I’m a Dietitian and I asked ChatGPT to Make a Meal Plan: Here’s What Happened

We live in an age where technology can do almost anything. As a child of the '80s, I still remember when VHS tapes, carphones, and Walkmans seemed straight out of The Jetsons. Gone are the days of waiting patiently for your favorite show to come on (I see you TGIF fans), Netflix and Prime deliver your favorite shows whenever (and wherever) you want. With innovations and advances in technology, artificial intelligence is present in our daily lives. Whether you’re using Google Maps to navigate, Face Recognition to unlock your phone, or Grammarly for optimizing work emails, you’re likely unaware of how integrated artificial intelligence is in your routine. Enter ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that is generating quite the buzz.

ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool that answers questions, assisting you with mundane tasks like writing emails or optimizing workflows, while also answering your most burning questions. As a registered dietitian who spent years in private and clinical practice conversing with clients looking for meal plans and nutrition tips to quell tummy troubles, gain weight, lose weight, you name it, I wondered whether this innovation would be able to cut down my workload and spit out a meal plan if given specific instructions. So, I typed up my request and pressed return. Here’s what happened.

The Idea: Have ChatGPT Build a Meal Plan

The question you may be asking yourself: If I’m a professional in nutrition, why would I want ChatGPT to write a meal plan? The simple answer is: I'm curious. And, I like efficiency. 

If artificial intelligence could cut down the time it takes me to come up with meal plans, perhaps I’d be able to create a higher volume or use my expertise in different ways. These potential benefits clearly outweigh the glaring con: artificial intelligence is not credentialed. The one caveat is that I would never (and I mean ever) ask a chatbot to perform a task such as creating a meal plan without going in after and zhuzhing it up and adding my own personal insights. AI is powerful, but it doesn’t replace a professional. Spoiler alert: I soon discovered that ChatGPT absolutely needed my expertise.

The Goal: A Nutritionally-Balanced, AI-Derived Meal Plan

Let’s just say it was a process. ChatGPT is smart, but it’s not a mind reader. You also have to be very specific in the way you phrase things to get the output that you’re looking for.

What Did I Ask For, And Why?

When I first asked ChatGPT for a meal plan with set parameters, it came back with a list of ingredients and the amounts of calories, carbs, protein, and fat each meal had — but no measurements. Not helpful. After a few failed attempts, I figured out how to get what I was looking for. I queried, “Create a one-week meal plan with three meals and three snacks per day that amounts to 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day with a macronutrient breakdown of 45% carbohydrates, 25% protein, and 30% fat for each meal.”

Why did I ask for these specifics?

• One-Week Meal Plan: A one-week meal plan is fairly standard as you can plan out a week and then repeat it if you want. 
• Three Meals and two Snacks: For most people, I generally recommend an eating pattern of three meals with the option for two snacks. 
• 1,800 to 2,000 Calories: I’m not usually a fan of tracking calories, but I wanted to be within a specific range for my height, weight, and active lifestyle (1,800 to 2,000 calories per day). You can always leave this part out or ask for a broader range based on your individual needs. I like to ensure that my meals are properly balanced with calories and macronutrients to ensure that I feel satisfied and sustained energy throughout the day.
• Specific Macronutrient Breakdowns: According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the standard recommended macronutrient breakdown is 45-65% of calories from carbohydrates, 25-35% of calories from protein, and 10-30% of calories from fat. You can adjust this however it works best for your body. I know that my body feels better with lower carbs and higher protein and dietary fat.
  

What Did I Get?

It took a few tries to get the ask right, but I must say I was pretty shocked by the meal plan it generated. It was concise, seemingly well-balanced, and generally appealing to me food-wise. The plan got cut off after a few days, potentially due to a character limit. But I asked the chatbot to continue where it left off, and like the obedient taskrabbit it is, voilà, a seven-day meal plan.

The meal plan is fairly similar to what I would have worked on with a client (after years of school and counseling practice). However, don’t cancel your nutrition sessions just yet. Let’s dig into the pros and cons of using ChatGPT as a meal planner. 

The Cons of a ChatGPT Meal Plan

As you might have guessed, there are a few major drawbacks of using ChatGPT as a meal planner, despite the convenience.

