Would you be interested in a food diary integrated into this forum?

[David]

I've been pondering the idea of having our wonderful programmer, Who, create a custom food diary for us. However, it would be a food diary on steroids in that it would also allow you to enter how you feel at certain times of the day. The system would then allow for statistical analysis to point out potentially problematic foods or ingredients.

I ask if you'd be interested because:

1. Coding this would be very time consuming and expensive.
2. It would only work well if a lot of data was entered.
3. I'd be a sad panda if it wasn't utilized after all of that.

And nobody likes a sad panda.
anda:

I've posted this poll in multiple forums to make sure people see it. Please only vote in one. Thanks

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

How would this work - would it be public or private? I'd prefer private or at least members-only so that not just anybody using a google search can view my food diary. It's a food diary, but it's still a diary after all, and those aren't for the world to see. And another thing, would it be printer-friendly so that I could print it and show it to my GI? If those two things can be achieved, then I'd be all for it.

 

[David]

It would be private with an option to allow us (or disallow us) to collect data without in any way identifying you so we can run statistical analysis and provide group data to people about what foods work for people and what does not. Sort of a, "Across 174 respondents, there is a 93% chance that if you eat popcorn, life will suck within 2 hours".

And yes on the printer friendly part.

 

[Grumbletum]

I think it's a good idea. The fact that it would be integrated into the forum would probably encourage me to keep it as I'm on the forum practically every day. I think I've pretty much identified my danger foods and don't suffer much from D, but I've just started to see a dietician as I've had to drastically alter my diet, so a printable version would probably be useful to show her.
The statistical data would probably be really useful for the newly diagnosed.....or undiagnosed. That's how I found the forum: surfing for info on diets that might help alleviate my symptoms.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Excellent! In that case, I vote definitely yes. Although I've been ill for nearly 2 years now, I'm still fine-tuning my diet and figuring out some of my "lesser" triggers - I think I know all the big ones that kill me, but there's foods that cause minor irritation too and that's what I've been trying to figure out on my own lately. A food diary on here would be awesome - like Helen said, I'm on here most days anyway, both at work and home, so I'd definitely be able to input my data frequently.

 

[toml99]

I'm doing this now, and would be interested in seeing what you come up with. If it works for me, I would definitely move my Excel-based diary to this site, because it would be accessible from both work and home.

One suggestion -- include sufficient room to have a lot of text for each day or each section of each day. When I flare, I enter everything that happened to me, trying to fine common threads across multiple flares. I also suggest an ability list medications separately from foods, but on the same day.

Thanks for thinking of this. Great idea!

 

[Jennifer]

I haven't used Excel in forever. I don't really do a good job at keeping my own diary at home so I really don't know how often I'll actually use it on the site. If it helps people keep track then its a great idea I just really hope it does get used and makes all the effort and money worth it. No sad pandas! D:<