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Your Dashboard shows the top suspects for each symptom—but what if you want the complete picture? The Suspect Food Analysis tool lets you customize timeframes, look back further in your history, and see every potential trigger ranked by score and confidence.
Quick Review: Dashboard Suspect Foods
Before we dive into the advanced tool, here's what you already have on your Dashboard:
Under Suspect Food Correlations, each symptom you've logged shows:
- Top 5 ranked suspects (foods, ingredients, or allergens)
- Scores indicating strength of connection
- Confidence levels showing reliability
- Toggle between Food / Ingredient / Allergen analysis
- Flag button to add items to your watch list
If you don't see results: The box will say "No correlations found" - this means you need more logged data.
For many users, the Dashboard view is enough. But when you want to go deeper, use the full analysis tool.
Two Ways to Access the Deep Dive Tool
Option 1: From Your Dashboard
- Scroll to Suspect Food Correlations section
- Select the symptom you want to analyze
- This opens the full Suspect Food Analysis page
Option 2: From Your Symptoms Page
- Tap Symptoms on the bottom ribbon
- Select the symptom you want to dive into (tap the arrow next to the symptom)
- Scroll to the analysis cards
- Tap "Discover Suspect Foods"
Either path takes you to the same powerful tool.
The Suspect Food Analysis Page
What You'll See:
At the top: The symptom name you're analyzing (e.g., "Headaches")
Below that: A configurable analysis card with three key controls
Customizing Your Analysis
1. Time Frame (Symptom Window)
What this does: Tells TCT how far back before your symptom to look for food triggers.
Options: Up to 4 hours prior to symptom start time
Example:
- You set 2 hours
- You logged a headache at 2 PM
- TCT analyzes everything you ate between 12 PM and 2 PM
Why adjust this?
- Some symptoms appear quickly (within 30 minutes of eating)
- Others take hours to develop (2-4 hours)
- Experiment to find what works for your symptoms
2. History Lookback
What this does: Determines how far back in your logs TCT searches for patterns.
Options:
- 3 months
- 6 months
- 1 year
Why this matters:
- More data = more reliable patterns
- If you just started using TCT, use 3 months
- If you've been tracking for a while, 6 months or 1 year gives stronger insights
What to choose: Use the longest timeframe you have data for.
3. Analysis Type Toggle
Switch between three views:
Food: Shows whole food items (e.g., "Cheddar Cheese," "Whole Wheat Bread")
Ingredient: Shows components of foods Shows components of foods (e.g., "High Fructose Corn Syrup," "MSG," "Artificial Sweeteners," "Sodium Benzoate")
Allergen: Shows common allergens (e.g., "Milk," "Wheat," "Eggs")
Pro tip: Check all three views. You don't know yet whether your trigger is a specific food, a common ingredient, or an allergen—so let the data tell you.
Look for high scores and high confidence across all three analyses:
- Maybe it's a specific branded food causing issues
- Maybe it's an ingredient that shows up in multiple foods you eat
- Maybe it's one of the major allergens
The patterns will reveal themselves—you don't need to guess which category to start with.
Running the Analysis
Once you've set your preferences:
Tap "Find Suspect Foods"
TCT processes your data and displays a complete ranked list of potential triggers.
Understanding Your Results
Unlike the Dashboard (which shows top 5 within each category), this tool shows EVERYTHING TCT found.
What Each Result Shows:
Food/Ingredient/Allergen Name
Score: How strongly this item correlates with your symptom.
- Higher score = appears more frequently before symptoms
- Lower score = weaker connection
Confidence: How certain TCT is that this isn't just coincidence (0 to 1 scale).
- 0.8+ = Strong confidence, reliable pattern
- 0.5-0.7 = Moderate confidence, worth investigating
- Below 0.5 = Low confidence, could be random
The magic combination: High score + high confidence = strong candidate for elimination testing.
Taking Action: Flagging Suspects
See something worth tracking?
Tap the flag button next to any item.
What happens:
- Item moves to your Watch List
- Appears on your Dashboard
- Triggers red-flag and text alerts when you log foods containing it
- Gets tracked in the 3-week consumption view
Use this to test elimination: Flag it, avoid it for 2-3 weeks, watch if symptoms improve.
Best Practices
When Analyzing:
✅ Compare all three views - Look for patterns across foods/ingredients/allergens
✅ Try different timeframes - Some symptoms develop slowly, others quickly
✅ Use the longest history available - More data = better patterns
✅ Look for high score + high confidence - Don't act on low-confidence results
When Taking Action:
✅ Two approaches to testing eliminations:
Option 1 (Recommended): Eliminate one suspect at a time, give it 2-3 weeks, and see if symptoms improve. This tells you exactly which item is the trigger.
Option 2: Eliminate several suspects at once, wait for symptoms to improve, then reintroduce them one at a time (spacing out each reintroduction by 1-2 weeks). This can be faster if you have multiple high-confidence suspects, but requires discipline during the reintroduction phase.
✅ Keep logging throughout - The analysis gets smarter as you add data
✅ Don't eliminate everything at once without a reintroduction plan - You won't know what actually helped
Common Questions
Q: Why don't I see results yet? You need 3-4 weeks of consistent food and symptom logging for patterns to emerge. Keep tracking—results will appear as data accumulates.
Q: Should I eliminate everything with a high score? No. High score alone isn't enough—look at confidence too. And test one elimination at a time so you know what's actually helping.
Q: What if common foods rank high (like rice or chicken)? This is common if you eat them frequently. Look at the confidence level—if it's low, it might just be that you eat it often, not that it's a trigger.
Q: Can I run the analysis multiple times? Yes! Adjust the settings and run it again. Try different timeframes or toggle between views to get the complete picture.
Q: Do flagged items affect future analysis? No. TCT analyzes all your data regardless of what you've flagged. Flags are just alerts and tracking tools for you.
Q: What's better—the Dashboard view or this tool? Use both! Dashboard gives you quick daily insights. This tool lets you dive deep when you want to investigate a specific symptom thoroughly.
How This Fits Into Your Journey
Week 1-2: Results start appearing, but confidence is low. Use this time to familiarize yourself with the tool.
Week 3-4: Scores and confidence become meaningful. Start flagging high-confidence suspects for testing.
Month 2+: Patterns solidify. Use this tool to run targeted investigations (e.g., "Let me look back 1 year at ingredients linked to my bloating").
Ongoing: Rerun analysis periodically as you add more data. New patterns may emerge, or previous suspects may drop off the list if symptoms improve.
Bottom Line: The Suspect Food Analysis tool gives you complete control over how you investigate food-symptom connections. Customize the timeframe to match how your body reacts, choose the view that helps you spot patterns (food, ingredient, or allergen), and see every ranked result—not just the top 5. Use this when you're ready to go beyond the Dashboard and run a deep, targeted investigation into what's triggering your symptoms.