Cara Care: IBS, FODMAP Tracker Reviews

by Carol And Baby David

I don’t understand why CaraCare has great reviews. I’ve already had some food allergy testing done, but I can tell there is still at least one thing that my body really doesn’t like. I hoped CaraCare would help me figure it out.
There are two big problems: 1) There is no barcode scan that I could find to help log ingredients, which means entering everything in by hand. Individual ingredients matters. This can be quite tedious. But I was diligent to enter individual ingredients and as much extra information as possible to give me the most accurate results.
2) The second problem is bigger than the first. My “results” demonstrate lousy programming. The food list of my best days was the same as my food list of my worst days. My best and worst foods cannot be the same. Why wouldn’t my “best” foods automatically be eliminated from the “worst” list? Then I’d begin to have a list I could work with. Also, the programming doesn’t account for the fact that it can take two days after eating something before feeling a reaction.

by B-Rad2020

Today I opened CaraCare to find it claiming that Curry and Lactose are ingredients from my best days. Only, I specifically entered those ingredients on my worst days. I am clinically diagnosed with Lactose intolerance and it makes me sick every time. I also just spent a whole weekend with diarrhea following a curry. I entered both of those ingredients into Cara to remind myself never to eat them again.

Yet, somehow it’s “tracking” decided those two ingredients were “best days.” Perhaps it thinks 12 watery bowel movements in a day is good? I tried switching settings to register the previous day and then back to the “day of.” This seemed to make no difference. I have been tracking all foods, bowel movements, and stomach pain for an entire month. I was extremely disappointed to see how poorly it is interpreting the data I entered. I think I’ll have to go back to tracking on my own with a good journal. Very disappointed in how unreliable the dashboard results of CaraCare are.

by AnnoyedBirdUser

I have been using CaraCare for a few days and While CaraCare is extremely easy to use and removes friction in tracking meals/stool/meds/symptoms, not having a csv export option is a huge deal breaker for me. The level of analysis that can be achieved within CaraCare and dashboard is minimal and is not conducive to the detective work required for someone with IBS to pinpoint trends over time and identify what irritants might be present in one’s diet.

Additionally most doctors prefer seeing raw data in a spreadsheet format rather than what an app deems to be medically useful, so the shareable web dash is not useful for this use case. Extremely disappointed I put the time in to record my health info in CaraCare for several days only to find that CSV export is not an option. As an app developer myself, I know how easy it is to include this feature and I’m astonished to find a health app without it. If this is something that is important to you, I do not recommend CaraCare.

by Katie.eileen_07

I liked CaraCare overall until the best/worst foods feature stopped working. I reached out to Cara Care’s support, but they take several days to respond to each message. I have an account connected to my email, so I thought my information was being backed up. I uninstalled and reinstalled CaraCare . While that fixed the best/worst foods feature, I found that a significant chunk of my tracked data was gone. Support from CaraCare is very slow to respond, and ultimately had no solution. They said sorry and that my “tracked data must be somewhere.” I will no longer use CaraCare, just because my tracking data disappearing renders CaraCare until useless. If being able to retrieve your data is important to you, realize you may lose your tracked data with CaraCare with no option to restore it even if you’ve got an account with a confirmed email. And support will tell you they have no idea how long it will take to help you.

by Muffinmakershakerbaker

CaraCare covers a LOT of info (food water meds mood etc) but doesn’t go into enough depth. Also, I feel like I have to click a lot to make one entry. The process of recording your food could definitely be easier, like have a suggestion lists of the individual users top breakfast food when it’s around the time they eat breakfast maybe? It’d be awesome if your personal top IMAGES of food was presented when you open the food option, rather than having to type. Also, it says “Meal” and then “Ingredients” when it should say “Meal” then “Dishes” and then “ingredients” for each dish. Also, QUANTITY! One egg or one cookie etc is very different from three when acting as a factor for health. So a quantity option would be very helpful in accuracy. Lastly, the “three best days” didn’t seem to take in account meds, which, for many people, highly effects what days would be the best or worst. I am keeping CaraCare until I find a more thorough one, but hopefully this one is updated :) I’d definitely pay for CaraCare if it was more thorough, but at this stage, I’m glad it’s free.

