Disclaimer

Kristel Staci is a self-taught home cook and culinary enthusiast. She is not a registered dietitian, a doctor, a nurse, or a licensed nutrition professional of any kind. Everything on this website — the kitchen notes, the blog posts, the calculators, the food log, and the snack and hydration estimators — is shared as general information based on her personal home-cooking experience.

Nothing on this site is medical advice, clinical nutrition advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Reading the site does not create a professional relationship between you and Kristel.

Please work with your own healthcare team

If you have a medical condition (including but not limited to diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, GI conditions, an eating disorder history, pregnancy, or any chronic illness), please consult your physician and a registered dietitian who knows your full history before changing how you eat, exercise, or use supplements. General home-cooking information, no matter how well-intentioned, can't account for your individual situation.

If you take medication that is sensitive to changes in diet — including but not limited to insulin, oral diabetes medications, blood thinners, lithium, thyroid hormone, or MAOIs — coordinate any change with the prescribing clinician.

About the kitchen tools

The meal-planning calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which is a widely-cited general estimate of resting energy expenditure for healthy adults. Real-world energy needs vary by hundreds of calories per day for many people due to factors the equation can't see. Treat the output as a starting point for your own household planning, not a prescription.

BMI is a rough population-level reference number. It does not measure body composition, fitness, or health. It is particularly unreliable for athletes, older adults, very tall or very short people, and many people of color. A single BMI number is not a diagnosis of anything.

Hydration needs vary widely based on climate, activity, body size, medications, pregnancy and lactation, and underlying conditions. The estimator gives a reasonable starting point for most healthy adults in temperate climates. Listen to thirst, watch urine color, and adjust.

The food log uses general USDA-derived estimates rounded for readability. Actual values vary by brand, preparation, and portion size. Use it for casual planning, not for clinical accuracy (for example, carbohydrate counting for insulin dosing).

No guarantee of outcomes

Reading articles or using the tools on this site cannot guarantee a particular health, weight, performance, or wellness outcome. Cooking and eating are highly individual, and what works for one household may not work for another.

In an emergency

This site is not equipped to handle medical emergencies. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 (in the United States) or your local emergency number. If you are in crisis around food, eating, or body image, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline (1-866-662-1235) and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) are available 24/7.

Working with me directly

If you'd like to work together on a cooking project — a custom family meal blueprint, a private cooking session, or recipe development — you can read about working together or reach out. Those engagements are cooking-and-recipe collaborations, not medical, clinical, or therapeutic services.