ABOUT
Hey! I'm a 16-year-old who struggles with anorexia. Through my treatment process and advice from ED specialists, I developed “daily munch” to help other teens struggling with EDs and am hoping I can be of any use to you.
“daily munch” is a personal food and feelings diary - a tool to help with eating disorder treatment. Through recording daily reflections and “before and after” feelings involving food (no calories or photos, just a record of mood), users are encouraged to view their food choices holistically. These helpful observations and reflections allow users and medical professionals to look for patterns and associations that can be incorporated into eating disorder treatments. If wanted, users can connect and share their reflections or video call to eat together with a support group of friends, and time notifications are sent to remind users of meal times and hunger cues. The design and interface are very simple to support a wide range of users, especially the younger audience.
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Endorsed by Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association (https://www.heda-hk.org/index.php)
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Why a "food and feelings diary"?
Psychotherapists and dietitians suggest that a client record their thoughts, feelings, level of hunger, satiety, and subjective satisfaction before, during, and after meals. This can be extremely useful in identifying automatic thoughts and “thought distortions” associated with eating disorders. Psychologists and therapists may wish to use the diary as a homework activity or as a means of exploring thoughts and feelings that are recorded by the client. Patterns can be discovered through food journaling that the client may not otherwise notice, such as specific situations that appear to serve as antecedents to binge behaviors, or certain types of social interactions that appear to precede purge behaviors. Here is an example. A client may binge at night and assume that it is because they have “no control” over their food, yet the food record may reveal that the client does not eat anything most of the day. Thus, the binge may have less to do with control and more to do with the body’s reaction to food deprivation. Healthcare professionals can collect food records from their clients and review them, being keen to look for patterns and associations that may not be verbally reported by their clients. If there are omissions in the record or the client reports difficulties with the task, this can be discussed, and reasons can be explored with the client as well.
Studies show that for some, the process of food monitoring is associated with an increase in eating disorder symptoms. An alternative that daily munch emphasizes is an “appetite and mood record”, which can assist a person with recognizing the physiological and behavioral cues associated with hunger and satiety, cues that are often indiscernible to eating disorder patients. Our app is a “food and feelings diary”, in which a client records their emotional reactions to mealtimes, both before and after, but does not include or require a record of the calorific value and amount of food eaten.
To accommodate recovering users that wish to use the app as a private food and feelings diary, our app accommodates the option for users to be "undiscoverable" from all accounts, and for all descriptions and photos optional, only requiring a record of the time and user emotion. To accommodate users who wish to receive encouragement from peers and use the app as a method of food appreciation, users can build a closed community of chosen friends that are able to see what the user has shared and show support. With a closed community of supportive friends, food stigma is discouraged, and users are encouraged to share their emotions surrounding mealtimes.
The app links resources for users to receive professional help with eating disorders if required.
