For the purposes of this interview, I'm going to assume that we're interested in
understanding user needs tied to diet and nutrition.
And perhaps we have a certain concept in mind,
trying to help people make better nutritional and diet choices.
But that can mean several different product concepts.
It might mean a portal where we provide users with information about nutrition.
It might mean an app where people can quickly search for
caloric and other information tied to a specific recipe that they are considering
making, or it might be a marketplace to connect consumers with nutritionists.
So these are very different product concepts tied to the same fundamental
user need of helping people make better nutritional choices.
So we're going to use this interview to better understand
what's the actual user need.
Joining me here is Stephanie.
So Stephanie, I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions related to your diet and
nutritional choices.
First, let me ask you, how important or salient is diet or nutrition for you?
How often do you find yourself thinking about it, and
making conscious decisions related to that?
>> I think it's pretty much part of my daily life, and
has been since I was a child.
I played a lot of sports when I was growing up, so
I had to think about kind of what I was eating and my practice schedule.
And that's carried with me throughout my adulthood,
not in the same capacity, necessarily, as when I was a child,
or when I was in secondary school, but now I run.
>> Okay.
>> I wouldn't necessarily call myself a runner, but
I have run some half marathons.
And so I am aware of exercise, and my training schedule, and
what my nutrition needs to be when I am in that training regimen.
>> Give me an example of a choice or
two that you make driven by your exercise regimen.
>> Just making sure that I am eating enough carbohydrates,
eating proper vegetables and fruits, watching my protein intake.
Is it too much?
Is it too little?
And also, my big thing is making sure I drink enough water.
>> Okay.
>> So I find a lot that I am dehydrated, so
that's something where I have to constantly remind myself to drink water.
>> And when you say, is protein too much or too little,
what's the range in your mind?
>> So my idea of nutrition, I don't necessarily calculate the grams or
the specifics.
But just knowing that I need to eat a lean protein for dinner, and
maybe I had some carbs for lunch, so
maybe I should balance that out with a salad and a lean protein for dinner.
And just keeping that in mind so that I'm not eating three cookies.
>> Okay. >> That maybe I swap out a cookie for
a piece of fruit, that kind of thing.
>> All right, so would you describe your
approach as being reactive or preventative?
>> I would say most of the time, it's preventative.
>> Yeah. >> I've tried to maintain my weight
throughout my adulthood.
I've had some fluctuations in that, due to being ill and
sick, and having to kind of go through the motions of
calibrating my body again after recovering from being ill.
So I think it's something that I try to be preventative.
And then obviously, if I'm training, I think there is a little bit of reactivity
to that, because you're listening to your body and
trying to mentally get through whatever you're training for.
>> Right, so clearly, your training drives a lot of your choices.
But is there an element of thinking about chronic illnesses that,
say, a family member might have, or
that might be a lot in the news that might drive some of these choices, as well?
>> Yeah, I think that the primary ones would be we have a family
history of cancer and diabetes.
So those are things that are kind of prevalent in my mind in some of
the choices that I make.
And making sure that I am exercising, that I'm seeing a doctor fairly regularly,
getting a physical once a year, seeing a specialist if I need to.
And just being cognizant of the diet that I'm taking,
watching my sugar, not eating fatty foods.
>> And so when you say sugar and fatty foods, that's, again,
driven by either diabetes or cancer?
>> Mm-hm.
In these kinds of situations. Yeah, and
just keeping that in my mind that the older I get, I believe it's
probably going to be even more difficult to stay healthy and be healthy.
And so, if you can take those actions now of knowing what should be in your diet and
what shouldn't be.