About the Health Score

What the scores mean:

	You can't get healthier than this:  This recipe is extraordinarily healthy with high amounts of nutrients and vitamins. It really couldn’t get better than this!
	Almost perfect:  An impressively healthy recipe with minimal drawbacks.
	Smart choice: Many healthy ingredients with a high amount of nutrients.
	Still pretty healthy:  This recipe contains individual ingredients that aren’t ideal but overall is still considered pretty healthy.
	Not bad:  There are either too few healthy ingredients or too low a level of nutrients for this recipe to rank higher on the health score.
	Average:  This recipe still contains some nutrients and healthy ingredients, but it could definitely be better!
	Can be improved:  There are some healthy ingredients in this recipe, but unfortunately, the unhealthy ones outweigh them.
	Not very smart:  Few nutrients and predominantly unhealthy ingredients lower the Health Score.
	To be enjoyed in moderation: The nutritional content and composition of ingredients are unfortunately not very good here.
	Very unhealthy:   You should only rarely treat yourself to this recipe due to very low nutritional density.

Questions about the Health Score

How is the health score determined?

Various aspects are taken into account to determine the health score. The nutritional value of each individual ingredient is considered. For example, vegetables receive a high rating, while white flour received a low rating. In addition to the calorie content, the amount of protein, fat, carbohydrates, added sugar, fiber, and micronutrients are also taken into account. The daily requirement of a healthy reference person (143.3 lb, 30-year old female who is moderately active) was used to calculate this.

What other criteria are included in the Health Score?

Since the health score was developed by our parent site, EATSMARTER.de in Germany, the guidelines of the DGE (German Society for Nutrition) as well as the WHO (World Health Organization) in combination with current studies were all taken into account. Further information on the underlying nutritional values can be found here.

Why don't all EAT SMARTER recipes have a Health Score of 10?

Besides healthy ingredients and high nutritional content, offering delicious recipes is incredibly important to us at EAT SMARTER. This is why next to extremely healthy recipes full of veggies and lean proteins, you will also find recipes such as sweeter baked goods and desserts, which naturally contain fewer nutrients and higher caloric values. We created the health score so that it’s easy for you to tell where the recipes fall in terms of nutritional content. 

Should I only eat dishes with a high health score?

For optimal health, you should choose recipes that rank high on the health score. However,  recipes with lower health scores are of course allowed as well (in moderation!) and can be offset by healthier choices throughout the week. 

How do I know what makes a recipe healthy?

In addition to the health score, each recipe contains information about what healthy ingredients, nutrients, and vitamins are contained in a recipe. We also give you helpful tips on how to a recipe even better, or how it can be modified to suit specific dietary needs (i.e. vegetarian or vegan). 

Can I upload my favorite recipe to EAT SMARTER and then see what health score it gets?

Not yet, but we are working on this feature and hope that this will be possible soon.