PlateJoy (YCS16) San Francisco http://platejoy.com We're building the personalized nutrition platform of the future and are looking for a health/nutrition focused generalist to join our team. Please email us at [email protected] with a resume for more info. Thanks!
I studied neuroscience in college, so have tried to stay up to date on what we know about the biology of things like anxiety and depression (surprisingly, we know very little for sure). The "chemical imbalance" hypothesis that I was taught in college and that is widely accepted is increasingly being challenged. For example, is it possible that depression is a symptom of a larger inflammatory problem vs. its own disease? Inflammation caused by stress or undiagnosed food or environmental allergies? (People with allergies have a higher risk of depression and suicide, especially in the spring. Allergy shots can help.)
In terms of non-pharmaceuticals, here's what seems to be effective: B Complex vitamins (make sure to get methylcobalamin form of b12 included not cyano), sleep, meditation, exercise, social support, omega 3, vitamin D, probiotics (refrigerated, not gummy), not taking NSAIDS, not taking proton pump inhibitors or antacids, low carb/very little sugar.
Thanks for the feedback! We like to make sure we have enough new recipes for many months of using the service before allowing two categories to be combined, but you're welcome to hack it that way for now. Filet mignon was a glitch (we just fixed it) but the sausage is made of pork.
Thanks so much for the feedback! Our conversion rate through the quiz is really high so we've not had reason to turn the product into more of a quick fix. We've a/b tested all sorts of flows and this one has worked best and customers end up happiest in the end. As you rate recipes and remove ones that don't look interesting to you, the system will get better at suggesting things we think you'll like. When you click "send to Instacart" you should land on a page where we have suggestions for each ingredient you'll need. So while your cart may be empty until you confirm the ingredients, the process should take only take a minute. Let us know how it goes!
Hello + thank you! It’s something we’re working on tackling programmatically, but right now this is really where our nutrition coaching comes into play. You'll get an email from yours in a few days, and they'll make suggestions for ingredients you’d like to substitute, or can find the best plan that can meet everyone’s needs. Personally, I’d recommend going more restrictive (like our gluten-free, vegetarian plan) and supplementing it if necessary with non-GF pasta and simple meat/poultry/fish in place of veg protein - often everyone finds something to like even with the restrictions, and you don’t have to be a short-order cook :)
Thanks for your feedback! It comes out to around $8-$10/month depending on what plan you choose. I hesitate to say this because I don't want to come across as too sales-y, but a customer told us last week that it's "the best money they've spent all year." There's a free trial today if you want to try it.
Thank you so much for the love! :) :) We have a huge group of paleo and keto users and I personally think low carb is the best way to eat, so double high five!
Hi! Glad you found the service useful. We now have a feature that lets you specify grocery store so that less exotic ingredients are shown if you live somewhere a bit more obscure (grew up in a small town myself, so I get it!) You can also print your shopping lists if you don't want to use the iOS or Android app. We have thousands of recipes in our database and constantly growing, so let me know if you ever want to come back and try it again for a few days.
Thanks for the kind words and feedback. We do have a free trial set up for everyone today (no cc required) if you want to check it out without paying anything.
You can sync with JawBone & FitBit, but not MFP (they're not accepting API requests this year). We do give you a full breakdown of nutritional info for each meal though, so you can always enter the macros in manually.
Yes! It wasn't something we had initially but came up very often in customer requests. The hard part there is knowing what's seasonal in different geographies but we think we've got a good system.
Thank you so much! The waste reduction algorithms we use definitely help cut costs (on the back end, we can see the waste savings in $ over time -- though it's not visible to users yet, it's pretty remarkable.)
There's a question in our personalization quiz that asks about whether you want more familiar family flavors, so definitely check that box. Beyond that, you can hit "remove" on anything in your meal queue that looks like it might be unappetizing for your toddler. If there are specific foods you know are no-gos, you can also add any ingredient as an exclusion ingredient in the quiz (in the "other" field).
I lost 50 pounds a few years ago and realized that the options for healthy eating are limited to frozen meal delivery services or nutrition apps that never worked for me. So I started PlateJoy, which uses data about your lifestyle, preferences, and goals to help you plan what to buy and cook each week. We send customized shopping lists and recipes that match your preferences with optional grocery delivery of your shopping list through Instacart. Support for lots of eating styles including: paleo, vegan, whole30, weight loss, kid-friendly, ketogenic, quick & easy, etc.
A few things that make us different:
1. We care a lot about personalization. You start off by taking a lifestyle quiz about foods you love, avoid, recipe complexity, time constraints, preferences and more. You can also add a starting weight and goal weight and we'll adjust your portions accordingly.
2. We don’t want you to have to deal with waste, so we've created a Digital Pantry of your kitchen which takes inventory of what you have, only replenishing things like cinnamon or olive oil when you need it. We also pair recipes together that use up the same ingredients to prevent food waste.
3. We plan your leftovers, too.
4. You can shop for yourself or use our integration with Instacart to send your shopping list to them for same day delivery. (No dry ice or breaking down Fed Ex boxes, because ingredients come fresh from your local grocer.) This is a new feature that people have been liking a lot.
Our biggest technical challenges have been taking so many preferences into account when creating a menu (takes a few seconds!), and synergistically pairing meals to reduce food waste while also making sure there's ample variety in plans.
Hope you'll check it out - just set up a free trial for everyone today - feedback and questions welcome!