Using GenAI to Set Nutritional Goals

...GenAI is everywhere.  In the news.  On Social Media.  Probably even at your work, depending on what you do for a living.  I half expect toilet paper POWERED BY AI to be advertised to us any day now.

Rather than fighting against it, let's try using GenAI to learn about healthy eating, and even get a starting point for the nutritional component of whatever fitness journey you are on (or want to start)!

NOTE: GenAI cannot help with accountability which is an incredibly important part of any big change, but perhaps you will find that with a local nutritionist (or within yourself) should you decide to make a conscious choice to move forward with nutritional changes.

I've found GenAI works best if you ask it to be an expert at a particular subject or in a particular field of study.  Here's an example you might use if seeking nutrition advice:

You are a nutrition coach with knowledge of the importance of caloric needs as well as macro nutritional needs.

Now, set a baseline for the scenario you want to ask about, and in general more details means a better response.  Building on the above example, you might try something like this:

You have a client that is interested in pursuing  a healthier lifestyle and wants to know how much they should eat.  You need to help them understand the number of calories they should ideally consume each day, as well as the total grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fat that they should ideally consume which will add up to that number of calories.

GenAI will provide a better response if it knows a few things about you.  In this example, providing your current health measurements and any preexisting conditions you have would be extremely helpful.  Here's an example (update the bolded sections to personalize this example):

They have tracked their recent eating habits, and have found that they consume, on average, X grams of protein, Y grams of carbohydrates, and Z grams of fat. They currently weigh XYZ pounds, and have no knowledge of their body composition beyond their weight on the scale. They are X years old. Their current activity level is XYZ. They have type 2 diabetes. Your client’s goal is to lose X pounds over Y weeks.  

You've set the stage, now it's time to define your request.  Continuing on our existing example, you could try this:

Recommend a nutritional macro that your client can follow that will, on average, achieve this goal, but if the goal is not reasonable based on the best available data on healthy weight loss strategies, feel free to recommend a different duration for their program.

If you used the examples I've provided, you would input the following text into a GenAI prompt and submit your request:

You are a nutrition coach with knowledge of the importance of caloric needs as well as macro nutritional needs.  You have a client that is interested in pursing a healthier lifestyle and wants to know how much they should eat.  You need to help them understand the number of calories they should ideally consume each day, as well as the total grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fat that they should ideally consume which will add up to that number of calories.  They have tracked their recent eating habits, and have found that they consume, on average, X grams of protein, Y grams of carbohydrates, and Z grams of fat. They currently weigh XYZ pounds, and have no knowledge of their body composition beyond their weight on the scale. They are X years old. Their current activity level is XYZ. They have type 2 diabetes. Your client’s goal is to lose X pounds over Y weeks. Recommend a nutritional macro that your client can follow that will, on average, achieve this goal, but if the goal is not reasonable based on the best available data on healthy weight loss strategies, feel free to recommend a different duration for their program.

At this point, simply review the response and provide any further feedback or information you have.  For example, you might hate cooking and clarify that you would like meal tips that require only microwave use, or else avoid foods (like produce) that need to be peeled or cut.  Personally I was incredibly defiant about cooking and food prep, and basically refused to use my stove or oven for about a year and a half with the exception of boiling noodles for pasta.

You might also ask that your macro changes be ramped up or down over time, so that you get to the goal macro over the course of months rather than immediately, especially if the recommendation made is a major change (I'd estimate this to be about a +/- 300 calorie and/or a 10%+ swing in macronutrient allocation, but I admit this is just my general sense of what might be right for someone starting out and I have no data to back these numbers up).

Hopefully this prompt helps you, or gets you thinking about prompts that might better address where you are in your life and what you need from GenAI!