Privacy Policy

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

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

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.com with the subject “Data Deletion Request”. We will process deletion requests within 30 days.

Cookies and analytics

This site uses minimal, anonymous analytics to understand general usage patterns (e.g. which pages are visited). No cross-site tracking cookies are used. No data is shared with advertising networks.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy or your data? tkphotographix@gmail.com