ideal here (except that they're still calorie/BMI-based). You can log food in sparkpeople, but upload recipes in sparkrecipes. When you go to sparkrecipes and select a recipe, you can have it automatically add the item to your food tracker. It also creates shopping lists, and they can pre-load meal plans (but again, the wrong type of meal plans).
Tracking food, having recommended meal plans, the ability to search recipes or create and upload your own, and have the system create your shopping list. All amazing tools - if only they were "made for" LCHF, instead of having to create a work-around.
I see this as far more important in the early stages, as we're learning the ropes here, but still a good tool over time. I suppose, with the right approvals, it could also provide your team with some great research data, particularly over a large population and over a long period of time.
13
Reply to comment #10 by Susan
Apicius
December 4 2016
Susan, a spreadsheet would not provide members nor diet doctor to do benchmarking and comparison data analysis with others. That's why Big Data and Internet of Things is being used today...you get a lot more insight than a dinky Excel spreadsheet.
14
Reply to comment #11 by Susan
Patricia
December 4 2016
True, it would make this site cheesy. I love the professional look about it. It helps me want to refer others to this site.
15
Tracey
December 4 2016
Back to tracking tool - I've just been reviewing the Two-week challenge, and was grateful to see that there's a guide with everything in it, including recipes, shopping lists, etc. If the two-week challenge was in an app, I'd have everything at my fingertips when I'm at the store, or prepping food. I realize I can pull the PDF up on my phone and just scroll to whatever I need, but I could see how useful the app would be - if only for the two week challenge.
16
Lisa
December 4 2016
I would love a tracking tool to track the carbs I eat. Linked with a database with percentage of digestible carbs per 100g or typical serving of specific foods and calculator. That would be fantastic.
17
Doug
December 4 2016
I use Chron-O-Meter, it is a brilliant nutrition Tracker with a massive database(mainly US products) including real food. I only use it to record my weight at the moment, but I have in the past kept a full food diary, giving a full record of macro and micronutrients. These days I know what and how to eat, I just track my weight, a bit pointless since it is a straight line HaHa
18
Brenda E
December 5 2016
I think the meal planner with grocery list will be a great asset.

I have mixed feelings about the tracker. One of the most sustainable facets of this way of eating is that you don't HAVE to track anything. Tracking=DIET to me. I might be able to lose weight faster if I did this tracking of micro-nutrients, but I am losing weight slowly, but steadily without a lot of fuss and muss, and have reaped so many other benefits that I want to eat this way forever. I don't want to turn it into just another diet.

I am OK with a forum as long as it remains civil and supporting.
19
Silke
December 5 2016
I like simple forums. I don't think it's beneficial to have trackers on the bottom and quotes. There also should be a restriction on how many replies one post has. I think a set up like a facebook group would be sufficient. Or set up a facebook support group (closed) for support. If you are a member, you can join.
20
SusanK
December 6 2016 1
How awesome and how definitive would it be to have a popular diet tracker that doesn't count calories?! I've not seen one that doesn't track calories, and the ones I've tried all have to be manipulated somewhat for LCHF. I too am tired of having to ignore "conventional nutritional wisdom" telling me that something is or is not healthy. It's unique and I think one would drive people to this site if you had it.

Reply: #21
21
Reply to comment #20 by SusanK
Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, MD Team Diet Doctor
December 6 2016
I agree.
22
Gil
January 2 2017
Greetings Dr. Diet Doctor and Happy New Year,
Have just been reading up on things people would like to see and I have a couple of suggestions.
I have been using a website that is called sparkpeople.com and it costs nothing to join. ITS FREE!
IMHO it has one of the best food trackers and fitness trackers on the internet and provides all the vitals for tracking calories, carbs, fat, etc. I suggest you recommend this site for the food tracker and fitness tracker for it covers everything you could think of for tracking. Most of all its user friendly. My second suggestion for the forum question is again go to sparkpeople.com and click on the community tab on top just like the food tracker tab. Within the community they have 4 sections that could answer your forum questions and be incorporated into Dr. Diet Doctor very easy and provide members the feedback and interaction they are looking for. As for the food tracker and fitness tracker that is provided by sparkpeople.com it is very web intensive to design and feel DR. Diet Doctor concentrate on the informative videos, meal plans that can be tracked in sparkpeople.com or somewhere else and develop a community like the one in sparkpeople.com built around LCHF. Hope this provides some help. Love the site and cant wait for further improvements.

