ROUX is a meal planning app designed for ADHD users to make mindful eating effortless.
This case study highlights research and design decisions addressing executive dysfunction, decision fatigue, and time blindness.
Features like adaptive reminders, gamified task completion, and simplified workflows reduce friction and support sustainable routines.
The goal: fewer steps, better routines, and more joy with eating and planning meals overall, with less stress.
Background
Meal planning apps are a $1.5 billion industry, projected to reach $2.7 billion by 2025. While these tools aim to streamline grocery shopping and promote healthy eating, they often fail neurodivergent users, particularly those with ADHD.
ADHD can disrupt mealtime routines through executive dysfunction, decision fatigue, and time blindness. Users may forget to eat, struggle to choose meals, or miss hunger cues due to hyperfocus. Mainstream apps rarely address these challenges, prioritizing rigid structures over flexibility.
This research explored ADHD-specific behavioral friction points to uncover unmet needs and opportunities. Insights from this work informed ROUX’s design, creating a product that reduces friction, supports autonomy, and fosters sustainable routines for neurodivergent users.
Problem
Most meal planning apps overlook the needs of neurodivergent users, particularly those with ADHD, by failing to provide consistent, behaviorally aligned reminders. This leads to missed meals, decision fatigue, and disrupted routines.
Research Question
How can digital tools help ADHD users plan meals more easily and reduce friction from time blindness, decision fatigue, and executive dysfunction?
Hypothesis
If ADHD users are provided with adaptive reminders, simplified meal options, and positive reinforcement, then they will experience fewer skipped meals, reduced decision fatigue, and more consistent meal planning routines.
Impact
This research revealed critical ADHD-specific friction points and guided the design of ROUX, resulting in features that reduce friction, support sustainable routines, and make meal planning less stressful and more enjoyable.
Research Goals
Understand how ADHD-related behaviors, including executive dysfunction, time blindness, and decision paralysis, disrupt mealtime routines, and identify digital interventions that reduce friction and bridge the gap between mindful eating and ADHD-friendly design.
White Paper / Secondary Research
Examined academic research and industry reports on meal-planning apps’ support for ADHD users to identify gaps in existing tools and understand the behavioral challenges ADHD users face with mindful eating, meal planning, and meal prepping.
The goal was to reduce the number of steps required to successfully plan and prepare meals.
Insights
User Interviews
Conducted qualitative interviews with ADHD individuals who struggle with mindful eating to explore their meal-planning habits, pain points, and emotional experiences. Five interviews were planned to gather diverse perspectives; three complete session was analyzed in depth.
Research Questions
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How do you usually remember to eat throughout the day, and what challenges do you face?
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What aspects of planning meals feel most difficult or overwhelming for you?
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How do reminders or notifications affect your ability to eat on time? Can you describe a recent example?
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What do you do when you forget to eat or miss a planned meal?
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How does having a consistent routine influence your eating habits and overall relationship with food?
Persona 1
K "The Creative"
A busy creative executive determined to develop better eating habits, but meal planning and prepping often leads to decision fatigue and paralysis.
"If I could have a tiny assistant in my pocket throughout the day to remind me to eat or go shopping to make the meals, it would be amazing and less stressful."
Goals
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Eat balanced meals consistently and on time
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Avoid impulsive snacking
Pain Points
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Forgetting meals due to time blindness
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Feeling overwhelmed by multiple meal options
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Difficulty maintaining consistent routines
Desires/Needs
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An all-in-one app that suggests meals based on energy levels to reduce decision fatigue
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Automatically generates grocery lists tailored to the user’s preferred store
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Sends timely, flexible reminders for eating
Persona 2
T "The Busy Student"
A law student determined to avoid missing meals while balancing studying and clinic work. Needs support to plan meals, order groceries, and maintain mindful eating without adding mental load, reducing overwhelm and end-of-day binge eating caused by time blindness.
"If I could slow down and eat at least three meals a day to have a moment to relax and reset, it would be amazing. Automatic grocery planning and reminders would reduce my stress a lot."
Goals
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Stop end-of-day time blindness
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Receive “mindless” reminders and accessible recipes
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Stay organized and consistent despite a packed schedule
Pain Points
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Busy and forgetful
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Time blindness
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Feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed by choices
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Difficulty maintaining consistent routines without reminders
Desires/Needs
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All-in-one assistant that allows grocery ordering from recipe selections, automatically generating a store-specific shopping list
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Reminders that are motivating and fun to use, reducing cognitive load
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Streamlined steps to reach healthy meal goals without extra mental effort
Persona 3
M "The Caregiver"
A remote operations coordinator living with their partner, who also has ADHD. They juggle a demanding workday with household logistics and shared meal planning.
