Why So Many Therapeutic Diets?
Therapeutic Diet App
There are dozens of therapeutic diets now available for anyone to follow. These include the low sulfur diet I’ve prescribed for hundreds of patients, but also low FODMAP, low histamine, low oxalate, low phenol, ketogenic, carnivore, Mediterranean, autoimmune paleo, and many other regimented diet programs. Each has a unique “symptom profile,” some constellation of symptoms that have been reported to be relieved by people who have followed each diet.
Because there are so many unique diets now available, it is virtually impossible for patients and even practitioners to know exactly which diet is a “best match” for the specific symptoms any given patient presents with. With that in mind I have spent many dozens of hours compiling the symptoms each diet has been most effective at addressing. I’ve taken this information from published studies, health-related magazines, online forums discussing each diet, reviews of books and online guides specific for each diet, and more.
How the Symptom Survey Works
The app I’ve developed is an online symptom survey. With each symptom selected it is “weighing” how well that symptom fits with each of over a dozen therapeutic diets. Once all symptoms are selected and submitted it calculates the top three therapeutic diets, the diets with the most evidence that they relieve the symptoms you submitted. Click on any of those three and it takes you to a page with the top two rated online resources (one book, one online guide) for implementing that diet.
The app is not quite ready to roll out. Close, but not yet. Once it is, though, I’m hoping to get 10 volunteers who will take it for a test drive, simply filling out the symptom survey. You will see the recommended diets, but it will also send me an email with the symptoms you selected and diets it recommended to you. This will let me see how biased it might be toward some diets and away from others.
Be a Beta Tester: What We Need
I’m guessing it is a few weeks from being ready to test. The first ten people to send an email to drnigh_info@gregnigh.com with the subject “Survey Test” will be put on the list. When it’s ready, you’ll get a link to the survey in an email. The link will only remain active for 3 days. If you send an email but don’t hear back from me or Lisa within two business days, you weren’t one of the first ten respondents. PLEASE do not email again asking if you can take the survey. If you get no reply, you didn’t make the cut. It will eventually be made available and everyone will have access to it.
