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Adding Custom Foods in the Client Portal

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Create your own custom food with your own serving size, unit, and nutrient details, then reuse it any time you log a Food & Mood Journal entry. This article covers adding, editing, and deleting custom foods in your Client Portal, on the web and in the Practice Better mobile app.

In this article:

Before You Begin

  • You need access to your Food & Mood Journal. If you don't see the journal, contact your practitioner.
     
  • Custom foods are available on the web and in the Practice Better mobile app.
     
  • Nutrient details appear in your journal entries only if you enter them in the custom food. A custom food without nutrient details logs with no nutrient data.
     
  • Custom foods and recipes are separate. Use a custom food for a single item. To save a dish made from several ingredients, see Creating and Managing Recipes in the Client Portal →
     
  • A free form entry does not create a custom food. To reuse a food, save it as a custom food using one of the methods below.
     
  • Your practitioner sees the entries you log in your journal. Your practitioner sees only the entries, not the list of foods saved in My Foods.

📍 Note: Editing or deleting a custom food does not change journal entries you already saved with it. Log a new entry to use updated values.

Understanding Serving Size, Unit, and Servings per Container

Every custom food needs a food name, serving size, unit, and servings per container. Each is required.

  • Serving Size: The amount in one serving, such as 2.
     
  • Unit: What you measure the serving in. This is an open text field, so type any unit that fits your food, such as slices, grams, cups, or tablespoons.
     
  • Servings per Container: The total number of servings in the whole package or container.
     
  • Nutrient Details: Enter the nutrient values for one serving. This matches the nutrition label on most packaged foods, so you can copy the numbers straight from the package.

For example, you add a loaf of bread. If one serving is 2 slices, enter 2 as the serving size and "slices" as the unit. If the loaf holds 6 to 8 servings, enter that number as the servings per container.

Adding a Custom Food from My Foods

  1. Access My Foods.
    • On a browser: go to Nutrition > My Foods at the top of the page. (Depending on your navigation, Nutrition may be under the side Resources menu.)
    • On the mobile app: tap the hamburger menu (☰) in the top-left corner, select Nutrition, then tap My Foods.
       
  2. Click the red Fast Action Button in the bottom-right corner to Add food.

     
  3. In the Add Food pop-up, enter the food name, serving size, unit, and servings per container. 

     
  4. Optionally enter the brand name and select the food group from the drop-down.
     
  5. Then enter the nutrient details you want to track.
     
  6. Click Save.

✅ Your custom food now appears in My Foods and in the suggestions when you log a food.

Adding a Custom Food While Logging a Food Entry

  1. Log in to your client portal and navigate to your Journals page.
     
  2. Click the Fast Action Button in the bottom-right corner and select Log food to open the "What did you have?" pop-up.
     
  3. Select the My Foods tab.

     
  4. Select the food you want to log. 

     
  5. Optionally adjust the meal time or servings eaten.
     
  6. Click Save or click +1 to save and add another entry.

Saving a Database Food to Your Custom Foods

When you log a food from the Food Database, you can save it to your custom foods so it's easy to reuse.

  1. In the "What did you have?" pop-up, search for and select a food.

     
  2. Enter the meal time, date and time, number of servings, and serving size.
     
  3. Click the checkbox next to Save to My Foods.

     
  4. Click Save or click +1 to save and add another entry.

Adding a Food Missing from the Database

If a search or barcode scan does not find your food, add it manually as a custom food. Our nutrition database is based in North America, so the barcode scanner may not recognize products from outside Canada and the United States.

  1. Click the red Fast Action Button and select Log food.
     
  2. Select Add a new food.

     
  3. Enter the food name, serving size, unit, servings per container, and nutrient values from the package label.
     
  4. Click Save or click +1 to save and add another entry.

Learn more in Using the Client Portal Food & Mood Journal →

Editing a Custom Food

You can edit a custom food at any time.

  1. Go to Nutrition > My Foods.
     
  2. Click Edit next to the food you want to change.

     
  3. Update the details and click Save.

Deleting a Custom Food

  1. Go to Nutrition > My Foods.
     
  2. Click the Trash Can next to the food you want to remove.

     
  3. Click Delete in the confirmation pop-up.

📍 Note: This action cannot be undone. Deleting a custom food does not change journal entries that already use it. Those entries stay in your journal as logged.

Troubleshooting Missing Nutrient Details

If a journal entry that uses a custom food shows no nutrient data, open the food in My Foods, add the nutrient details, and log a new entry. If nutrient details still don't appear, your practitioner may have nutrient details turned off for your journal. 

Learn more in Why aren't nutrient details displaying for my Food Journal entries? →

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