by PhoenixFiresky

CaraCare has a bit of learning curve, but it does what it does very well. The one change I'd like to see is the ability to add user specified trackers. There are several other things I have to track, (medications, symptoms for non-bowel issues) that I have to track, and having to switch back and forth with other trackers is a HUGE PITA, but the Notes section just isn't enough. That, and the fact that there seems to be no easy way to contact developers to make a suggestion, are the only things that dinged a star off. It would also be nice to have the ability to tell CaraCare to disregard sick days in figuring bad days, as I keep being told that my worst days were ones I was sick (I know that!) and the foods I eat when I'm sick are assumed to be the cause. They aren't. But it's a solid app overall, and I'm still using it.

by Criejeoenbdjdknx

I’ve been dealing with food intolerances and CaraCare has helped a ton to figure out which foods they are. BUT there’s two things I can pick out that if we’re fixed would make CaraCare a 5 out of 5. #1 Coffee and Medications/Supplements aren’t included in the best/worst foods tables. A work around is creating a unique item but this really should be fixed. All items that can be ingested should display. #2 You can either track the intolerances for current day or next day, but not both. Depending on what I’m eating sometimes I get a reaction the day of and other times the following morning. To me, having an option for both would be more ideal.

Update:
I stopped using Cura for a while but always come back because it’s the only quality food intolerance tracking app. I have a third issue. #3 I wish there was a centralized location to manage custom “Favorite Dishes”. Overall, this is still a great app in comparison to other similar apps available.

by Dnsumm1

I love CaraCare as it has been very helpful so far through the logging of foods and correlating them to my IBS symptoms. I have really liked the way it is set up and the variety of factors it takes into account such as headache or other pain, medication, stool and bloating. However, it would be great to see CaraCare calculate a little more information such as taking into account a woman’s period (I always get similar digestive symptoms the day before my period regardless of what I eat) and ILLNESS! For instance, today I only ate crackers and soup because I’ve had a high fever all day long along with digestive issues, both of which are safe foods for me. Obviously whatever infection I’m fighting off is a huge factor- I would like to be able to turn off food/symptom correlation when I am obviously sick with the flu for instance.

Thank you for CaraCare, I look forward to seeing the improvements made!

by Flayel

I am a male and I suffer from IBS-D, heartburn and acid reflux. CaraCare is helping me to track and take note of my trigger foods and ultimately avoid or at least be aware of the things that are and are not causing my symptoms . It is fairly easy to use CaraCare in conjunction with the FODMAP diet, but many of the foods are more European than American in regards to the commonality and name. Luckily, you can add as many foods and name them, or mis-name, them however you like and that has worked super well when doing to FODMAP plan as there are many strange concoctions and gluten free varieties of foods to track. I also have had great success snapping pictures of my food and saving them in the “saved or favorite” recipes area making it particularly handy to meal prep for multiple days at a time and not have to try and re-enter everything over and over again for any meal you eat it at. Don’t worry, if you forget to save you can roll back to the day you had something previously, pop it open and save it to your favorites list (I do this several times a week). I also find that I may prep salads for a week but add carrots one day or a different/no dressing on another day, I enjoy that the saved recipes are not locked and you can odd or remove any part of it after selecting it as the meal you’re entering.

Enjoy your results!

by Emsmiley12

I have severe GI issues. I’m vegan, highly stressed all the time, and travel a lot. I have been diagnosed with IBS (who hasn’t really?) but I don’t follow the FODMAP diet due to most of my vegan foods being no-no’s. I choose to go the probiotic, supplements for bloating, and metabolism boosting route. However, because I chose this route, I often have symptoms. Cara allows me to track them and actually have something to show when I go into the GI specialist. It’s easy to find patterns on my own, and I love how thorough the tracking system is. It’s wonderful to keep an eye on what may be going on in my life that is making my GI upset worse. Real talk. Few glitches here and there with functionality, but overall, I like CaraCare and find it useful.

