Inspiration
I’ve watched friends and family struggle with emotional eating and disordered food relationships—obsessed with calories, not connection. As someone passionate about mental wellness and intuitive eating, I wanted to build something that centered compassion over restriction. The goal was to create a tool that meets people where they are, honoring their emotions instead of shaming their choices.
What it does
MindfulEating Coach guides users through pre-meal mindfulness exercises, tracks eating pace with gentle feedback, builds hunger awareness through daily training, and helps log emotional patterns around food. Weekly insights celebrate progress, not perfection—focused on joy and satisfaction, not rules.
How we built it
We started with user interviews to map core pain points, then designed a minimalist UI (soft tones, rounded elements) for calm usability. We built the mobile app with ReactNative for cross-platform access, used Firebase for streak/subscription data, SQLite for local diary entries, and integrated CoreAudio for guided breathing exercises. Chart.js powered weekly trend visuals, and HapticFramework added subtle pace feedback.
Challenges we ran into
Balancing real-time pace tracking with battery efficiency was tough—we had to optimize interaction timing to avoid draining devices. We also struggled to design feedback that felt supportive, not critical (e.g., rephrasing "too fast" to "let’s slow down together"). Subscription payment processing required rigorous testing to ensure grace periods and trial rules worked seamlessly.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Creating a tool that prioritizes mental health over metrics—users tell us the 2-minute pre-meal exercises have become a grounding ritual. We also nailed the balance of data (progress tracking) and heart (compassionate language), with 80% of beta users reporting reduced guilt around eating.
What we learned
We learned that usability for wellness apps means removing friction—no mandatory diary fields, no punitive messages, just ease. We also discovered how powerful small, consistent actions (daily hunger training) are for behavior change, versus overwhelming users with big goals.
What's next for this project
We plan to add short mindfulness audio prompts for different emotional states (stress, boredom) and expand hunger training to include more cultural food scenarios. We’re also exploring a lightweight companion web app for desktop diary access, and partnering with dietitians to refine insight generation—always keeping compassion at the core.
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