How can a software revolutionize the way dietitians manage nutrition coaching? Join us on the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast as Alisa Fields, a registered dietitian and co-founder of LogEat, shares her remarkable journey from overcoming an eating disorder to developing an innovative nutrition tracking tool. Alisa's career has taken her from high school struggles to working roles in nutrition analysis for big names like IHOP and Chili's, all the way to tackling the inefficiencies she faced in her private practice. Her experience led to the creation of LogEat, a specialized software that promises to change how dietitians connect with their clients' nutrition data.
Discover how LogEat stands out with its advanced features like barcode scanning, meal copying, and custom recipe creation. In this episode, Alisa explains how tracking over 40 different nutrients provides a holistic view of health, allowing for more tailored dietary recommendations. We also discuss the educational impact of nutrition tracking, highlighting how it helps clients understand the nutritional composition of their meals and transition to intuitive eating. This episode is packed with invaluable insights for dietitians aiming to optimize their practice and for anyone interested in the future of nutrition coaching.
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com
How can a software revolutionize the way dietitians manage nutrition coaching? Join us on the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast as Alisa Fields, a registered dietitian and co-founder of LogEat, shares her remarkable journey from overcoming an eating disorder to developing an innovative nutrition tracking tool. Alisa's career has taken her from high school struggles to working roles in nutrition analysis for big names like IHOP and Chili's, all the way to tackling the inefficiencies she faced in her private practice. Her experience led to the creation of LogEat, a specialized software that promises to change how dietitians connect with their clients' nutrition data.
Discover how LogEat stands out with its advanced features like barcode scanning, meal copying, and custom recipe creation. In this episode, Alisa explains how tracking over 40 different nutrients provides a holistic view of health, allowing for more tailored dietary recommendations. We also discuss the educational impact of nutrition tracking, highlighting how it helps clients understand the nutritional composition of their meals and transition to intuitive eating. This episode is packed with invaluable insights for dietitians aiming to optimize their practice and for anyone interested in the future of nutrition coaching.
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com
Hey, hey, welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, Leonila Campos, registered dietitian, and in today's episode I brought a fellow dietitian, Alyssa Fields, who obviously she's a dietitian, but she's also the co-founder and creator of a nutrition coaching software that has a food tracking component to it, and so I'm really interested to learn more about that and that journey. So welcome to the podcast, Alyssa.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, Leo, so nice to meet you in person. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. No, thank you for joining. So I usually like to start with learning about your journey as a dietitian. So what got you into dietetics and what are some of the roles that you've done as a dietitian?
Speaker 2:
Yeah for sure. So the way I got started in dietetics was probably not the ideal, so to speak. So I actually had an eating disorder in high school and that kind of propelled me down the path of understanding, okay, how do I fix this? And so I worked with another dietitian in high school when I had my eating disorder and she exposed me to the field of nutrition and that's kind of how I got started. I was like, okay, this is really interesting. So it was really kind of for my own selfish endeavors in terms of like, hey, how do I fix my relationship with food that I entered the career of dietetics and, yeah, freshman year I majored in dietetics and then went through my internship and that's how I became a dietitian. And I would say my path as a dietitian has been very non-traditional.
Speaker 2:
I actually worked for a large restaurant corporation for the majority of my career, which is really kind of a niche field in the world of dietetics. I was with a couple of different companies. I don't know if I should say the names of the companies, it's probably fine. I was with Obese and IHOP for a couple of years. That's where I got started. And then I transferred over to Brinker International. They own Chili's and Maggiano's, where I served as a corporate dietitian for about 10 years. So I did nutrition analysis and healthier menu development, allergen labeling everything that basically touched regulatory and menu development.
