Creating and Using Custom Nutrition Models

A nutrition model sets daily targets for calories, macronutrients, food groups, and minerals. Recipinned uses those targets when it analyzes recipes and meal plans for a specific gender and age range.

Recipinned includes system models based on published standards, such as USDA Dietary Reference Intakes. You can also create a custom model for a facility’s dietary guidelines, a therapeutic diet, or another population.

Accessing Nutrition Models

Custom nutrition models require the Advanced Nutrition Analysis feature. To request access, email info@recipinned.com.

Once you have access, you’ll see a “Nutrition Models” link in the navigation menu. Click it to open the nutrition models page, where models are grouped into:

• User Models — models you’ve created.
• System Models — built-in models, grouped by their source.

You can search by name, gender, or age range using the search box at the top.

Creating a Custom Nutrition Model

Every custom model starts from an existing model. Recipinned copies its demographic settings and nutrition values, which you can change after creating the model.

1. On the Nutrition Models page, click + in the top right.
2. Enter a descriptive Model Name, such as Renal Diet - Female 51+. The name must be between 1 and 255 characters.
3. Choose one of your models or a system model as the Base Model.
4. Click Create to open the new model in the editor.

Editing a Nutrition Model

The editor is organized into sections. Click Save in the toolbar when you’re done; you’ll be warned before leaving the page if you have unsaved changes.

Basic Information

Define the identifying details and target demographic:

• Model Name — a descriptive name (3–100 characters).
• Gender — Male, Female, or Unspecified / Both.
• Age Range — the applicable age range. Accepted formats are a range (19-30), an open-ended range (51+), or a single age (30).
• Description — context about the model, such as the standard it’s based on or the population it targets.

Setting Nutritional Values

Most fields — macros, food groups, and minerals — use the same value editor. For each metric you choose a value type:

• Range — a minimum and a maximum (e.g., 45–65 g).
• Min — a lower limit only (“at least this much”).
• Max — an upper limit only (“no more than this much”).
• % Cals — express the target as a percentage of total calories (available for macros and sugars). When using this type, you also choose whether the percentage is a Min or Max limit, and Recipinned converts it to grams automatically.

A live preview to the right shows how the value will be evaluated.

Macronutrients and Carbohydrate Details

Set daily targets for Calories, Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates. Protein, fat, and carbohydrates can be expressed as absolute amounts or as a percentage of calories.

Under Carbohydrate Details, set targets for Fiber, Added Sugars, and Total Sugar, which work alongside the total carbohydrate target.

Daily Food Groups

Configure daily serving recommendations for Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Dairy, and Oils (measured in cups or grams, depending on the group).

• Use the toggle next to the Daily Food Groups heading to enable or disable the entire section.
• Use the toggle on an individual field to control whether that specific food group is tracked in this model.

Automatic Tracking Rules (Advanced)

Use these optional rules to avoid double-counting overlapping macronutrient and food-group targets:

• Carbohydrates satisfy Grains — disables grain tracking when carbohydrate goals are met.
• Fat satisfies Oils — disables oil tracking when fat goals are met.

Essential Minerals

Set daily recommended intake levels (in mg) for Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, and Zinc. As with food groups, you can toggle the whole section or individual minerals on and off.

Using a Nutrition Model

Once saved, a model becomes available anywhere Recipinned compares nutrition against a standard. Use the Nutrition Standard selector to choose which model to evaluate against:

• Recipe nutrition — On a recipe’s Nutrition Facts panel, pick a model to see how the recipe measures against your targets.
• Meal plans — In the meal plan nutrition view, select a model to compare a meal or day against your standard. You can switch between viewing a single Meal (1/3 of the daily value) or a full Daily total.
• Printing — Your selected model is used when printing meal plans, so reports reflect the standard you’re working against.

Recipinned remembers your selection. Each meal plan template can also save its own nutrition model.

Previewing a Model

Open any model from the Nutrition Models list to review its full set of values. Use the View As toggle to switch between Daily (full daily values) and Meal (1/3 of the daily values) to see how the targets scale for a single meal.

Sharing a Model Through Cookbooks

Custom models can be shared with others by linking them to a cookbook (collection):

1. Open your custom model from the Nutrition Models list.
2. In the Cookbooks panel, click the ”+” button.
3. Select a cookbook you can edit and click Add.

Anyone with access to that cookbook will then see the model available as a Shared Model in their nutrition standard selector. Remove a link at any time using the × next to a cookbook.

Editing and Deleting Models

System models are read-only. For your own custom models, open the model and use the edit (pencil) and delete (trash) icons in the top right. Deleting a model is permanent.

Related Articles

• How To Use Custom Ingredients (Pro Feature)
• Feature Access & Account Tiers

Questions?

If you need help building a model to match a specific standard, contact us at support@recipinned.com.