Editorial Policy

Who We Are

Diets Meal Plan is a family project, not a content farm. Our Food Editor, Damla Sengul, develops and tests every recipe in her kitchen in Wayne, New Jersey. She grew up in Hatay, Turkiye, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, and the Turkish recipes on this site come from the family table she shares with her brother, Ugur Gulaydin, a marketing executive whose weekend passion is filming the family’s recipes for our YouTube channel and keeping this site running. Andrea, Ugur’s wife, develops our Latin American recipes, and her mother, Mirian Montalvo, a lifelong professional cook and baker from Ecuador, contributes traditional recipes from her sixty years in the kitchen. When we say the whole family taste-tests each recipe before publishing, these are the people we mean.
Around this family core, we work with credentialed nutrition and medical professionals, listed with full bios at the bottom of this page.

How We Create and Test Recipes

Our recipe philosophy is simple: instead of telling people to stop eating their favorite meals and desserts, we recreate them by substituting high-calorie or high-sugar ingredients with better alternatives, and we keep testing until the taste matches the original. The process for the 500+ recipes we have published:
1. Choose a dish worth recreating.
2. Identify the sugar-heavy and calorie-heavy ingredients using the Nutritionix database.
3. Propose natural replacements and prepare the recipe.
4. Taste-test as a family. On average a recipe takes 3 attempts before it passes.
5. Publish only when the healthy version stands next to the original; otherwise, back to step 3.
Every published recipe is prepared and photographed in our own kitchens in Wayne, New Jersey, using ingredients from local stores and farms. Many are also filmed for YouTube, where our viewers hold us accountable in the comments.

Nutrition Data

Nutrition values on our recipe cards are calculated per serving from the exact quantities used, cross-referenced against the Nutritionix database and the USDA Dietary Reference Intakes. They are estimates: actual values vary with brands and portions, and we say so on every card. When a recipe title states a calorie count, it must match the tested card. Where we find a mismatch, we correct the title, not the data.

Expert Review and Medical Review

Meal plans and nutrition guidance are created or reviewed by the credentialed professionals on our team, including registered dietitians and nutritionists such as Karolina Peterova, Brenda Peralta, Kerly Cordova, and Guido Forti. Content that touches medical conditions, such as diabetes, digestive disease, or pregnancy, goes through medical review led by Franco Cuevas, MD. A reviewed page names its reviewer. Health topics are re-reviewed when guidance changes and at minimum once a year.

Our medical review workflow has three lanes based on how much health impact a page carries:

Lane 1 – Standard nutrition content. Recipes, food lists, and general healthy-eating articles are reviewed by a Registered Dietitian or credentialed nutrition professional on our team before publishing. Re-review is triggered on: significant guidance change from major bodies (USDA, AHA, WHO), reader-reported factual concerns, or the annual sweep.

Lane 2 – Condition-specific content. Any page that names a medical condition (diabetes, PCOS, hypothyroidism, IBS, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, pregnancy, etc.) is written or reviewed by a Registered Dietitian and then medically reviewed by a licensed physician – typically Dr. Franco Cuevas, MD (Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine), Dr. Krystie Linares, MD, or Dr. Gvantsa Qvariani, MD. Re-review runs every 12 months at minimum, and immediately when clinical guidelines change.

Lane 3 – Drug or supplement interaction content. Content covering how food, herbs, or supplements interact with prescription medications is reviewed by our Pharm-D, Andleeb Asghar, in addition to the physician review above.

The reviewer’s name and credentials appear on the page and in the article’s JSON-LD schema. If a page has been medically reviewed, that fact is stated explicitly with the review date.

How We Verify Credentials

Every credentialed contributor listed on this site has been verified before their first byline. Verification means we hold on file: (1) proof of the degree or license claimed – diploma, transcript, or state board registration – (2) a working profile on the relevant professional registry (Commission on Dietetic Registration for RDs, state medical board for MDs, pharmacy council for Pharm-Ds), and (3) an active LinkedIn or professional website that matches the credentials on file. Suffixes (RD, MD, Pharm-D, RDN) are only used when they legally apply. If a contributor’s licensure lapses or changes, their author page is updated accordingly.