Speaker 2:
And it was in about 2020 that I was like you know what I love, this career but I wanted to try something different. And so, you know, right as the time COVID happened, I think everyone was probably reevaluating their lives and their careers. So that's when I started my side hustle, where I opened up a private practice and I worked primarily with women and weight management. My approach to nutrition was more of a, you know, a flexible dieting approach like all foods fit, but, you know, tracking was like a key component of weight loss and body recomposition. So that was kind of my focus. And so I did that for a couple of years and tried a ton of different nutrition tracking apps which kind of actually spurred me into starting LogEat, which I know we'll talk about more.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was just kind of through that experience of trying Cronometer and LoseIt and MyFitnessPal and all the different tracking apps where I realized there were a lot of good consumer-facing apps but there were very few apps that actually connected nutrition coaches or dieticians to their clients' nutrition data and, furthermore, also provided nutritionists with the tools that they needed to really run their practices more effectively. Because when I was running my practice, I was using spreadsheets and emails and multiple apps and it was very inefficient, and I also didn't really think that I was giving my client the best experience either by having such disjointed processes. Really, it's just my own experience with trying so much nutrition technology, along with my husband who saw me struggling. He's also one of the co-founders of Loggie and the engineer behind our app. He was like hey, let's build a nutrition tracking tool that clients would enjoy, but also a platform that's ideal for nutrition coaches and dietitians, and so that's really what we set up to do, gotcha.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, amazing, just your journey right. Like you mentioned, not a lot of dietitians or people in general know, right, okay, one, what's a dietitian? But that we can go pretty much anywhere, right, and so in the restaurant field, the food field, right, and just that creation of healthy menus. But also just, ultimately, you know, getting into your own practice right and looking at like what the struggles are as a private practice dietitian and and just tracking right, like the tracking of the food, where we, you know, have to assess it and like give recommendations and so on. And so, yeah, you're absolutely right. Trying like multiple applications right, like where I need one that has ABCD, right, and it's like streamlined and, like you said, right, you don't have multiple things everywhere and because that's just a lot of wasted time too.
Speaker 2:
Right Like trying to find it, yeah, and I noticed like other dietitians were doing the same thing. It's like I think one thing that our app really solves for is connecting the dietitians were doing the same thing. It's like I think one thing that our app really solves for is connecting the dietitian like seamlessly to their clients' feed logs, whereas in present day, a lot of the times, dietitians are using these roundabout methods of like friending their clients on MyFitnessPal or having them use spreadsheet integrations or having their clients send screenshots of their food logs in order to, you know, give their coach that data, which, again, it's just it's, it's inefficient and it doesn't allow things to stay organized. And so, because we have our own native app like, we're able to seamlessly connect you to the client's data and then expose all of the nutrition data, whereas with a lot of integrations that currently exist, you're unable to really see as in-depth nutrition insights as you need to as a coach to provide more personalized recommendations. At least, that was my experience.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I can say the same thing with my clients Searching so many applications, and I did MyFitnessPal and I would ask them I would walk them through. Right, okay, add me as a friend on MyFitnessPal so that way I can go in there and look at your blogs or doing the pictures. Right, send me the pictures of your meals. And some people were like, send me pictures to my cell phone, right, um, so yeah, all over the place, versus like having everything in one platform where you're like, okay, this is client a right, this is their log and this is what I'm seeing. Okay, let's, let's give some recommendations, right, based on what we're seeing. Um, so I think that is wonderful. Right, that you came up with this platform. Right, logeat. So, yeah, definitely, I guess it's such a great segue to talk about it. Right, talk about the features, and you kind of mentioned that already as well. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:
Well, I would love to talk kind of about our mobile app. So I'm sure you have a lot of, you know, clients that probably listen to this too, or people are just wanting help transforming their health. What's interesting about our mobile app or I shouldn't say interesting, necessarily, but unique about our app is that we use only verified data, and so one of the issues with a lot of nutrition tracking apps is they're relying on crowdsourced nutrition data. That's really prone to errors, and we know, when it comes to weight loss in particular, it's so important that you're tracking with's so important that you're tracking with accuracy to ensure that you're actually in a calorie deficit. So if clients are picking entries that don't have the right macros or maybe the calories are way off, you can quickly erase that calorie deficit and your client's not going to see progress. And then, from a coach's perspective, you're looking at the data and you're like, okay, why don't the macros add up to the calories? And then my client actually eats this many calories or that many calories. So the inaccuracies in was verified, and so that's one thing that's really interesting about our platform. And then I will also say that our database is very large, and so you're not going to have any issues finding foods.