by Koocheese

I’ve struggled with IBS as well as other unknown chronic illnesses, food intolerances, anxiety, depression, etc. since I was 15 (I’m now 21). A few months ago I saw a nutritionist that simply provided me with a template to track everything that I eat. It really opened my eyes to the content and amount I was eating and how it may have connections to flare-ups of symptoms but as you can imagine, it’s difficult to hand-write notes on every single thing you eat when you’re leading a busy lifestyle. Especially when I snack all day long! I tried other similar apps that only track your calories by scanning barcodes and that actually encouraged me to eat more processed, packaged foods because of the ease of tracking the calories. I love that CaraCare leaves so much room for customization not only with the foods that you put (I personally input the brand and the grams of sugar per meal for my own use) but also symptoms (what some may call “indigestion” I call “sharp epigastric pain”) and you can add these custom symptom tags! Cara support seems very responsive and personable as well. Very happy that I found CaraCare, and I highly recommend it for anyone suffering of anything chronic.

by Jj1728485

I dont ever review apps, but I have not loved an app this much in a long time! CaraCare is perfect for tracking how everything in my life relates to how I feel. You can track food, water, sleep, exercise, bowel movements, pain, mood etc etc etc. If there is something you want to track that they dont have you can add it in! I have been having a lot of GI upset and wanted to track how it relates to the food I am eating to see if i might have some slight intolerances and CaraCare has ben great for that! The best part is you get full access to all the features without needing to pay for an upgrade. There arent any obnoxious adds and CaraCare doesnt do pop-ups trying to tell you to upgrade. Love it and would recommend it to everyone!

by Love Syfy

I think Cara is a wonderful app and give it 5 stars but I was hoping they maybe in development it can improve. I had gone to an internal medicine doctor and CaraCare offers everything she asked me to track for my next appt. I’m hoping that maybe CaraCare can later incorporate options to scan food barcodes to make tracking easier. Even maybe the option to track quantity of foods or maybe nutritional facts. I’m sorry if that’s already available when I placed this review but that is the only thing I can think of to make CaraCare better. Love the PDF that I can submit to my doctor and it’s available digitally so I don’t even have to print it I can email it to her and she can have something to read about me before my appt.

by Nicole310

I recently wanted to start tracking my symptoms, since I have IBS and migraines, and then I stumbled upon CaraCare. It free, which is AWESOME! I would have paid money for it because it’s so easy and simple to track symptoms, meals, headaches, mood, medications, sleep, and essentially it is everything I wanted in an app. There are NO ads which is incredible and it helps me figure out and link different foods to my symptoms and headaches, which is exactly what I wanted. The only drawback is that I wish there was one more tap where you could rate your symptoms for the day. CaraCare automatically deduces either easy, mild, moderate, etc symptoms, but I feel like sometimes I have a different perception of yesterday I had worse symptoms than today. Overall it is incredible and super happy I downloaded it.

by RachelElliott

Cara is my #1 recommendation to any friends or family that need help tracking symptoms due to a chronic illness. You can track anything from what you eat, your bowel movements, stomach pain to headaches and menstruation. For a little over 3 years now I have been extremely ill. Sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. I’m 26, but I feel like I’m 80. In 2016, I began anemic, B-12 deficient, gained more than 50 lbs rapidly, along with an increase in symptoms from an already present GI condition. I’ve been to 2 gastroenterologists, a hematologist, rheumatologist, gynecologist, etc. and we are still unsure what is completely causing my body to remain ill. CaraCare has been a GOD SEND for me because it tracks the number of BMs I have each day, how I feeling physically and mentally, along with what I’m eating and the medications I’m taking. Cara also makes mini graphs so I can see how things are changing week to week and month to month. I recommend CaraCare 110%. - Rachel E.

by Avakwalker

Cara is a really neat app if you’re looking for a food and symptom tracker! It gives you the foods you ate on your best three days and your worst three days, which is pretty neat as well. It’s also good to track stress levels, hours of sleep, headaches, workouts, and water intake. A lot of that stuff requires manual input, but it’s nice to look back on the day and see I didn’t drink a lot of water, which might be why I have a headache in the evening.

Regarding suggestions: I’d love to see some more in-depth and interactive graphs/data/feedback with all the data we input. There is a way to correlate data, but the graph output is super basic. More information on foods that consistently cause issues and foods that don’t as opposed to only three days would be helpful - like data over time...for example 90% of days you drank milk, you also reported an upset stomach. Just a thought! Being able to alphabetize favorite meals would be nice, too!

