Editorial standards
How we choose numbers.
Imi is a food and wellness app. Here's where its targets and food numbers come from, the limits it won't cross, and how we write our guides.
Targets come from public guidance
Every target Imi sets comes from published guidance, and the app and this site show the source next to it. The main ones:
- The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, for fiber, sodium and general eating patterns.
- The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, for vitamins and minerals such as folate, iron, iodine, choline, calcium and vitamin D.
- The FDA, for sodium and the Daily Values on the Nutrition Facts label.
- The American Heart Association, for added sugar and saturated fat.
- ACOG, for calories and caffeine in pregnancy.
- Peer-reviewed research and joint advisories, for protein ranges.
Food numbers show where they came from
Each food in Imi is marked with its source: USDA FoodData Central, your own numbers, numbers from the web, or Imi's estimate when nothing better is available. The free tools on this site use USDA data and Open Food Facts, and say so.
Limits Imi won't cross
- Calories never go below 1,200 a day for women or 1,800 for men (the 2025 GLP-1 nutrition advisory's point where vitamins and minerals get hard to cover), and a deficit is capped at 25%.
- The lose weight goal is off for anyone under 18, anyone with a BMI under 18.5, and during pregnancy.
- A focus can raise a nutrient floor, never lower one.
- For kidney care, gout or a fluid limit, Imi only uses numbers your care team gives you.
- Numbers from you or your care team always win over Imi's.
What Imi never does
Imi doesn't diagnose, treat or change medication. It never gives dose advice, never labels a glucose or blood pressure reading good or bad, and never estimates A1c. Imi helps with food. Your prescriber handles your medication.
How we write guides
Guides answer real questions in plain English, list every source, and say when to talk to a doctor. They are written by the Imi team. A guide shows a reviewer's name only once a registered dietitian has reviewed it. Until then, guides stay out of search results.
Spotted something wrong? Email hello@getimi.app and we'll fix it.