Con: Daily Calories and Carbs Were Consistently Below Requested Ranges

As a skeptical (although enthusiastic) user of ChatGPT, my first order of business was to use NutritionIX software (a dependable database of nutrition information) to fully analyze the nutritional data of the meal plan. I entered the Monday food items into NutritionIX, and it estimated that this would provide approximately 1,550 calories, which is way under the range that I requested. 

Just as I suspected, ChatGPT fell short. Not to mention: is ChatGPT in cahoots with diet culture?

If you take a look at the data below, you can see that most of the days were too low in calories and carbs. Three of seven days fell short in dietary fat. What surprised me the most? The protein was on point. I took a step back to think about this, and thought, if ChatGPT is gathering information from across the internet about meal plans, it’s likely sourcing lower-calorie, lower-fat, lower-carb, and higher-protein meal plans that exist for weight loss. It doesn’t understand the nuanced nature of dietetics and hasn’t necessarily evolved with the times to understand that nutrition must be assessed on an individual basis. Sigh.

Con: Measurements Aren’t Always Consistent and Suggestions May Not Be Specific Enough for All Users

When it comes to meal plans, you need to be very specific about the measurements of ingredients and preparations. For example, “1 cup of oatmeal” can be interpreted in various ways. To me, this means one cup of prepared plain rolled oats cooked with water. However, another person might think it’s suitable to cook the oatmeal with whole milk or use a sweetened oatmeal packet. These alternatives can drastically change the nutrition profile of the oatmeal. 

Another example is “Greek yogurt.” I’m always quick to specify unsweetened, plain, full-fat or 2% Greek yogurt. This reduces added sugar but ensures that you get satisfying dietary fat, which also improves absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins. 

The key fact here: ChatGPT can’t teach an individual how to read a nutrition label, manage and calculate portion sizes, or recommend the best product to purchase in a local market. A dietitian can work to clearly communicate and translate nutrition labels, a feature that ChatGPT can’t (yet) replicate.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, RDN, creator of BetterThanDietiting and author of Read It Before You Eat It — Taking You from Label to Table, agrees that “Meal plans derived from ChatGPT might give you meal creation ideas in amounts that might suit your requirements, but those facts cannot replace the sage advice a client could obtain from a personal consultation with a dietitian.” She explains, “When I work with someone, the advice provided isn’t just based upon what to eat, as only a ‘meal plan’ would provide. A dietitian helps shows how to eat and fit a plan into one’s lifestyle.” An expert can absolutely instruct and teach while evolving the plan to meet an individual’s changing personal habits. AI certainly can’t do that.

Con: Lack of Personalization and Medical Acknowledgement

Unlike a registered dietitian IRL, ChatGPT does not have access to information about an individual's specific needs. It doesn’t consider various factors such as individual health conditions, dietary restrictions, allergies, medications, religious preferences, age, weight, activity level, etc. If you’re looking for sound, evidence-based nutrition advice, consult a professional. I do, however, appreciate its honest answer to my question, “Why should I not ask you for a seven-day meal plan?”

The lack of personalization associated with using artificial intelligence (AI) is a common concern in the dietetic community. “AI won't give you the personal touch that most folks need when it comes to trying to lose weight or trying to eat healthier,” explains Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND, award-winning nutrition expert and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of best selling author of Up Your Veggies: Flexitarian Recipes for the Whole Family.

“In addition, someone may be turning to AI to generate a meal plan that is too low for that individual in calories and nutrients, perhaps believing that eating much less will result in quicker results," comments Amidor. "A Registered Dietitian (RD) would be able to point out that this is incorrect and explain why — AI won't give you that explanation or guide you in the right direction. RDs are trained to read blood work, understand your eating pattern, and ask a series of questions for a reason. Through this, they can pinpoint not only eating issues, but also metabolic issues or illnesses that may be going on and are able to refer you to the right health care professional that can help. If there is an issue where the diet needs some adjusting, an RD can explain why and help you make choices based on your dietary needs, likes/dislikes, cultural preferences, and more.”

Con: Preparation Methods Aren't Acknowleged

If you’re using a meal plan to achieve a certain goal (i.e. weight loss, weight gain, or a macro goal), how you prepare the foods described in a meal plan matters. For example, this meal plan recommends “green beans (1 cup)” as part of a dinner. What does that mean? Are these slightly bland, simply steamed green beans? Or, buttery, garlic-sauteed green beans? What about miso-glazed green beans? The meal plan that I received from ChatGPT does not acknowledge — or account for — cooking methods.