Despite wanting to eat healthier and stay organized, they often skip meals or rely on takeout due to exhaustion, time blindness, and decision paralysis.
"We both forget to eat or plan meals until we’re starving. If something could help us stay on track together without judgment it would take so much weight off our day."
Goals
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Maintain consistent, healthy meals for themself and their partner
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Reduce stress and chaos around grocery shopping and meal planning
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Build sustainable eating habits without relying on strict schedules
Pain Points
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Forgets to prep or start meals due to time blindness and task switching
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Experiences burnout from managing too many micro-decisions daily
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Finds it difficult to coordinate meals and grocery runs with another neurodivergent partner
Desires/Needs
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A shared, flexible system that syncs grocery lists and meal reminders
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Gentle nudges and positive reinforcement rather than guilt-based prompts
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Adaptive tools that accommodate fluctuating energy levels and shared responsibilities
Key Insights from User Interviews
01
Time Management & Forgetfulness
Missed meals stem less from lack of motivation and more from disrupted attention, making eating an “invisible task” unless supported by contextual cues. This suggests reminders must adapt to user state rather than follow rigid schedules.
02
Meal Planning & Nutritional Choices
Meal planning feels overwhelming not because users dislike structure, but because planning requires energy at the very moment they are depleted. Light guidance at the point of decision is more effective than detailed planning tools.
03
Decision Fatigue & Simplified Choices
Excessive meal options increase paralysis rather than autonomy, causing users to abandon planning altogether. Reducing choice at critical moments may drive higher follow-through than personalization alone.
04
Health & Well-Being Integration
Users view eating as a foundation for mental clarity and emotional regulation, not just nutrition. Tools that frame meals as recovery moments, not tasks, are more likely to support sustainable routines.
Impact & Takeaway
01
Time Management & Forgetfulness
ADHD users struggle to remember meals and maintain consistent routines. This insight led to the inclusion of flexible, customizable reminders and notifications so users can reliably track meals without feeling pressured.
02
Meal Planning & Nutritional Choices
Meal planning feels overwhelming, making healthy choices difficult. To address this, meal suggestions were simplified and guided steps were added to reduce cognitive load while supporting balanced nutrition.
03
Decision Fatigue & Simplified Choices
Too many options lead to decision paralysis and task avoidance. The design now limits choices per meal, uses a weekly view instead of a monthly one, and provides clear decision pathways to reduce overwhelm.
04
Health & Well-Being Integration
Users want routines aligned with broader health goals. Energy-based meal suggestions, habit-supportive features, and positive affirmations were integrated to sustain engagement and foster overall well-being.
Competitive Analysis
Evaluate existing meal planning apps to identify gaps in supporting ADHD users and uncover opportunities for ROUX to reduce friction, simplify decision-making, and promote habit formation.
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Key Insights from Competitive Analysis
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Existing apps rarely support ADHD needs like time blindness, decision fatigue, or need for immediate reinforcement, so Roux adds reminders, simplified choices, and positive affirmations.
03
Few apps include habit-supportive or motivational features; Roux integrates energy-based meal suggestions and gamified feedback to sustain engagement.
02
Many apps overwhelm users with options or monthly views; Roux uses a weekly view and streamlined workflows to reduce cognitive load.
User Flow & Iterations
Turn research insights into actionable design by mapping the ADHD meal planning experience and refining app interactions.
01
Created a user flow chart showing step-by-step interactions to complete key tasks (meal planning, generating shopping lists, receiving reminders).
02
Iteratively designed interactive prototypes informed by research insights, user personas, and competitive analysis. Focused on reducing friction points like decision fatigue, forgetfulness, and cognitive overload.
Simplified Meal Planning Flow
Reduced steps and streamlined choices to ease decision fatigue.
Timely, Flexible Reminders
Contextual notifications to support routine building and prevent missed meals.
Positive Feedback & Micro Rewards
Brief affirmations to maintain engagement and encourage habit formation.
Weekly View Layout
Replaced monthly overview to reduce cognitive load and improve approachability.
Final Outcome
The final interactive Figma prototype demonstrates how research insights were translated into a cohesive, user-centered experience for ADHD users.
By identifying friction points and bridging gaps, this prototype reflects a full qualitative research-driven design process, integrating behavioral insights, neurodivergent considerations, and strategic UX decisions.
The solution reduces friction, improves routines, and makes mindful eating and meal prepping more approachable, enjoyable, and stress-free for ADHD users.
Key features like timely reminders, weekly view, simplified decision pathways, and positive affirmations directly stem from the research insights.
What Was Executed:
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Systems Thinking
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Qualitative UX Research
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Information Architecture
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UX & UI Design
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Wireframes
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Prototyping
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Ideation to Launch
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UX Strategy
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Product Experience Strategy
