MindMeal

Posted on by Steven McDermott

Team Name

MindMeal

Timeline

Summer 2025 – Fall 2025

Students

  • Rakshya Basnet – Computer Science
  • Saul R Mora – Software Engineering
  • Utshah Neupane – Computer Science
  • Rikita Karanjit – Computer Science
  • Saina Shrestha – Computer Science
  • Mohammad Hasibur Rahman – Computer Science

Abstract

The MindMeal mobile application uses technology to help those who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) establish and maintain a healthy eating pattern and routine. It includes AI-generated recipes, tools for managing personalized inventory, and adaptive notifications to help eliminate each user’s guesswork, thus reducing cognitive overload and decision fatigue. The MindMeal offers three separate layers of architecture: user interface, application logic, data layer. MindMeal
offers offline functionality by storing all data locally, while also syncing with its cloud server so that the app can give users real-time updates on lifestyle and meal recommendations. Ultimately, it is MindMeal’s goal to create an accessible, automated and scalable platform, allowing for the integration of future options like barcode scanning and access to a food-related database.

Background

Eat irregularly for numerous patients with ADHD due to executive dysfunction, difficulties with impulse control, memory retrieval, and time management. Currently, the tools that assist patients with meal planning fall short for those patients because they are extremely complicated, have overwhelming options available to individuals, and lack adaptive feedback. A failure to provide recommendation usually leads to missing chances to eat well and make healthy meal choices.
Through the combined applications of an inventory tracker, recipe generator, and smart reminders, the MindMeal system provides a flexible and structured environment in which features of both traditional meal planning tools in digital or physical form can actually be carried along on a single digital platform to solve such lingering concerns. Thus, unlike any conventional meal planners, the MindMeal system focuses on developing an automated, easy-to-use, and cognitively accessible interface for individuals with ADHD. The system allows users to store all their data locally, while the AI cloud service enables their personalization experience irrespective of their internet connection strength, allowing the users to utilize advanced levels of personalization.

Project Requirements

  • Recommendation of recipes generated by AI that take into account each user’s unique ingredients they have and any diet limitations.
  • Simple, no-frills UI designed to be ADHD-friendly (distraction-free) Minimalist.
  • Ability to add, remove and edit items in an inventory.
  • Smart notifications about meal preparation and food nearing expiration.
  • Ability to fully support offline usage through the combination of SQLite and Async Storage.
  • User Security via Token-based Authentication. Onboarding includes input of allergies,
  • medical history and diet-related goals.
  • User onboarding for collecting allergies, medical conditions, and dietary goals
  • Real-time responsiveness & low latency for all interactions with users.
  • Will communicate with APIs securely and interact with all external services as well as LLMs.
  • Scalable to allow for future barcode scanning via camera and adding a nutrition database.

Design Constraints

  • Accessibility – ADHD-friendly visual hierarchies, soft colors, consistent feedback mechanisms, and minimal to no flashing/overstimulating elements will be designed to support the unique needs of neurodiverse users.Cognitive load will be reduced through the design of the MindMeal application, allowing for easier decision-making for users.
  • Functionality – AI-created recipes will respect users’ allergies, medical conditions and dietary goals, as well as the food items users have in their home. The core features should operate both online and offline with syncing of updates.
  • Safety & Welfare (Public Health) – The system will not provide potentially dangerous food suggestions and will ensure that users are safe with the ingredients they use by filtering out allergens, and providing medical condition compliance for diet plans. Any health-related data must be validated and strictly regulated by the system.
  • Interoperability – MindMeal must work with other external cloud-based architecture (Firebase), external Artificial Intelligence services (LLMs), notification services (Expo/Firebase Cloud Messaging), API-based services with the use of the REST and JSON standards.
  • Maintainability – By enforcing low-coupling and high cohesion in the design of the MindMeal application through the use of modular layered architecture (UI, Logic, Data), the MindMeal application will enable easy updates, debugging, and expansion. Version Pinning and strict documentation standards must be adhered to.
  • Performance – The performance of the AI features in the application is dependent on the response latency of the third-party API and requires caching, throttling, and offline fallback mechanisms. Therefore, all real-time interactions must remain within the limitations of mobile hardware responsiveness.
  • Security (Legal Requirements) – Medical, allergies and diet information must be kept secure via encrypted means, token-based authentication and credentials stored in a secure manner (Keychain/Keystore). There are various data privacy laws that affect how information collected is used and the methods used to collect, store and use that data.
  • Schedule – Development has to work within the Academic Senior Design Limited timeframes over two semesters; therefore the project will have limited feature scope, and features will have to be developed and released in different stages based on their parts.
  • Cost/Economics – This project is restricted to utilizing low-cost cloud services (Firebase, open source frameworks and publicly available AI API services) so this project remains an economically viable option for students and future potential users.
  • Usability – The User Interface should be designed to limit the number of steps required to complete tasks, the number of menu levels and provide a high level of contrast for easy reading. There should be only a minimal number of taps required to perform each of the primary workflows in order to minimize user fatigue.

