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Guides and answers — how food scores work, what we check, and how to get the most out of your plan.
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What VitalPlate does and how to set it up for you.
Food scores
How we score recipes and foods against your plan.
- Understanding your food scoresEvery recipe and food gets a simple traffic light — Good fit, Caution, or Avoid — based on your plan.
- Why a food gets flaggedFlags come from two places: an ingredient your plan avoids, or a nutrient over your limit.
- When we couldn’t verify a foodIf a food is missing nutrition or ingredient data, it can’t be rated Good fit until you fill in the gaps.
- How a whole meal is scoredA planned meal is scored as one plate — main, sides, and dessert combined.
Nutrients we check
Sodium, potassium, phosphorus and the rest — what they mean.
- The nutrients we checkVitalPlate scores nine nutrients against your plan, and displays several more for reference.
- SodiumWhy VitalPlate watches sodium, and which plans set limits on it.
- PotassiumWhy potassium matters in kidney disease and when VitalPlate limits it.
- PhosphorusPhosphorus and added phosphates in kidney disease.
- Saturated fatSaturated fat and the plans that limit it.
- Added sugarAdded sugar and the plans that limit it.
- CholesterolDietary cholesterol and the plans that limit it.
- Trans fatWhy VitalPlate treats trans fat as a near-zero limit.
- FiberFiber is a positive target, not a limit.
- Per-serving vs daily limitsVitalPlate uses two kinds of limit — one scores each food, the other tracks your day.
Health profile
Conditions, medications, allergies, and diets you can add.
- Your health profileThe conditions, medications, allergies, reactions, and diets that every score is measured against.
- How your conditions combineWhen you have more than one condition, the strictest rule always wins.
- Conditions referenceA quick reference to the conditions VitalPlate can build a plan around.
- Medications and foodVitalPlate knows several common food–medication interactions.
- AllergiesHow allergy flagging works — and why you should still read labels.
- Diets and food preferencesTell VitalPlate how you like to eat — diets add restrictions but never loosen a medical limit.
Meal planning
How your week of meals, calories, and sides are built.
- How meal plans are builtVitalPlate turns your profile and calorie target into a full, scored week of meals — here is the big picture.
- How your calorie target is calculatedYour daily target comes from your body metrics, activity level, and goal — with a sensible floor and a fallback if details are missing.
- Meal slots and servingsChoose which meals to fill, see how your calories are split across them, and learn how servings scale each dish.
- Sides and platesHow VitalPlate rounds out lunch and dinner with balanced sides, and the rules that keep a plate sensible.
- Reshuffling your planNot feeling this week? Rebuild your plan for a fresh set of meals — here is how it works and why each shuffle is different.
Recipes & cooking
Find, import, and cook recipes — and use what you have.
- Importing a recipePaste a recipe link or text and VitalPlate pulls out the ingredients and steps, estimates the nutrients, and scores it for you.
- Discovering recipesSearch a large recipe database, narrow it with filters, and import any result — it gets scored against your plan on the way in.
- Cooking from your pantryEnter what you have on hand to find recipes you can make right now — or let VitalPlate suggest what to cook tonight, using up items before they expire.
- Using Cook modeA full-screen, one-step-at-a-time view across every dish on the plate — big text and simple next/prev controls for hands-busy cooking.
- Using the Menu scannerPoint your camera at a restaurant menu and VitalPlate reads the dishes and shows which ones fit your plan — with a verdict and reasons for each.
- Pantry and freshnessTrack what you have by storage location and best-by date, and get gentle nudges before food ages out.
Shopping Buddy
The Chrome companion that checks products as you shop.
- What is the Shopping Buddy?A Chrome companion that checks Instacart products against your plan and keeps your VitalPlate shopping list right beside you while you shop.
- Install the Shopping BuddyAdd the Chrome extension, sign in with your VitalPlate account, then open Instacart and shop with verdicts on the page.
- What the Shopping Buddy can and can’t seeThe Shopping Buddy is read-only: it reads visible product names to score them, and never touches your cart or your Instacart login.
Account & privacy
Your data, your settings, and how to reach us.