This is a guest post by Melanie Gray.
Technology to help you stay on your game—all year through!
The New Year is all about setting your well-minded goals for the year to come. Regardless of if you’re trying to maintain your healthy activities and habits—or trying to establish some new ones—technology is here to be your workout buddy, your pocket personal trainer, and your conscience when it comes to healthy eating. Of course there are too many of health-related apps out there for every type of phone—including iPhones and Androids—for me to include in this list. However, I’ve decided to showcase apps that are not only popular, extremely useful, and easy to use, but totally free as well!
So without further adieu, here are my picks for ‘Top Smart Phone Apps to Help you Stay Fit in 2012’:
1. Endomondo Sports Tracker (Free)
The beauty of the Endomondo Sports Tracker is that it’s like having a personal trainer in your pocket. It’s free for download for iPhone, Android, Windows phone, BlackBerry, Nokia, and many more devices. Simply let Endomondo track your running, cycling, walking and swimming times well you concentrate on sweating. This app will track whatever your interest—your time, distance, speed, and even your heart rate and calories burned. However, that’s not even the kicker. The beauty of Endomondo is that it offers instance access to a community of like-minded, active individuals so you can receive pep talks, exchange workout tips, share your favorite music playlist to get your heart pumping, your secret off road cycling and running routes, and it even lets you compete with friends for things like speed, distance covered and time.
2. Fooducate (Free)
Fooducate for Android and iPhone is one of my absolute favorite fitness apps—and it’s also free! Many folks who are new to eating healthy in the hopes of shedding some weight have trouble reading food labels. Well Fooducate takes the confusion out of food labels and nutrition information. Take it shopping with you at your local market or grocer and scan the bar code on any specific product to view a quick nutritional peak at the food’s nutrient value or more in-depth nutritional information on your chosen product to ensure you’re fueling with the best foods possible.
3. Healthy Chef (Free)
Have you decided to eat healthy this year, but it’s only February, and you’re already running out of ideas? If you don’t want to live on chicken breast and brown rice, download Healthy Chef, an app for iPhone users that features over 70 healthy, delectable recipes created by renowned ethnic chefs (and features many Asian-inspired foods—such as Chinese and Indian dishes). Not only can you customize your recipes searches for things like fat content, calorie count and low carbohydrate, you can also post your favorites to Facebook to share with friends.
4. Eat This, Not That (Free)
iPhone users have a real fitness ally in hand when they download Eat This, Not That—an app that takes the confusion out of foods and snacks with hidden ingredients that might not be as nutritious for you as they claim to be. Eat This, Not That makes food selection fun by giving it a “Price is Right” game show feel. The app shows you two similar products, and you guess which one is more nutritious (or contains less fat and calories). Finally, a healthy addiction that schools you on healthy alternatives to your favorite foods!
Use one or more of these free apps for a great (and fit!) 2012.
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