Windows Phone Central App Roundup: Nutrition
Fitness Month marches on here at Windows Phone Central and this week we're concentrating on nutritional aspects of staying fit.
While you may enjoy an afternoon slice of pie, eating right is an important aspect of living a healthy life. Even if you aren't into pumping iron or running marathons, a proper diet is key (wow.. my mom was right!). Sometimes this means eating the right foods or simply watching the calories you take in.
This week's roundup focuses on five Windows Phone apps that look at what we eat and help track our calories.
Calorie Tracker ($2.99): Livestrong.com's Calorie Tracker is designed to help you reach your diet, weight loss and fitness goals by tracking what you eat and how you exercise. Calorie Tracker keeps track of your caloric, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, sugar, fiber and protein intake.
With Calorie Tracker you set your goals for daily calories and targeted weight and as the day progresses, simply add the meals you eat and exercise you tackle. You have access to the Livestrong.com's Daily plate which offers a healthy nutritional database that has more than 625,000 food and restaurant items. Additionally, there is a respectable database on exercises and activities. If you don't see the food item, exercise or activity listed you can also add it manually.
Daily progress on calories gained/lost and your weight loss/gain is charted on the app's main pages of Calorie Tracker. Calorie Tracker also allows you to log into your Livestrong.com Daily Plate account where you can monitor progress online.
Calorie Tracker is a nice looking, easy to use Windows Phone app to monitor what you eat and your exercise routine. Calorie Tracker is currently running $2.99 and you can find here in the Windows Phone Store.
MyFoodDiary (free): MyFoodDiary is a health app for your Windows Phone that is intended to help you record what you eat and any allergic reactions you might experience. It may not track calories but it helps you identify risky food items that may cause health issue.
The main pages for MyFoodDiary include an entry page where you detail what you've eaten, where, and any reactions. A Reaction Page where you detail any reactions. An Food Entry Log that shows your food entry history.
From the Food Entry Log Page you can email your entries in Excel format to use off-device and analyze what foods you should avoid. You can also send it to your doctor or allergist for reference.
MyFoodDiary is a straightforward, simple, free Windows Phone app that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store.
PointsPlus Calculator (free): If you're participating in a Weight Watchers points program, the PointsPlus Calculator might come in handy. The official app from Weight Watchers is designed to help you easily and quickly calculate the PointsPlus values of any food or activity from your Windows Phone.
You'll need a Weight Watchers Online or eTools account to use the calculator. Beyond that there's not much to this Windows Phone app beyond calculating your points for the program.
PointsPlus Calculator is a free app for your Windows Phone that you can pick up here in the Windows Phone Store.
Yummy Recipes (free): Yummy Recipes is a Windows Phone app designed to help you find healthy foods and desert to put on the menu.
The app doesn't have the best user interface but offers recipes from six categories including quick meals, low fat/low calorie meals, north Indian cuisine, sugar free desserts, salads and Vegan dishes.
Each category has about ten recipes that include your ingredients and cooking instructions. Recipes can be shared via email and the only thing missing is a photo of the plated dish.
Yummy Recipes is a free, ad supported app that you can pick up here in the Windows Phone Store.
Calorie Meter (free): Where the Livestrong.com Calorie Tracker monitors your calories and exercise, Calorie Meter focuses solely on your calories.
When you first launch Calorie Tracker you will be presented with three options. View your daily/historical caloric intake, calculate your daily calorie requirement and view the about screen.
Determining your daily calorie requirement takes into account your age, weight, height, sex, and activity level. From there you can choose a calorie number to maintain your current weight, lose fat, and an extreme fat loss number.
You add calories by entering the Today/History link from the main page. Here you'll see the daily total of calories consumed, a history of foods eaten and a nutritional guide where you can look up the calories by searching the Calorie King database. Entering calories is straightforward with you entering the calorie number and a brief description of what you ate. While the Calorie King database is fairly extensive, there's not a way to transfer the information from the search to your entry screen.
Calorie Meter also feature charts to illustrate your dietary intake and free-form notes on your eating habits. It's a fairly simple calorie tracker but does have some room for improvement. Calorie Meter is a free app that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store.
If you need an app to help you track your nutrition there are plenty of Windows Phone apps in the Store to try. The Livestrong.com Calorie Tracker may be one of the better options but it's not the only game in town. If you use a Fitbit tracker, most of the Fitbit compatible apps will help you track your nutrition as well as your fitness activities.
Then you have MyFitnessPal which we've already touched on this month that tracks your calories and has the ability to scan product barcodes to enter your food items.
Bottom line, there are a smorgasbord of diet and nutritional apps available for your Windows Phone. We'll continue to touch on these apps as fitness month continues but if you have a favorite fitness/health app to recommend, sound off in the comments. And yes, we are working on a revisit review for Runtastic.