Speaker 2:
There are other practice management softwares. I will not name names, but oftentimes practice management softwares they will add nutrition tracking tools as kind of like a hey, we think people need this, but that's not their primary focus because they're building so many different features. The tracking tool is just an, and so they don't have a robust database and they sometimes don't even have a barcode scanner. They don't have features that allow clients to actually log efficiently and that application is not very intuitive. So, scanner, they don't have features that allow clients to actually log efficiently and the application is not very intuitive. So we really tried to build not only a fast logging experience, because we know that clients one of the resistances oftentimes with tracking is oh, it takes so much time, and so we've built in so many features, like our barcode scanner being able to copy meals to new dates. We have a quick ad feature. We have gosh. You can create custom recipes and custom foods and, as we know, oftentimes we're creatures of habit. So once you kind of like build up that database of foods that you frequently eat, logging becomes so much easier. And so you know, that's just kind of a little bit about our mobile app. It is a very fast and intuitive tracking experience.
Speaker 2:
We also do go above just calories and macros. A lot of apps are simply focused on calories and macros, which, of course, are important, especially, you know, when it comes to weight loss or body composition. But if you are trying to assess someone's health from a more holistic perspective, you also need to be paying attention to micronutrients, and so clients are able to track more than 40 different nutrients vitamins, minerals, alcohol, caffeine, fatty acids and I think, as a dietitian or a nutrition coach, you know whoever is actually using this. That can allow you to provide a lot more value to your clients, because you can really give them a better understanding of like, hey, here are the gaps in certain nutrients that you might not be getting enough of. There's maybe some excesses right here that are contributing to a certain health condition that you need to pay attention to. So I think that it really helps nutrition coaches be able to see that a more holistic picture of health as well.
Speaker 1:
Right. Yeah, I love that it has that component right of being able to look at the nutrition or the meals that someone is consuming beyond the calories and the macronutrients right, because we know that the nutrient-rich foods right also matter in terms of well-being and health and just looking at, like you mentioned, in a holistic way. And so if someone is not getting enough fiber right or not getting enough iron or calcium right, then we can give a specific recommendations as to okay, let's focus on increasing your fiber, or for this meal, maybe let's add a little bit more xyz, right. So I think that is wonderful that it has that feature that as dietitians, right, nutrition experts, we're able to make those specific recommendations and have the data right to be able to do it, analyze it right, and then, once we make that change, then we can go back and be like, okay, we got it right, we're hitting those numbers, we're getting those nutrients and essentially, we're optimizing our health and our nutrition right, which is huge, exactly.
Speaker 1:
Awesome.
Speaker 2:
And I mean, I think there's like there's so many different use cases for nutrition tracking too. Even though a lot of people think of it as, oh, it's just trying to lose weight, like you're, just like trying to, tracking can be beneficial for identifying food intolerances. It can be beneficial for building muscle mass, ensuring they're actually eating enough. It can be great for monitoring the types of carbs that you're consuming if you're diabetic or insulin resistant. So, yeah, I just think that tracking is such a powerful tool for so many individuals, no matter really what is going on. Even if you think that you is such a powerful tool for so many individuals, no matter really what is going on, even if you think that you're eating healthy, sometimes you don't have necessarily the variety in your diet to really fill in all the nutrient gaps too, and so even tracking for like a week, I think, can be so helpful to kind of shed some light on. Yeah, I'm missing this or I'm getting too much of that, and that's why I'm not seeing progress.
Speaker 1:
Right, yeah, it's so true, the awareness right While we do, because the perception of doing something right doesn't really equate the accuracy of what we're actually meant to do. And so when we track it right and when we really see, okay, this is what's happening, the numbers are telling me that, even though I thought I was eating enough or I thought I was drinking enough water or getting enough fiber, right, now that you have it, you know, in front of you and looking at it, and you have the data, then you can be, you can create now an action plan Right To to address whatever you need to need to fix. Yeah, that's really awesome. You know that the app is able to do that too, and the way that as practitioners right, or as dietitians, we're able to use that too. And so I love the other thing, too, that we talked about right, like, essentially, your application can be used for anybody.
