@cheddar that's a good point about estimating the whole meal instead of each part. FWIW, people in insulin pumps have more flexibility to estimate each part, though I bet data will show us it's still not one distinct estimate per food item.

@kentquirk both the burger and the sides (whether it be a salad or fries) should, as you suggested, be components of a meal. But there is some hierarchy within that meal. Again, think about how your Burger and Fries examples would manifest in Nutshell. Here's an example where I ate an BLT sandwich and had a bit of guacamole on the side. Notice the UI specifically calls out the BLT sandwich (I'm vegetarian, hence "FBLT" for "fake BLT" ;), then also mentions the guacamole.
![screenshot 2014-05-23 14 55 39](https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/3970127/3072294/0e87adc0-e2c5-11e3-956c-3e0190d2c3d1.png)

This is the functionality I'm trying to preserve.

Here's a suggestion for object structure, in case it helps.

Brandon_Item_1
food_name: FBLT
meal_component_hierarchy: primary
meal_component_name: entree

Brandon_Item_2:
food_name: 1/3 guacamole
meal_component_hierarchy: secondary
meal_component_name: side


Kent_Item_1
food_name: burger
meal_component_hierarchy: primary
meal_component_name: entree

Kent_Item_2:
food_name: fries
meal_component_hierarchy: secondary
meal_component_name: side