San Diego Health Food Lovers Unite on Tasteful, the App

Finding a healthy restaurant that meets your needs and wants is tricky if you’re picky. Thankfully Tasteful, a free healthy food discovery application, is available to help you find something satisfying. Tasteful allows users to locate healthy restaurants, and it also allows them to rate the restaurants according to quality. The Tasteful app is appreciated by general health-food lovers and especially by those following vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo or low-carb diets because these users can easily find restaurants nearby that match with their specific dietary needs. People use the app Tasteful to make sure that what they taste is made of real food ingredients and not products from factory farming, GMO food, and/or processed ingredients. The app Tasteful serves San Diego, and it is also available in over 8,000 cities across the nation.

About Tasteful, the App

This health food discovery app launched summer of 2014 because nutritious and dietary specific menus were (and still are) in high demand. With the mission being to promote real food eateries, the company clings to the statement that Ann Wigmore, famed holistic health practitioner made: "The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." Therefore, their Real Food Approach is one that ensures food is both fuel and medicine for the body. The food we put in our bodies should be nourishing for our system rather than punishing! Tasteful encourages eating whole foods that have not been refined or processed, and it is successful in collecting data and bringing the community together under that cause.

The restaurant suggestions Tasteful provides follows specific criteria that users factor in themselves. The users will then be exposed to restaurants with quality ingredients, a farm-to-fork philosophy, healthy cooking methods, and at least two healthy dishes according to the diet selection. Diet selections can be chosen when you initially set up your app, and these can be adjusted later.

The informative app has an easy to follow set-up stating that the rating for quality is based on food ingredients. Another advantage of the app’s features is that it is personalized; it allows you to select your diet and give shout-outs to your favorite restaurant, "must try" dishes, real food recipes, and stories you care about. You can either sign up through Facebook or with email. Once you do, the app asks you to choose one of the following icons: Everything, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Paleo, or Low Carb. Then, the app walks you through how ratings are conducted. 

Once you get past the quick set-up, you can get started by selecting from the menu below. The "for you" menu tab allows you to view Tasteful’s updates, delivery options near you, recommended restaurants according to the time of day – breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The fun "for you" tab also provides users with a detailed map so that they can discover real food restaurants around his or her current location and "daily bites," which are informative articles.

Catering to Your Dietary Needs

So what are the different diets that Tasteful uses? Well, vegans consume plenty of nutrients through fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, beans, and nuts. Vegans do not allow animal or animal bi-product consumption. 

The Paleo lifestyle promotes eclectic, yet simple ingredients to balance proteins, fats, and vegetables. Examples of healthy fats are coconut oil, avocado, olives, and olive oil, etc. The Paleo diet strays away from gluten, beans and legumes, refined sugars, dairy, and refined oils.

The Gluten-Free diet is a definite buzzword, and it has been going strong for the past few years. Following a Gluten-Free diet is a way to be healthy by staying away from white flour and typical baked goods. However, the primary reason Gluten-Free is a discussion topic is because of celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder that is caused from grains like wheat, barley, rye, and tritcale. Symptoms of this are gas and bloating, changes in bowel movements, weight loss, and fatigue.

Vegetarianism is a diet that excludes animal meat and seafood. People that follow the vegetarian diet typically do so for one of the following reasons: environmental sustainability, animal rights, health implications, religious and/or spiritual restrictions, or simply a distaste for meat.

If you are a restaurant owner or manager, Tasteful, Inc allows you to share your passion by downloading the app, adding your restaurant by clicking on the + button, and uploading any dish photos that are or can easily be made Vegan, Vegetarian, Paleo, Gluten Free, or Real Food. It’s a great way to get involved with the community!