When a food is rated Caution or Avoid, it’s because of one or more flags. Every flag comes with a plain-English reason, and they all come from two sources.
1. An ingredient your plan avoids
VitalPlate looks for specific things in a food’s ingredients, additive tags, and label — the components your plan says to steer clear of. These fall into three groups: additives (like added phosphates), allergens (like peanut or milk), and ingredients (like grapefruit, alcohol, or high-FODMAP foods).
2. A nutrient over your limit
Your conditions set per-serving limits on certain nutrients. For each one:
- At or over your red limit → a red flag like “Sodium high” → the food is Avoid.
- At or over your yellow limit (but below red) → a yellow flag like “Sodium elevated” → the food is Caution.
- Meeting a beneficial target (like enough protein) → a positive highlight, e.g. “Protein target met.”
How strong is the concern?
Each flag carries an evidence level — strong, moderate, or weak — so you know how well-supported it is. A peanut-allergy match is strong; a milder food sensitivity might be weak. We only score concerns our team has reviewed and approved.