Engineering Standards

  • IEEE Software Documentation Standards (IEEE 830, IEEE 1016):
    • Our documentation follows IEEE 830 and IEEE 1016 standards from IEEE, so our requirements, use cases, and architecture for MindMeal are written in a consistent, traceable way another developer can maintain or extend.
  • NIST Digital Identity / Authentication Guidelines (NIST SP 800-63):
    • We follow NIST SP 800-63 digital identity guidelines from NIST for authentication and security: accounts are handled through a managed auth provider (Clerk), use HTTPS, and avoid storing raw credentials in the app.
  • ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Principles:
    • We align with ISO/IEC 27001 information security principles from ISO/IEC by minimizing stored personal data, keeping secrets in environment variables instead of source code, and limiting access to any sensitive information that may be processed by the app.
  • RESTFUL API and HTTP Standards:
    • All backend communication is designed around RESTful API practices defined by HTTP/IETF standards: clear resource-based endpoints, correct HTTP methods, status codes, and JSON responses so the React Native client stays simple and predictable.
  • Web Accessibility – WCAG 2.1 Level AA
    • For accessibility, the UI is built to follow WCAG 2.1 Level AA guidance from the W3C, using high contrast, readable fonts, clear labels, and simple screens tailored for users with ADHD and other cognitive differences.
  • Open-Source License Compliance (MIT, Apache 2.0, etc.)
    • We also respect open-source licensing standards such as MIT and Apache 2.0; all libraries used in MindMeal come from properly licensed packages, and we keep license notices so the project can be safely shared and built on in the future.

System Overview

MindMeal is a cross-platform mobile app built with React Native and Expo to help
people with ADHD keep a simple, repeatable meal routine. The current version
focuses on low-friction login, an ADHD-friendly home screen, and a basic daily meal
schedule that can be expanded in later iterations.

  1. Mobile UI Layer
    a. React Native + Expo Router handle navigation between auth screens and the home dashboard.
    b. Shared style files keep colors, spacing, and typography consistent across the app.
  2. Authentication & Security Layer
    a. Clerk provides secure sign-up/sign-in, email verification, and session handling.
    b. Secrets such as the Clerk key are stored in environment variables instead of hard-coded in the app.
  3. Meal Planning & State Layer
    a. The home screen shows today’s date and meal time slots (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks) with quick actions.
    b. React Context manages user/session state so the meal view stays consistent as the user moves through the app.
  4. Platform & Integration Layer
    a. Expo CLI is used for local development and building to iOS/Android.
    b. The architecture is set up to plug in future services (notifications, backend APIs, or databases) without changing the core UI flow.

Results

Our project delivered a working MindMeal prototype that lets users with ADHD quickly set up and view a simple daily meal routine in an uncluttered, accessible interface. The app demonstrates how thoughtful UI design, structured reminders, and secure authentication can reduce decision fatigue around food and help users build more consistent eating habits.

Project Files

Project Charter
System Requirements Specification
Architectural Design Specification
Detailed Design Specification
Poster
Closeout Materials

Steven McDermott

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