Speaker 1:
I know that when there is an eating disorder, right, or there are triggers, sometimes looking at numbers right, sometimes tracking things, can be triggering in the recovery right of an eating disorder. Sometimes that has to be avoided. But using your app, right, it's something that maybe the patient is not going to see the numbers, but we can still be able to see the types of foods that are consumed. Would you say that that maybe the patient is not going to see the numbers, but we can still able to see the types of foods that are consumed? Would you say that that is the case as well?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So you're sorry, you were kind of cutting out a little bit and stuff. Just to understand what your question is you asked about how it can be used for more intuitive eating practices. Correct, is that right? Okay, okay, perfect, yeah, so there's a couple of different ways that nutritionists can use it with their clients. One way is that dietitians are able to turn off the nutrition information altogether, so the client would still be able to log individual foods if they want, but they would not see the nutrient data themselves. However, the dietitian would still have a full view of what their nutrition is.
Speaker 2:
So if you are working with someone who maybe you believe they have been restricting and under eating, right, and you don't want them to see calorie information, but you, as a dietitian, you still want to understand, like, okay, are they truly getting enough calories in their diet?
Speaker 2:
Um, you would still at the dietitian standpoint, would? You would still be able to see all of their nutrient data, but you would have the client just log individual foods. Now, if you didn't want the client to log individual foods, they could also track by photos, which would still give you not as objective data, right, but it would still give you an idea of the types of food that they're eating, and you could have them track that way and then they would also be able to add notes, or they will soon be able to add notes. This is a feature that's coming in the next couple of weeks or so, where they're able to add a note to that photo and indicate like hey, were they hungry, what was their mood like? To really be able to practice more of that intuitive eating versus being so focused on the numbers.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, yeah, that's an amazing feature there, too, that you know we're able to use that if we're working with someone like that, right, that we're still trying to help them, right, have more balanced meals, maybe improve their nutrition in general, but not use the numbers per se, and we can still see them, which is great, right, because then now we can make our recommendations based on that. Awesome, yeah, that is amazing. And just to be able to have that application right and I'm sure, as you mentioned, you're adding things and making it better every time, which is such a great thing to do too, yeah, so when you say okay, you mentioned, essentially, the application can be used by clients, right, by dietitians, nutrition coaches, and that is something that is recommended, right, and you've used it with your clients, too, as well. Is that right?
Speaker 2:
Yes, I have. Yeah, so, really, while our application is unique because we have that coaching, individual users can also use it. So, even if you're not working with a nutrition coach and you just want to, you know track solo, you are able to download it from the App Store or Google Play Store and use it as well.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, yeah, amazing. And so I love that because, again, the awareness really helps to create a plan, but also to track your progress. I think that is important to not only from a standpoint of, like, if we're doing weight loss, but just overall, healthy eating or improving our health. Having that ability to track and um and add things right that we can, that we can track essentially as we continue to make those changes yeah, amazing. And so, yeah, how, um, how can people maybe like are you um, do they reach out to you? Or they can just do the app and like they can just download it. How can they download it?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. So it kind of depends on where you're coming from. So if you are a nutrition coach, a dietitian like yourself, you can go to our website at wwwloveeatio. Okay, so io notcom Um and find out more information about our nutrition coaching software. And, in fact, if you schedule a demo with us, um, where you can really like find out if it is a good fit for your clients and your practice, then you've got a one month free. However, if you don't have a coach and you still are interested in tracking, for whatever reason, I mean you are able to download it on the app store or Google play store and you get a seven day training, just to you know. Make sure that you like it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, awesome, and I'll make sure to add that information in the show notes, so the listeners have that available and then they can, you know, take a look and reach out and try it Right, which is wonderful, yeah, yeah. Any final thoughts? Anything else that you want to add or any additional information you would like to provide?
