Get more from the food you already eat.
Take a photo of your meal. See what your body is likely to absorb, and a small change that could help it take in more.
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Same githeri, different tea time.
One lunch of githeri and chai, logged two ways. Timiya estimates that more of the beans’ iron counts when the chai comes an hour or two after.
Githeri with a cup of chai. “Eaten” is a share of the day’s iron target. “Counts as” is a share of the iron your body needs to absorb in a day.
Chai with the meal
Tea or coffee near the meal blocked some of this iron, so it counts for less.
Chai one to two hours after
Because your tea was well away from this meal, your body could absorb a lot more of its iron.
Chai with the meal
Tea or coffee near the meal blocked some of this iron, so it counts for less.
Chai one to two hours after
Because your tea was well away from this meal, your body could absorb a lot more of its iron.
The figures
Githeri 350 g with chai 300 ml at lunch. The plate has 7.3 mg of iron either way. Timiya estimates the body absorbs 0.13 mg with the chai and 0.29 mg with the chai one to two hours after. The bars compare those amounts with the daily iron targets for an adult woman and an adult man, which differ.
Measured on Timiya's current estimates (version 3). The tea-time factors are provisional and with our nutritionist for review.
Sources
- Hurrell RF, Reddy M, Cook JD. Inhibition of non-haem iron absorption in man by polyphenolic-containing beverages. Br J Nutr. 1999;81(4):289–295.
- Disler PB, Lynch SR, Charlton RW, et al. The effect of tea on iron absorption. Gut. 1975;16(3):193–200.
- Morck TA, Lynch SR, Cook JD. Inhibition of food iron absorption by coffee. Am J Clin Nutr. 1983;37(3):416–420.
- Ahmad Fuzi SF, Koller D, Bruggraber S, et al. A 1-h time interval between a meal containing iron and consumption of tea attenuates the inhibitory effects on iron absorption. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;106(6):1413–1421.
Send this to whoever makes the chai at home.
Share on WhatsAppLog it. Check it. See it.
Log it
Take a photo or type what you ate, even yesterday’s dinner.
Check it
Fix anything Timiya got wrong, and answer up to three quick questions, like when you had your tea.
See it
See what your body is likely to absorb, often with one small change to try.
Targets set for you.
See your daily targets and why each one is set. Add your goals, activity, health conditions, or pregnancy, and they change with you. Your clinic’s advice comes first.
See your day and your week.
Every meal adds to today’s ring, and each week a report shows what improved and where to focus.
Today
How much of your day’s key nutrients your body is likely to take in.
Weekly
What improved
Iron, vitamin A
What slipped
Calcium
Where to focus
Zinc
This year
Look back over the year, one week at a time.
Illustration
It knows your food.
Timiya knows sukuma wiki, omena, and githeri by name, and asks how you cooked them. If it gets something wrong, you fix it before it counts. Your grandmother soured the uji for a reason, and souring may help your body take in more of its iron and zinc.
Cooked with a little oil, it gives your body more of its vitamin A.
Protein, and calcium from the bones you eat. A little may help your body take in the iron in your greens.
Beans and maize fill each other’s gaps, so together they make better protein.
Souring it may help your body take in more of the grain’s iron and zinc.
Tea with a meal holds back some of its iron. Have your chai an hour or two after eating.
Rich in vitamin A. The white kind has very little.
Source
Hotz C, Gibson RS. Traditional food-processing and preparation practices to enhance the bioavailability of micronutrients in plant-based diets. J Nutr. 2007;137(4):1097–1100.
Small changes, same food.
Many of the changes Timiya suggests cost little or nothing, like tea after the meal or lemon on the beans.
Six kitchens
Examples of how someone might use Timiya with the food they already eat.
ExampleNjeriNjeri logs the family pot once, and each of her children gets a simple view of their week.
ExampleAminaAmina ticks off the iron tablets her clinic gave her and moves her chai away from her meals.
ExampleBrianBrian finds changes that cost nothing extra and meal ideas he can order at the kibanda.
ExampleZuriZuri's targets follow how active she is, and her meal ideas start from the food she already cooks.
ExampleFatmaFatma's targets follow her trimester, and she ticks off the tablets her clinic gave her each morning.- ExampleOtienoOtieno adds his own blood-pressure goal, keeps an eye on salt, and puts his clinic's advice first.
Your data, your choice.
Meal photos are read by an AI service to spot the foods, and then you check them. We ask before using your health details. Download or delete them any time.
Be one of the first to try it.
We're testing Timiya with a small group. Join the list and we'll let you in. We'll email you about Timiya. Unsubscribe any time. Privacy notice.