Overall, this is a great app! Just hoping to be able to use the data more than what CaraCare currently allows.

by Cait's Happy

I have Crohn’s disease, and I’ve been looking for an app that will allow me to track my diet, signs and symptoms, and my mood all in one app. This does an amazing job! It’s so customizable, it can be hooked up to the Apple health app on my phone, and it’s easy to use. It also gives me statistics regarding my health including the foods I eat on my best days and my worst days. This allows me to monitor what foods upset my stomach and which ones don’t in a very accessible and easy-to-understand way. It also allows me to correlate different aspects of my health and see if I notice any patterns that may clue me into things that I can be doing differently to help myself feel better. I was so overwhelmed with the thought of trying to figure everything out on my own, and CaraCare does the overwhelming part for me. It allows me to simply focus on how I feel, and takes away some of the stress from everything else going on. I would recommend CaraCare to any of my friends, family, and strangers; and best of all, it’s free. 10/10 would recommend!

by SL...

I began using Cara about 3 weeks ago. I like the options of the many different features (tracking food, digestion symptoms, BM symptoms, etc). While it may not be as accurate as an elimination diet, I really appreciate the foods on the best and worst 3 days—this is definitely a lot easier than an elimination diet. This has also helped me realize how much water I drink and that I also seem to have worse symptoms on days I drink less. Cara is a lot easier than writing out a traditional food diary.

The one thing that is both a pro and a con is that you simply track food, no portions or nutrient info. This is a pro because it means I simply have to eat and add ingredients in—no measuring or counting portions, no extra time spent adding in portions. It’s a con because it would be nice to look at if smaller portions of some things are more tolerable or if I am meeting nutrient recommendations as nutrient deficiencies are common with the digestive related problems I have.

CaraCare is definitely for those who are simply looking to live and feel better; it’s not for those who are looking to count calories.

by Ffisherb

(I changed my review from three to five stars since they’ve been so diligent about taking feedback on the latest update)

Absolutely *the* most comprehensive whole body app around. Yes, the new update has some bugs, and yes, they are working on it. (I’ve sent them extensive screenshots and they’ve replied to my annoyingly detailed messages so kindly) This is not just for IBS or gastrointestinal issues, my psychiatrist actually recommended it for my bipolar meds and sleep/meal/exercise tracking. If you’re looking for a calorie/quick weight loss fix, this is not for you. If you’re looking for something that will help you improve your overall wellbeing for a lifetime, download CaraCare. Whole health is comprehensive and involves far more than fat/calories, and CaraCare covers it ALL - sleep, skin, physical pain vs mental pain, so many others that I’ve forgotten! You can adjust the lineup as needed in order of most frequently used. I cannot say enough good about Cara, and now include their team in that praise as well. I would easily pay for this the same I do for my Calm app, and it’s FREE and ad free. Download this! No question.

by Corn Valley Bluebirds

I’ve just started using CaraCare. I downloaded two other highly-rated apps before this app. It was difficult to figure out how to use, understand, and personalize those apps. One of them had a very annoying ad for their premium program on every page and with every click. I couldn’t locate the tutorials, and they weren’t nearly as comprehensive or as easy to use as this app. this app is intuitive and easy to understand, easy to use, easy to personalize, and surprisingly comprehensive and thorough. I used a migraine tracking app for many years that made a huge difference for me in understanding why I get migraines. It led me to a diet that has cut migraine days 15 days a month to less than 1 per month. I’m excited to find this app and hope that by thoroughly tracking my IBS symptoms within this app, I will be able to also make this chronic and life-limiting problem a thing of the past.

by Cltedro

I found myself needing to track my food for some possible digestive issues and pain. I tried tracking in another app but it tracked calories, which I don’t need to do and I found it was making me a bit silly with that info. Plus it didn’t allow me to track pain. Then I found CaraCare. I can turn off the things I don’t want to track and it allows me to get all the info I need. I already recommended it to my sister and I can see how it could benefit someone who doesn’t need to track anything but just wants to see an overall picture. I do think if nutritional information is added later it would be great to be able to turn on or off. Overall I have been really happy!