The Fermentation Engine At-home prototype v0.8
Our fermentation engine is our digestive system. The Fermentation Engine, this app, learns from your meals and digestive patterns over time. The goal is better food tracking and better pattern recognition leading to better diet strategy. If the picture becomes complicated, you should seek an appropriate consultation and the app should help you bring your recent diet history to a clinician.
Your privacy is important to us. We designed this to store your personal data on your unique device. Your meals, tolerance ratings, bowel checks and microbiome tests are saved only in this browser on this device, and nothing is sent to a server. If you use another device or browser, it starts with its own separate record.
New here? How this works
What you're doing
You're creating a personal record of how your digestion responds to the foods you eat. Over a few weeks, patterns emerge: which foods your system handles peacefully, which cause distress, and how quickly symptoms appear.
Why log meals this way?
- It's functional, not theoretical. We care whether you digest this peacefully, not whether a lab test says an organism is present or absent.
- It captures what matters. Tolerance, symptom timing, and bowel stability show whether your digestive ecosystem is handling its work efficiently.
- It becomes your baseline. When your digestion is peaceful and stable, that is what "working well" looks like for your body.
Understanding your microbiome through food
The foods you eat feed your gut bacteria, and different plant compounds feed different microbes:
- Resistant starch (cooled potatoes, cold rice) feeds starch-degrading organisms that start the fermentation chain.
- Fructans (garlic, onion, asparagus) feed specific fermenters that produce acetate and lactate.
- Pectin (apples, berries) feeds pectin-degraders that break it down for downstream organisms.
- Fiber structures (whole grains, vegetables) add work and physical substrate for the ecosystem.
When you eat without distress, your microbiome is probably handling this work efficiently. An ecosystem that works does not announce itself. You digest normally and move on.
The stool test question
If you get a stool test while your digestion is peaceful and stable, that snapshot shows what a working microbiome looks like for you. If digestion changes later, a new test can show what shifted, compared with your baseline rather than someone else's result or a theoretical ideal.
Many people see "missing" organisms on a test and assume something is wrong. If your digestion is peaceful, that ecosystem may be doing the job. Use a test as a before-and-after comparison, not as an absolute verdict.
How to use this app
- Describe meals in plain language. "Oatmeal with berries and yogurt" works well. The app recognizes common foods.
- Rate tolerance honestly. After the meal, note whether digestion felt comfortable, mild, moderate, or strong discomfort, and when any symptoms appeared.
- Note your bowel pattern. The Bristol scale records what happened, without judgment. Just observe.
- Let patterns emerge. After 2 to 4 weeks you will see which foods you handle peacefully, which cause timing patterns, and whether your bowel rhythm is steady.
- Print the report when you are ready to talk it through with your clinician.
The app starts with sample meals so you can see how it works. Open Demo tools and choose "Clear saved history" to start your own record.
Describe what you ate in plain words, then press Enter or click Continue the entry. (Shift+Enter starts a new line.) The guide connects it to your recent pattern.
Demo tools sample meals and clearing saved history
Clearing removes every saved meal and tolerance entry on this device. Microbiome tests are kept.
Records and reports
Saved only on this device. Separate from today's meal. Use these for tests you have had and a summary to bring to your clinician.