How Bolus chooses your meals

You do not build your week. Bolus does, from the answers you gave at setup and from what has happened in the weeks since.

What it starts from

• Your diet pattern. Whether you eat everything, mostly plants, pescatarian or vegetarian.
• Your allergens. These are hard exclusions. A meal containing an allergen you have listed is never planned, full stop.
• Foods you would rather skip. Softer than an allergen: Bolus steers away from them rather than banning them.
• How much effort you have. Your cooking time settings, day by day. See cooking effort and meal times.
• Your household and portion size, which set the quantities.
• Plan variety, which controls how much repetition you get.

What changes it over time

• Meals you rated. A thumbs down takes a meal out of your plans; a thumbs up makes it more likely to return.
• What you actually ate. Meals that get cooked count for more than meals that get skipped.
• Your weekly review. The end-of-week check is the main way Bolus learns. See how Bolus learns from your week.
• What you swapped away from, and what you swapped to.

What it is not doing

Bolus is not counting your calories or setting you a daily target, and it does not predict your glucose or adjust your food to hit a number. It plans food that fits UK dietary guidance, your tastes and your week. See Bolus’s approach to nutrition.

Why a meal repeats

Some repetition is deliberate: it keeps the shopping list short and the week affordable, and breakfast in particular is something most people are happy to repeat. If you want more variety, turn Plan Variety up in Settings. See how your plans are shaped.