Wine and Dine
DR. FOOD provides one-of-a-kind bespoke meal plans—delivering specificity in nutrient composition, caloric count, and realistic and long term health benefits
Dr. Food provides healthy and effective solutions for all your dietary woes
In a sea of countless diet meal plans in the market that promise ambitious results with their preset meals and trendy dishes, a standout has risen amongst the pre-packed noise with its more scientific approach to meal planning but never compromising the quality of their food’s flavor—Dr. Food, a diet program that curates meals specifically to your body, goals, and taste. While many other programs suggest meal plans for you or switch out certain ingredients or meats in an illusion of customization, Dr. Food starts with you and your needs-and-wants out of the program, so much so you can call it a bespoke nutrition plan.
So how does it work? What makes Dr. Food such a personal experience to its patrons? With the likes of Cat Arambulo, Erin Campos, and even Karen Davila hooked on the doctor’s meals, how does it all come together? It starts with a consultation, as you do with many doctor appointments. We spoke with resident nutritionist and dietician Alyssa Ty Desamparado, RND, to explain to us the step-bystep process into creating their curated nutrition plans.
She shares that it usually starts with a patient coming in for a one-on-one interview which is where the goal is usually set. Whether it is to lose fat or gain muscle or even just have more energy. “Then we do the InBody analysis, it's actually a machine wherein you can have an overview of your whole body composition,” referring to the first main step in determining the factors that go into the diet. The analysis is a quick process, just around a minute, where you stand on a scale looking machine and you hold on to some rods on both your hands. The machine is accurate in its readings, getting your body metrics, “right down to your fat, your muscle, and your total body water,” as Aly puts it. Other important data collected from the InBody are your metabolic rate, segmental data (for checking if your limbs are equal in weight and size), and obesity analysis. Only in collecting all this data does the food part only come into play, Aly finishes, “so from there we usually create the dietary plan for them.”
There are many ways to build a specific patient’s food plan, from their preferred dishes and flavors to their end goals. “So we want to make a dietary plan that is specific and highly individualized,” Aly continues. She shares that a patient’s goal can range from an aesthetic one, where they’re looking to lose some fat. There are also bulking up goals where the patient is looking into building more muscle mass. These are the common dietary goals they encounter but other interesting goals include those that manage ailments. Aly elaborates, “We have therapeutic diets as well,” made for those with liver problems or other diet-concerning diseases. “So we have patients who have diabetes and kidney problems, and so actually Dr. Food doesn't really cater just for weight loss, we also have [plans] for weight management and also for disease management.” This shows that Dr. Food’s goals for their patients aren’t just shallow ones but are also concerned with their overall health status.
Once the goals and the diet have been set, Dr. Food’s dieticians collaborate with their inhouse chefs in curating a meal plan. “The nutritionist and the chefs have a collaboration. So then the food is not just healthy, but also does not sacrifice the taste of the food,” Aly shares. The number of meals scheduled can range from just a few weeks to months, depending on the patient’s preference and health objectives. She even shares that they even get extreme timelines where a patient wants to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time, but they always make it a point to emphasize long-term health rather than just losing fat. What is interesting in how they build their plans is that they also take into serious consideration what food the patient likes. Let’s say a patient likes eating tocino, they would find a way to incorporate a
tocino recipe or tocino alternative into the meals to satisfy these specific cravings. It just shows how they don’t just customize for the health goals but assuring the flavor satisfaction of their patients.
Going deeper into their dietary science, Aly shares that they also have a test for food intolerances. This is for patients who are already on the program and require extra needs. These can range from feeling bloated, their skin breaking out, and insomnia—which Aly explains can be attributed to your diet as well. As unique as our bodies are, there are some food items that some bodies don’t really react well to. This is what their intolerance test identifies. And in turn, the team adjusts their diet accordingly. “Results usually come in two weeks,” she shares because the test requires some time to really specify the food items a certain patient is intolerant to.
Ultimately, the ethos behind Dr. Food is to be the nutrition plan that is the perfect fit, every single time. Aly puts it well in saying, “I think the brand of Dr. Food would have to be believing that everyone is unique. Everyone has different body types, rules, and needs,” and with all that science behind it, Dr. Food delivers.