MyFitnessPal is a popular app for tracking what you eat. If you already use it, MigraineMe can read your meals and use them to spot food triggers like caffeine, tyramine, or a sudden sugar drop. You do not have to log your food twice.
A small but important note: MigraineMe does not talk to MyFitnessPal directly. Instead, MyFitnessPal sends what you ate to your phone's main health app, and MigraineMe reads it from there. This is the same way most modern health apps share information, and it is more private because you stay in control.
The steps are different on iPhone and Android. Find your phone below.
On iPhone
Step 1: Make sure MyFitnessPal is sending food to Apple Health
- Open the MyFitnessPal app on your iPhone.
- Tap More in the bottom right corner (three dots or three lines).
- Tap Apps & Devices (sometimes called "Apps and Services").
- Find Apple Health in the list and tap it.
- Tap the green Connect button.
- A window from Apple Health will appear. You will see a list of things MyFitnessPal wants to share.
- Tap Turn All Categories On at the top, then tap Allow.
If you have done this before, you may see "Disconnect" instead of "Connect". That means it is already connected, and you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Connect MigraineMe to Apple Health and turn on Diet
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the gear icon in the top-left of the screen. A drawer slides in from the left.
- Tap Connections.
- Find Apple Health and tap Connect. If it already says Connected, skip to step 6.
- Apple Health will pop up asking for permission. Tap Turn On All, then Allow.
- Open the drawer again and tap Data and Notifications.
- Scroll to the Diet section and turn the Diet switch on.
Step 3: Give it a moment
On iPhone, MigraineMe copies the food you log today from Apple Health. It does this when you open MigraineMe and in the background during the day. Meals from before you connected are not copied over. To be sure the whole day is in, open MigraineMe once after your last meal.
To check it is working:
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the Monitor tab.
- Scroll to the Diet card.
- You should see today's food totals and the number of meals and items logged today.
On Android
Step 1: Install Health Connect (if you do not have it)
Health Connect is the bridge between MyFitnessPal and MigraineMe on Android. It is made by Google and is free.
- Open the Play Store.
- Search for Health Connect.
- Tap Install.
- Open it once after it installs, just to wake it up.
If your phone says "Health Connect is already installed", you are done with this step.
Step 2: Make sure MyFitnessPal is sending food to Health Connect
- Open the MyFitnessPal app.
- Tap More in the bottom right.
- Tap Apps & Devices (or "Apps and Services").
- Find Health Connect and tap it. (MyFitnessPal may also offer "Google Fit". Pick Health Connect. MigraineMe reads from Health Connect only.)
- Tap Connect and follow the popup to allow MyFitnessPal to share meals.
Step 3: Connect MigraineMe to Health Connect
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the gear icon in the top-left of the screen. A drawer slides in from the left.
- Tap Connections.
- Find Health Connect and tap Connect.
- A Health Connect window will appear. Tap Allow all (or make sure Nutrition is on), then Allow.
- Open the drawer again and tap Data and Notifications.
- Scroll to the Diet section and check the Diet switch is on. It usually turns on by itself once the nutrition permission is given.
Step 4: Give it a moment
The first time, MigraineMe copies the last 14 days of meals from Health Connect. After that, new meals usually arrive within 15 to 30 minutes.
To check it is working:
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap Monitor.
- Scroll to the Diet card.
What MigraineMe does with your food data
MigraineMe looks at things in your meals that are known to trigger migraines for some people:
- Caffeine in coffee, tea, energy drinks, dark chocolate
- Tyramine in aged cheese, cured meats, fermented foods
- Histamine in red wine, aged cheese, smoked fish
- Low-calorie days, which can mean a missed meal
- Vitamins and minerals like magnesium and riboflavin, from your daily totals
If MigraineMe notices that you tend to get migraines after, say, days with high caffeine, it will start to flag caffeine as a likely trigger for you. You can then decide whether to cut back.
Tyramine and histamine are worked out from the names of your foods. They only work when your food app shares the name of each food. Apps that share only nutrient totals still give caffeine, sugar, magnesium and the other numbers.
When one of these food triggers is in your trigger list and is crossed on a day, it shows in the Top contributors card on Home. Once you have logged at least 5 attacks, the weekly recalibration (Premium) can adjust these triggers for you.
Troubleshooting
"Diet card is empty"
- Make sure you have actually logged something in MyFitnessPal today.
- Force-close MigraineMe (swipe it away) and reopen.
- On iPhone, go to your phone's Settings → Apps → Health → Data Access & Devices → MigraineMe and check that Dietary items are turned on.
- On Android, open Health Connect and tap App permissions → MigraineMe to check the nutrition permissions are on.
"My meals show up in MyFitnessPal but not in MigraineMe"
This is almost always a permission issue. Walk back through the steps above, paying close attention to the permission popups. They sometimes have a small "Don't allow" button at the bottom that gets tapped by accident.
"Some foods are missing"
MyFitnessPal sometimes only shares meals you saved as a "Quick Add" calorie, without ingredients. To get full benefit, log foods using their full names (or the barcode scanner) inside MyFitnessPal. That way the vitamins and minerals come across, not just the calorie count.
Still stuck?
Write to us at help@migraineme.app and tell us:
- Whether you are on iPhone or Android
- The name of the MyFitnessPal feature you are stuck on
- A screenshot if you can
We usually reply within a day.