Con: Lack of Flavor

Preparation methods bring up another red flag for ChatGPT’s meal plan — a general lack of flavor and fun. Your meals should be colorful and crave-worthy, not boring and bland. While we all have favorite go-tos that may be simple in terms of ingredients, it’s important to appeal to your favorite tastes and flavors to ensure that you won’t get bored or burnt out. This could be as simple as stocking your spice cabinet, adding one or two fresh herbs to your weekly shopping list, or investing in a dressing or marinade.

Con: Lack of Variety

Variety is key to a successful meal plan. Some people thrive on eating the same thing every day, but for the majority of the population, variety is best to keep the tastebuds happy and meet all your nutrition needs. ChatGPT’s meal plan does switch up the meals, providing an array of macronutrient sources, without making your grocery list neverending.

The snacks, however, leave a lot to be desired. Nuts, cheese, and cottage cheese can get boring when you eat them on repeat. Plus, there aren’t really any convenient grab-and-go options. While it's nice in theory to make yourself a lovely yogurt parfait as a snack, the reality is that most people only have time to throw a protein bar in their bag or grab something out of the fridge. 

My rule of thumb when it comes to snacks is to combine protein and fiber. Combining complementary foods like almond butter (hello protein) and a ripe banana (fiber source) will keep you satisfied for hours, which is the whole purpose of a snack.

Con: You Can Get Macronutrient Data and Portions, But Not in the Same Meal Plan

I tried every which way to get portion sizes (i.e. one cup, one tablespoon) and macronutrient data (i.e. calories, protein, carbs, and fat) in the same meal plan. However, I haven’t succeeded. You can, however, ask ChatGPT to provide nutrition data day by day for the meal plan it created, however, I’d be curious to see where that information comes from. For this reason, I prefer to rely on trusted nutrition analysis tools, like NutritionIX.

The Pros of a ChatGPT Meal Plan

I’m quick to point out the holes in ChatGPT’s meal plans, however, there are a few redeeming qualities. Other dietitians agree that artificial intelligence does have some benefits. “There are some benefits of using AI to generate a meal plan,” states Amidor. “You can easily get a meal plan generated using your likes/dislikes, macro preferences, and even health needs (like allergies).”

Pro: Good Variety of Proteins in the Meal Plan

Unlike other meal plans I’ve encountered, ChatGPT offers a good variety of protein, whether or not you’re an omnivore. I thought I had found a huge hole in ChatGPT: the lack of options for plant-based eaters. However, when I modified my ask but included the term “plant-based” in my request, I was happily surprised to see a mix of tofu, nuts, seeds, grains, and general plant-based goodness.

Pro: Convenience

Let’s face it. What’s the main reason people love AI? Convenience. Yes, it makes life easier. If I could point out one clear benefit, it’s the fact that ChatGPT helps me to efficiently create meal plans with given parameters. I do love to pull out my favorite cookbooks and slowly sift through pages to find inspiration; however, I can now do that after the fact. ChatGPT is recommending baked cod with quinoa and asparagus. How can I take that up a notch? Let AI do the hard lifting for you, then add flair and ensure your nutrition needs are met.

Pro: Solid Meal Plan Framework (But Needs Expert Adjustments)

As I mentioned, the convenience of the framework that ChatGPT offers is unbeatable. But, it’s just that — a framework or starting point to build upon. Take a look at the meal plan, consider whether you like the foods, run the nutrition analysis, and modify it for your taste preferences. Better yet, work with a registered dietitian who can help you to understand what kind of eating pattern works best for your body.

What I Would Do Differently: A Dietitian-Modified ChatGPT Meal Plan

If you take a look at the nutrition analysis chart above, you’ll note that there are a few clear gaps in the nutrition goals of our AI-generated meal plan. So, how would I use my nutrition expertise to improve it? I'll spare you the play-by-play, but I essentially added protein, calories, carbs, and fat where needed. I infused flavor and switched things up to be more appealing.

If you’re waiting with bated breath, here’s the final dietitian-edited, ChatGPT-generated meal plan:

The Verdict

You can count on ChatGPT for a solid meal plan framework that’s packed with nutritious ideas; however, don’t depend on it for individualized advice or accurate calorie, macro, or nutrition estimates. It’s not very good at math or science. It’s a language model, after all.