Food is the fuel for our bodies. Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to what we are putting in our bodies. There’s some truth to the adage, “you are what you eat.” Not surprisingly though, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition found that Americans eat less than the recommended amounts of daily vegetables, fruits, whole-grains and dairy products. Lack of healthy food can leave you feeling tired and craving unhealthy foods, which can result in weight gain.
The health app Fooducate can help you make sure that you are ingesting healthy food. Fooducate allows you to track the foods that you eat, telling you what your calorie count is at for the day to help you reach your goals. Not only does it track the foods that you eat, but you can also put in your daily activities, allowing the app to adjust the number of calories you can take in for the day.
This app offers more than just a calorie tracker, it connects you with a community of people who have the same goals. Through it, you can share recipes, blog to the fitness community and receive various diet “tidbits” and tips.
How it works
This app is available for free download on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Once it’s downloaded, you will be prompted to sign up using your email or Facebook. After you are signed in, you can start adding your personal information, such as a picture of yourself, a username, your birthday, your current weight and height details, your personal weight goals and what you would like to track. Fooducate then takes this information to create a plan for you to help make reaching your goals simple.
Once you have your details set, you are ready to start recording your daily food intake and your daily activities. When viewing the home screen, you have five main options to click on and explore.
- Health Tracker
- Food Finder
- Community
- Healthy Recipes
- Diet Tidbits
Health Tracker
The Health Tracker is going to be your go-to for all your recordings. One fun thing you can do is enter your feelings, hunger level, and sleep on top of your meal and workouts in order to receive a more well-rounded health assessment. When going into the app to record, make sure to enter the correct time for each meal and activity. The more details you enter, the more your health patterns will be uncovered in order to help you make better decisions and improve your results.
Food Finder
In the Food Finder, you can enter the foods you eat by browsing by category, mealtime, or by using your camera to scan the barcode for a more precise recording. When you click on the category, you will see subcategories of each food group, and then the exact food that you are looking for.
When browsing the foods, there is a grading system, A, B, C, or D. This allows you to easily see how good or bad the food is for you. As with any grade, an A is best and a D is the worst. When looking at the food, the app will also tell you what is in the food, how processed it is and what you are gaining from the food, such as various vitamins and sugars. There are also alternatives listed that you can browse through, allowing you to make healthier choices.
Community
The community portion of the app allows you to connect with people who have similar goals to you. Within this section, you can blog about your experiences, feelings, foods, and anything else you want. You can also comment and like what other people post to show your support, as well as chat with others about your journey.
Healthy Recipes
Enjoy snapping a picture of your food and sharing your creation? That is where the Healthy Recipes part comes into play. Here, you can share a picture of your food, the exact ingredients you used, directions on how to make it and then the nutrition facts will be automatically populated by the app.
Diet Tidbits
Within Diet Tidbits, you can see what the people at Fooducate recommend for healthy habits, while connecting with other users of the app.
Fooducate teaches you about healthy eating by helping you analyze the confusing information that companies are required to put on their product nutrition panels, making it easy for you to know and understand what you are putting in your body and ultimately choose healthier alternatives.
So when you are tempted by a delicious looking donut or driving by a fast food joint, Fooducate can help educate you on those food choices, helping you stay on track of and achieve your health goals.