Speaker 2:
I guess the only thing that, like, we really didn't mention, I think, going back to kind of some of the benefits of tracking, I think tracking is a really good educational tool.
Speaker 2:
I think that dietitians often take our knowledge for granted.
Speaker 2:
Because we've had, you know, four plus years of school and countless hours of internship, People really don't know much about nutrition and unless you are, you know, an avid reader of, like, looking at nutrition facts, labels and really diving in, I think it really behooves yourself to have a good understanding of nutrition knowledge, because you know, tracking is not something that you do forever, but you do it for a period of time to achieve a goal and in that process you should gain a lot of nutrition knowledge.
Speaker 2:
Like I always tell my clients because sometimes they come to me and they're like, oh, I don't want to track, but it's so important to explain the reasons for tracking it's like once you understand that four ounces of chicken has 20 grams of protein or whatnot, like a cup of beans then you later transfer that knowledge to just more intuitive eating and you know how much your body needs. But until you build that foundation of nutrition knowledge, it becomes really difficult to understand actually how much your body needs. So I would mention that just as one last plug for the value with nutrition for everything. If you actually pay attention to that nutrition data, there's a lot of great insights that you can learn from it, and it really does have the ability to prove your nutrition choices overall.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I have to agree with that Absolutely. I have a client that said you know and it's so true when you say that you know, we sometimes take our knowledge for granted or we assume that that's so basic, like people should know that, but they don't right, like they really, they literally don't. And so I have a client that say you know what? You know what helped me to learn more about nutrition in my food? It's tracking, right. I started to track and I started to understand, oh, that food has, oh, that food has carbs and fat. And that was mind-blowing because in my mind I was like that's basic nutrition, right For us that we went to school for it, but not for the population, right, it could be something so basic like that.
Speaker 1:
And so once they start tracking, they can understand, okay, that food has protein, that food has carbs or a combination of both, or that food has healthy fats or more fiber. So, yeah, I love that you can use it as an educational tool, right to teach clients about the composition of food right and like let's have more of these types of foods, or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, I love that point Absolutely and I think using it as that right Okay, not not as something like another thing that clients have to do or another thing that I have to do, but maybe as part of our sessions right Like this is an educational tool that we're going to use to help you improve your nutrition right or to help you achieve your goals. Um, I think, when we see it that way, it feels more natural. Natural, I think.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and I think that, um, I always remind my clients. I'm like are you non-nutrition tracking? It's really difficult for me to provide any recommendations because I don't really know what you're doing. Like. Even if it's food photos, that has a lot of value, right, I can understand okay, there's fruits, there's vegetables, there's protein on your plate. But if I don't have any sort of data to really be able to evaluate and make recommendations upon, it's really hard for me to do my job. Then I just kind of think of myself as a counselor, I guess, or like a therapist. But I'm not supposed to be a therapist, I'm a dietitian. So, yeah, I always remind my clients that too. It's like, hey, you're most likely you're going to get a lot better results and you're going to get a lot better feedback from me if you are able to track consistently. So I can really like laser in on, like what are better options for you? Or like where you're doing awesome, and then like where, hey, we need to make some improvements for you.
Speaker 1:
or like where you're doing awesome and then like where, hey, we need to make some improvements? Right, absolutely, and I love that. You know you're making the app super simple to use, right, very user-friendly, like you said. Right, removing those challenges of like the time, right, like, right, or I have to pay for the for scanning something, right, like, not just scan it. All the information is going to be, it's going to be accurate, right, because that accuracy also matters. So, yeah, awesome. Well, congratulations on your software and your app, right, thank you Leah.
Speaker 1:
It's great, you know. Thank you also for coming to the podcast. I'll make sure to add your information on the show notes. Right and yeah. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to come to the podcast.
Speaker 2:
Awesome. Well, I appreciate you having me. It's good to see you virtually Awesome.
Speaker 1:
Well, thank you so much, everyone, for listening to the Simple Nutrition Insights podcast. Bye-bye for now. I'll see you in another episode, take care.