Volunteer built web app to help IBD patients with eating out

ned_radaned_rada
in General Discussion

Hi all, my name is Ned, I live in Edinburgh, Scotland and I have UC.

I developed a web application that can reduce the stress of eating out for UC patients.

Important: This app will always be free and will never track users. That is my promise to the IBD community.

The app allows people with UC to recommend eating out options to each other. I came to the idea because I have a list of meals in Edinburgh restaurants that do not hurt me. What if we could share that information? It would certainly help traveling patients, as well as expand local options for all of us. I know that IBD is different from patient to patient but there are commonalities among Colitis patients. Of course we all still need to think how specific meal affects us - a recommendation does not mean it is safe for all. But the expanding list of meals that work for some patients may expand options for others.

You can see it in action here: https://inflabeedee.herokuapp.com/

Currently the app only has few recommendation in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. It uses Yelp for getting restaurant information for area you are interested in and then you can tag a recommendation for a meal in a certain restaurant.

I hope people will use it and then number of options will increase.

Kind regards,

Ned

Comments

  • UCsurvivorUCsurvivor

    Hi Ned,


    Thank you for joining our forum.

    A lot of people use this kind of app:

    https://www.monashfodmap.com/ibs-central/i-have-ibs/get-the-app/#:~:text=With%20the%20Monash%20University%20FODMAP,low%20and%20high%20in%20FODMAPs


    The reason is because choosing a restaurant is not good enough, you have to select certain types of food.

    For example, some people with Ulcerative colitis experience a lot of issues with food containing sulphur, if the restaurant you choose does not have a low sulphur diet, it will not help the sufferer unfortunately.


    Also remember that many people who have an active Ulcerative Colitis, will not be able to go much to restaurants as many go up to 15 times per day to the toilets.

    What you need is develop a Low FodMap diet app that targets very specific food so when you are at home with an active Ulcerative Colitis, you can type the food in your app and know what to eat from your fridge.


    I hope this help!

  • ned_radaned_rada

    Hi UCsurvivor,

    I think you missed the point. I also have UC, and in my good phases I can eat out if I pay attention what I eat. Not every UC patient goes to the toilet 15 times a day.

    I am aware of apps that help people manage food at home. There is already an app for that.

    The idea for my app is to indicate to people who can eat out what options are out there that other UC people can eat when not flaring.

  • UCsurvivorUCsurvivor

    I wish you good luck with your app(I am a professional laravel/vue/Android developer myself). I believe you may not be fully healed if you still struggle with food during your remission.

    The only thing I stay away from is cow milk because I am allergic to it.

    Apart from that with no medicine, I eat everything, I look at menus and can eat absolutely everything.

    The only maintenance I do now is check my vitamin D levels, Zinc/Copper and drink glove teas at least once every 2/3 days and stay away from fermented food as over fermentation can cause rebound of colitis.

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