Sourcing Standards

Health claims on this site must trace to peer-reviewed research, government health bodies, or major medical organizations, and the source must be linked where the claim is made. We do not cite other blogs as evidence, we do not attribute claims to institutions without a linkable source, and where evidence is limited or early, the article says so in plain language. Traditional and cultural claims, like the history of a dish, are presented as tradition, not as science.

Our approved sources include, but are not limited to: PubMed and peer-reviewed journals; U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH, NIDDK, NHLBI, NCI); Centers for Disease Control (CDC); U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); Food and Drug Administration (FDA); World Health Organization (WHO); Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; American Heart Association; American Diabetes Association; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Mayo Clinic; Cleveland Clinic; Cochrane Reviews. Sources are placed in the References section of each article and, where possible, linked inline at the exact claim.

Corrections and Updates

When we find an error, we fix the page, update its modified date, and where the error was substantive, note the correction on the page. In July 2026 we completed a sitewide accuracy audit and corrected or removed health claims that did not meet the standards in this policy, including overstatements in our detox and cleanse content. That audit is now a standing process, not a one-time event.

We classify corrections in three tiers so the fix matches the severity:

Tier 1 – Substantive. Any factual error in a health claim, nutrition value, medical recommendation, or citation. Fixed within one week of confirmation. The page carries a dated correction note, the reviewer re-reviews, and the modified date is updated.

Tier 2 – Contextual. Outdated statistics, superseded guidance, or missing nuance that changes how a reader would use the information. Fixed at the next scheduled re-review or sooner. The modified date is updated.

Tier 3 – Minor. Typos, broken links, image issues. Fixed on discovery. No correction note required.

If you find an error anywhere on this site, tell us at social@dietsmealplan.com. We read every report, and substantive corrections are typically live within a week.

Use of AI

AI tools are permitted for two tasks only: grammatical improvement and rephrasing long sentences for readability. Recipes, testing, photography, nutrition data, and health guidance are human work. Our editorial process enforces this with writer style review, AI-detection and plagiarism tools, manual source verification, and editor fact-checks. No detection tool is perfect, which is why the human steps are the ones we rely on. If a page is ever partially AI-drafted for structural editing purposes, a human author is still responsible for every claim on it; AI is never listed as an author.

Advertising and Affiliate Disclosure

Diets Meal Plan is supported by display advertising served by Mediavine. Advertisers have no influence on what we publish, which products we mention, or what our reviews conclude. If a page contains affiliate links, it is disclosed on that page. We do not accept payment for positive coverage, and we do not publish sponsored content presented as editorial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who writes the recipes and health articles on Diets Meal Plan?

Recipes are developed and tested by our Food Editor Damla Sengul and the family kitchen in Wayne, NJ, with Latin American recipes from Andrea and traditional Ecuadorian recipes from Mirian Montalvo. Health and nutrition articles are written or reviewed by credentialed Registered Dietitians and nutritionists on our team, and medical topics go through physician review led by Franco Cuevas, MD.

Is the content medically reviewed?

Yes. Any page that discusses a medical condition, medication interaction, or clinical outcome is reviewed by a licensed physician or Pharm-D. Reviewer name, credentials, and review date appear on the page.

How often is content updated?

Health and nutrition content is re-reviewed at minimum once a year, and immediately when clinical guidance changes. Recipes are re-tested when reader feedback flags an issue.

Do you use AI to write articles?

Not for the substance. AI is used only for grammar and readability editing. Recipes, health claims, nutrition data, testing, and photography are human work. Every claim is human-verified.

How do I report an error or request a correction?

Email social@dietsmealplan.com. Substantive corrections are live within one week; minor fixes go up on the day we confirm them.

Where does your nutrition data come from?

Nutrition values are calculated per serving from the exact ingredients and quantities used, cross-referenced against the Nutritionix database and the USDA Dietary Reference Intakes. Values are estimates and vary with brands and portions – we say so on every card.

Our Sister Sites

The same editorial standards apply across our publishing family: grantsformedical.com and doctorable.com.

The People Behind the Content

Full author biographies with credentials and profiles follow below.