NutriSwipe: Learn Calories & Macros by Playing

Inspiration

I’ve always been really into nutrition and how food affects performance and energy. But I noticed that most people (myself included) are surprisingly bad at guessing calories and macros in everyday meals. I wanted to turn that gap in knowledge into a fast-paced, fun game rather than another boring tracker with charts or long articles. That’s how NutriSwipe was born.

What it does

NutriSwipe is a swipe-based game that makes learning about nutrition actually engaging. Players start by guessing the calorie count of a specific food. Then, they jump into a swipe challenge where they compare different foods to decide which has more or less calories. The game loops through the same interactive format for macros (protein, fat, and carbs). At the end, players get a final score, and if they do well, they unlock a trivia fact about the food they just learned about.

How I built it with MeDo

I built NutriSwipe from scratch using MeDo, going from a rough idea to a fully working full-stack app way faster than I expected.

My Prompting Strategy: Instead of throwing the entire concept at MeDo all at once, I broke my prompts down into a few practical stages:

• Phase 1 (UI & Mock Data): I had MeDo sketch out the core UI for both desktop and mobile layouts first. I used temporary mock data generated by the AI just so I could quickly see and tweak the visual layout.
• Phase 2 (Mechanics & Polish): Next, I focused on the gameplay. I coached MeDo through building the swipe mechanics and spent time dialing in the feel. Adding keyboard shortcuts, smooth animations, and clean transitions between rounds.
• Phase 3 (Database Integration): Once the game loop and UI felt right, I brought in my own custom food database. I asked MeDo to adapt its structure so it could cleanly swap out the mock data with my real nutritional data.

The Best MeDo Feature: The absolute best part MeDo handled was the swipe UX. I simply described how I wanted the loop to work in plain English ("Show a base food, then let the user swipe left or right to guess if the next food has more or fewer calories"), and MeDo built the state management, comparison logic, and animations perfectly.

Challenges I ran into

The trickiest part was balancing the fun factor with the educational stuff. If the game is too hard, people quit; if it's too easy, they don't actually learn anything. Figuring out how to make the swipe comparison logic feel fast-paced and intuitive while still drilling home the nutritional facts took some trial and error.

Accomplishments I'm proud of

I'm really proud of how interactive the final product feels. The swipe mechanic turns what could be a dry quiz into an actual game. The multi-layered structure (calories + macros + comparisons) adds some real depth without making the player feel overwhelmed, and the fact-based reward system gives a nice sense of progression.

What I learned

This was my first time designing an educational app, and it showed me that quick, repeated interactions (like a fast swipe comparison) are awesome for building intuition over time. On the tech side, working with MeDo taught me a lot about how to prompt better—specifically, breaking things down into bite-sized phases (layout, then mechanics, then data) instead of trying to build the whole house in one shot.

What's next for NutriSwipe

Next, I want to expand the food database, add difficulty levels, and introduce daily streaks and leaderboards to keep people coming back. I’d also love to add personalized tracks, like focusing specifically on high-protein, vegan, or weight-loss-friendly foods. Eventually, I see NutriSwipe evolving into a broader nutrition awareness tool that helps people make better food choices in real life.

Built With

• medo
• typescript