Regards,
Gil Matthews
Daytona Beach, Fl.
23
Sam
February 1 2018
We really need a tracking app. Please provide this would definitely help.
24
Craig
August 25 2018
Definitely a well organized forum. Seems like I would have better luck finding the Holy Grail then a good forum that doesn't become a free for all of misinformation and agrivation. A diet doctor centered forum would be ideal. It was nice to connect with some like minded people on Facebook groups. But in the end, I've yet to find one that has more pro's then con's.
25
Mykola375
September 28 2018
I am so obsessed with food but every time I look in the mirror it makes me feel so disappointed on myself. I did want lose weight but can't help to eat and eat more food, I already use all kinds of method on diet like keto, vegetarian, vegan etc. but it won’t work because of my eagerness to eat foods. So, I began to research what can help me on losing my weight and to lose appetite and I saw this http://www.ilovegrowingmarijuana.com/predator-pink/. Cbd and thc are also new to me and I don't even smoke. Alternatively, they've also found new ways to infuse cannabis on food and beverages. If this is true I can't find any solid conclusive evidence that speaks to its efficacy. Any personal experience or testimonial would be highly appreciated. Thanks
26
Tasha
September 28 2018
I have both written my own android app and also scripted a google sheet to keep track of my carb intake. I can tell you it doesn't help. I haven't lost an inch.
27
Lauren29
February 18 2019
I would love a forum, but to keep the garbage posts out, I suggest the following:
(1) for paid members only; not even the free trial members, but actual paid members who are serious about nutrition, and take this site seriously.
(2) forum rules
(3) forum moderators who enforce the forum rules, delete inappropriate posts, and so on. I think it is likely that there are plenty of members who would volunteer their time for this - no need for it to be a paid position, except maybe the "top mod", who keeps the volunteer mods organized.
(4) ability to remove forum privileges from a paid member who is making inappropriate posts. No need to boot them from the site - just mute them if they are abusing the forum.
28
Mary
February 19 2019
I agree, a forum would be useful. But, even more useful would be some sort of tracking tool that would track protein, fat and carbs. Lots of people post recipes but when it comes to actually planning out a day or week of meals, it would be so much easier. And as recipes abound, knowing how to balance things when switching them out from day to day. This way of living, eating, being can be very challenging and I know that we only want to hear the "success" stories. There are still many who struggle and don't feel like a success...………...yet!
29
Simone
July 25 2019
It would be great if they had a forum for those that don't see those spectacular results that others do even when doing everything right. It would be great to see ppl post that have just kept on keeping on and then started seeing results or got the whoosh, or state how they changed things up and then started getting results. I was on Keto for 9 weeks and saw no changes. If anything the scale went up and down the same 3 lbs. I took a break. I'm back on and I'm doing Keto AND IF - OMAD 5 days a week - and still no changes. it's been 3 weeks now. It's very discouraging. So some support in this area would be great. It would be great to know that we aren't broken.

Reply: #30
30
Reply to comment #29 by Simone
Kristin Parker Team Diet Doctor
July 26 2019

It would be great if they had a forum for those that don't see those spectacular results that others do even when doing everything right. It would be great to see ppl post that have just kept on keeping on and then started seeing results or got the whoosh, or state how they changed things up and then started getting results. I was on Keto for 9 weeks and saw no changes. If anything the scale went up and down the same 3 lbs. I took a break. I'm back on and I'm doing Keto AND IF - OMAD 5 days a week - and still no changes. it's been 3 weeks now. It's very discouraging. So some support in this area would be great. It would be great to know that we aren't broken.

Simone, I'm so sorry you aren't seeing success that you had hoped! I am going to link a couple of articles that I hope may help you troubleshoot.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight
https://www.dietdoctor.com/top-tips-lose-weight-low-carb-women-40
31
brandyjfowler
May 1
I believe that if you added tracking to your current app, you could then do everything in one place.
For traveling professionals like myself, time is of the essence. If I could plan pull down the nutritional information of what I ate from my plan, this would be one less obstacle. Including movement into those metrics would make DD king.
2 comments removed
34
frances_menting
May 17
I agree the best thing about DD is that you don't need to track, but if you're struggling/stalling and want to make sure you're on track for a week or two, tracking is a great way to do this. You have the basic data you need to see what you've really done. And I don't always want to follow a recipe exactly, but use the produce I have available... I'd love a reliable tracker with International units & fresh foods (I'm in Australia, so grams would be great!) that would just give me my macros...