Overview
Nourished & Well by Tracy (“this site”) is a personal health and recipe blog run by Tracy Elsinger. This policy explains what data is collected, how it is used, what is shared with third parties, and what rights you have over your data.
This site is not a medical provider and is not subject to HIPAA. However, some features handle health-adjacent personal information and we take that seriously.
Data we store about you
When you create an account and use the site, the following is stored in our database (AWS DynamoDB):
- Account information — email address, managed by AWS Cognito for authentication only
- Meal plans — your weekly meal planning data
- Personal recipes — recipes you save privately to My Recipes
- Recipe ratings and reviews — ratings and written reviews you submit
- Sensitivity profile — reaction types, affected body areas, and known trigger ingredients you enter in the Sensitivity Tracker
- Product library — product names, ingredient lists, and reaction categories you save in the Sensitivity Tracker
- User preferences — app settings and preferences
We do not collect payment information, precise location data, or device identifiers beyond what your browser sends in a standard HTTP request.
AI features and third-party processing
Several features on this site use artificial intelligence to help you. These features send data to Anthropic (makers of Claude AI) for processing. Specifically:
- Recipe Photo Scanner — photos of recipe cards or cookbooks are sent to Anthropic to extract the recipe text
- Ingredient normalization — ingredient lists are sent to improve formatting
- Recipe AI suggestions — recipe ingredients and your dietary restrictions are sent to suggest adaptations
- Meal plan suggestions — your meal history and preferences are sent to generate suggestions
- Product Sensitivity Scanner — photos of product labels and your sensitivity profile (reaction types and known triggers) are sent to identify potentially problematic ingredients
Important: how Anthropic handles your data
This site uses Anthropic's API, not the consumer Claude.ai product. Under Anthropic's API terms, your inputs and outputs are not used to train AI models. Data may be retained by Anthropic for up to 30 days for trust and safety review, then deleted. See Anthropic's Privacy Policy for full details.
The Nutrition Calculator feature uses the USDA FoodData Central API. Ingredient names are sent to the USDA for nutritional lookups. No account data or personal information is included in these requests.
No personally identifying information (name, email, account ID) is ever included in data sent to Anthropic or the USDA.
Data we do not share
- We do not sell your data to anyone
- We do not share your data with advertisers
- We do not send marketing emails
- We do not share your sensitivity profile or health information with any third party other than Anthropic for the specific AI features described above
How your data is protected
- All data is transmitted over HTTPS (encrypted in transit)
- Data is stored in an encrypted cloud database with encryption at rest
- Authentication is handled by a dedicated identity service — passwords are never stored by this site
- Each user can only access their own data — access controls are enforced at the infrastructure level, not just in application code
- Photos sent to AI features are processed and discarded — they are not stored in our database
Data retention
- Active accounts— your data is kept for as long as your account exists.
- Inactive accounts— if you do not sign in for 12 months, your account and all associated data (meal plans, saved and community recipes, ratings and reviews, sensitivity profile, product library, food journal, and preferences) become eligible for permanent deletion.
- Advance notice— before any account is deleted for inactivity, we email the account's address at least 14 days beforehand. Signing in at any point resets the 12-month clock.
- Anonymous first-party usage events are automatically deleted after 90 days regardless of account status (see “Cookies, browser storage, and analytics” above).
Your rights and data deletion
You have the right to access, correct, or delete your data. Currently you can:
- Delete individual saved recipes from My Recipes
- Delete products from your Sensitivity Tracker product library
- Delete your community recipe submissions before they are approved
To request complete account deletion — including your account, sensitivity profile, meal plans, and all stored data — email tkphotographix@gmail.comwith the subject “Data Deletion Request”. We will process deletion requests within 30 days.
Cookies, browser storage, and analytics
This site keeps cookies and browser storage to a minimum — deliberately, for both your privacy and site performance.
- Essential storage— your sign-in session (handled by AWS Cognito), the offline/PWA service worker cache, and your saved app preferences. The site cannot function without these.
- First-party usage analytics— the site records anonymous events such as which recipes are viewed and which searches and filters are used. These are stored in our own database, tied only to a randomly generated identifier (or your account ID if you are signed in), automatically deleted after 90 days, and used solely for a private dashboard to understand which content is helpful. This data is never sent to a third party.
There are currently no third-party analytics, advertising, or cross-site tracking scriptson this site — no Google Analytics, no tag managers, no social media pixels. If a standard analytics tool such as Google Analytics is added in the future, this policy will be updated to describe it first.
This policy may be updated occasionally. The “Last updated” date at the top will reflect any changes.