I used ChatGPT as FREE nutritionist to rate my diet & turbocharge ...
CHATGPT is more than just my pocket therapist - it's now my in-house dietician, too. Armed with photos of my lunches and dinners, the no-nonsense AI chatbot found two risky mistakes I was making with all my meals, which no doubt means thousands of others will be too.
How ChatGPT Works
Just upload a simple snap of the plate in front of you (I use the ChatGPT smartphone app for ease), which it then scans to figure out what you're eating, and breaks it down to its nutritional contents. Even without a description, it uses its clever machine mind to work out exactly what's on your plate, forecast how many calories it has - and explain what the meal is missing, or has too much of.
Here's what I uploaded - and ChatGPT's analysis...
While not the healthiest meal in the world, a packet of Shin instant ramen is a go-to for me. With no description from myself, ChatGPT managed to spot all the ingredients, from the shredded cabbage that was going floppy in my fridge to the dehydrated vegetables that came with the noodles. It highlighted what was good about the meal, for example, how it was high in protein from the frozen prawns I'd added, and convenient due to the instant noodles.
Then, it explained exactly how I could make my go-to grub healthier - for example, I could have added more vegetables for fibre, sesame oil for healthy fats and tofu for calcium. It also suggested I use a low-sodium broth or seasoning, and swap out the instant noodles for soba, udon or rice noodles - which definitely would have squashed the 'convenience' part of this meal.
Meal Breakdown and Analysis
If you tell ChatGPT your actual recipe or quantities, it can give you a more precise breakdown, too. With this bowl of pasta, ChatGPT visually dissected the meal into two separate components: the pasta, and the bread.
However, it made a slight calculation error: there were actually three small slices of bread, not two as it said. If you notice ChatGPT make an error like this, simply correct it and it will give you an adjusted breakdown.
The AI bot then gave me another set of strengths from the meal, such as that it was rich in healthy fats from the olive oil and nuts in pesto. It also contained antioxidants from the basil blended into the pesto, and the olives in the fancy bread I treated myself to.
But what I thought was a fairly healthy meal - made with homemade pesto, for goodness sakes - wasn't so much... ChatGPT revealed that it was "moderate to high" in sodium (salt) from the Parmesan, high in refined carbs and low in protein.
